On this day, March 7
1876 Alexander Graham Bell received a U.S. patent for his telephone.
1918 The new Grand Theater (Warner) was opened on the site of the old Opera House.
1945 Heavy production losses resulted from and 25,000 people in industry were idled by swollen rivers, which rose to a crest of 33.4 feet.
1965 A march by civil rights demonstrators was violently broken up at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., by state troopers and a sheriff’s posse in what came to be known as “Bloody Sunday.” 2005 The University of Pittsburgh men’s basketball team won the Big East Conference regular season championship.
2020 Health officials in Florida said two people who had tested positive for the new coronavirus had died; the deaths were the first on the East Coast attributed to the outbreak. Meanwhile, Italy saw its biggest daily increase in coronavirus cases since the outbreak began in the northern part of the country.
Some items are from Stefan Lorant’s “Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City” (digital.library.pitt.edu/chronology).
— Compiled by Rick Nowlin Today’s birthdays: TV personality Willard Scott, 87. International Motorsports Hall of Famer Janet Guthrie, 83. Actor Daniel J. Travanti, 81. Entertainment executive Michael Eisner, 79. Rock musician Chris White (The Zombies), 78. Rock singer Peter Wolf, 75. Rock musician Matthew Fisher (Procol Harum), 75. Former Steelers running back and Pro Football Hall of Famer Franco Harris, 71. Former Steelers receiver and Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Lynn Swann, 69. R&B musician Ernie Isley (The Isley Brothers), 69. Actor Bryan Cranston, 65. Actor Donna Murphy, 62. Actor Nick Searcy, 62. International Tennis Hall of Famer Ivan Lendl, 61. Singer-actor Taylor Dayne, 59. Actor Bill Brochtrup, 58. Author E.L. James, 58. Author Bret Easton Ellis, 57. Opera singer Denyce Graves, 57. Comedian Wanda Sykes, 57. Actor Rachel Weisz, 51. Actor Peter Sarsgaard, 50. Actor Jay Duplass, 48. Classical singer Sebastien Izambard (Il Divo), 48. Rock singer Hugo Ferreira (Tantric), 47. Actor Jenna Fischer, 47. Actor Tobias Menzies, 47. Actor Sarayu Blue, 46. Actor TJ Thyne, 46. Bluegrass singer-musician Frank Solivan, 44. Actor Laura Prepon, 41. Thought for today: “More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.”