On this day, June 30

1864 The first train ran between Pittsburgh and Erie.

1918 Labor activist and socialist Eugene V. Debs was arrested in Cleveland, charged under the Espionage Act of 1917 for a speech he’d made two weeks earlier denouncing U.S. involvement in World War I. (Debs was sentenced to prison and disenfranchised for life.)

1966 The “Commuter bandit” hit the Oakland Western Pennsylvania National Bank branch for $9,554. This was the “commuter’s” 14th robbery.

1982 The proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution expired, having failed to receive the required number of ratifications for its adoption, despite having its seven-year deadline extended by three years.

1999 The May Co. purchased the Mellon bank Building on Smithfield Street for use as a Lord & Taylor Department Store.

2016 Saying it was the right thing to do, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced that transgender people would be allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military, ending one of the last bans on service in the armed forces.

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: Actor Lea Massari, 89. Actor Nancy Dussault, 86. Songwriter Tony Hatch, 83. Singer Glenn Shorrock, 78. Actor Leonard Whiting, 72. Jazz musician Stanley Clarke, 71. Actor David Garrison, 70. Rock musician Hal Lindes (Dire Straits), 69. Actorcomedian David Alan Grier, 66. Actor Vincent D’Onofrio, 63. Actor Deirdre Lovejoy, 60. Actor

Rupert Graves, 59. Former boxer Mike Tyson, 56. Actor Peter Outerbridge, 56. Rock musician Tom Drummond (Better Than Ezra), 53. Actor-comedian Tony Rock (TV: “Living Biblically”), 53. Actor Brian Bloom, 52. Actor Monica Potter, 51. Actor Molly Parker, 50. Actor Rick Gonzalez, 43. Actor Tom Burke, 41. Actor Lizzy Caplan, 40. Actor Susannah Flood, 40. Rock musician James Adam Shelley (American Authors), 39. Country singer Cole Swindell, 39. R&B singer Fantasia, 38. Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps, 37. Actor Sean Marquette (TV: “The Goldbergs”), 34.

Thought for today: “The man who has done his level best is a success, even though the world may write him down a failure.”

— B.C. Forbes, Scottish journalist (18801954)