Local history

50 years ago: 1976

Three Hollidaysburg Area High School

choral students, Janice Wilson, Randy Over and David Henshey, sang with the Region 1 State Chorus at Brookville Area Senior High School. Two had been accepted at colleges to study music and one was still a junior.

25 years ago: 2001

Business Ethics Balance, a firm that provided training, evaluations and ethics audits to help businesses improve human relations, opened in the Brett Central Building, 1216 11th Ave.

10 years ago: 2016

The Wall Street Journal reported that Canadian Pacific Railroad, which had approached Norfolk Southern Railroad about a merger, had also approached CSX Railroad. CSX had acquired half of Conrail while Norfolk Southern had acquired the other half.

— Compiled by Tim Doyle

World history

Today is Tuesday, March 3, the 62nd day of 2026. There are 303 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On March 3, 1991, motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers after a high-speed chase in a scene captured on amateur video that sparked public outrage. (The

subsequent acquittal of four officers of felony assault and other charges in April 1992 triggered days of rioting and

dozens of deaths in Los Angeles.)

On this date:

– In 1845, Florida became a U.S. state.

– In 1849, Congress established the U.S. Department of the Interior.

– In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the act creating the National Academy of Sciences.

– In 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a bill making “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem of the United States.

– In 1943, in London’s East End, 173 people died in a crush of bodies at the Bethnal Green Tube station, which was being used as a wartime air raid shelter.

– In 1945, Allied troops fully secured the Philippine capital of Manila from Japanese forces during World War II after a monthlong battle that destroyed much of the city.

– In 1969, Apollo 9 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a mission to test NASA’s lunar module.

– In 2005, millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly a plane around the world solo without stopping or refueling, landing in Salina, Kansas, where he took off 67 hours earlier.

– In 2022, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma reached a nationwide settlement over its role in the opioid crisis, with the Sackler family members who own the company boosting their cash contribution to as much as $6 billion in a deal intended to stanch a flood of lawsuits.

— The Associated Press