History Brooklyn Boro

Feb. 18, birthdays for John Travolta, Dr. Dre, Toni Morrison

Brooklyn Today

February 18, 2016 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Actor John Travolta celebrates his birthday today. Ray Mickshaw/FX via AP

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Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 49th day of the year.

ON THIS DAY IN 1921, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle published an article titled “Indict 3 Firms for Polluting Waters.”

The article focuses on four indictments on charges of polluting the New York Harbor or its vicinity.

“The Brooklyn Union Gas Company is charged with having distributed oil on the waters of Gowanus Canal … The Brooklyn Boro Gas Company is charged with having spread oil on Coney Island Creek at W. 17th Street … and the Barrett Manufacturing Company is charged with having spread oil and tar from its plant at the foot of Fifth Street,” the Eagle reported.

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NOTABLE PEOPLE born on this day include actor MATT DILLON, who was born in 1964; rapper and record producer DR. DRE, who was born in 1965; Oscar Award-winning film director MILOS FORMAN, who was born in 1932; Oscar Award-winning actor GEORGE KENNEDY, who was born in New York City in 1927; personal trainer and TV personality JILLIAN MICHAELS, who was born in 1974; Nobel Prize-winning novelist TONI MORRISON, who was born in 1931; singer JUICE NEWTON, who was born in 1952; artist and musician YOKO ONO, who was born in 1933; actress MOLLY RINGWALD, who was born in 1968; actress GRETA SCACCHI, who was born in 1960; actress CYBILL SHEPHERD, who was born in 1950; actor JOHN TRAVOLTA, who was born in 1955; and TV personality VANNA WHITE, who was born in 1957.

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ST. FRANCIS COLLEGE will host a Black History Month event at which author Professor Magaly Colimon-Christopher will perform a staged reading of her play “Bamboo Under Rubble” tonight at 5:30 p.m. at 180 Remsen St. in Brooklyn Heights. The reading will be followed by a discussion. For more information, visit sfc.edu.

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BROOKLYN HISTORICAL Society will host a conversation and raw footage showing of author Calvin Alexander Ramsey’s upcoming documentary “The Green Book Chronicles” tonight at 6:30 p.m. at 128 Pierrepont St. For more information, visit brooklynhistory.org.

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Special thanks to “Chase’s Calendar of Events” and Brooklyn Public Library.