Council House, the former location of the Brownhills District Council

Brownhills is a town and former administrative centre in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, England. Before 1974, it was in the county of Staffordshire. The town lies on the route of the ancient Watling Street. Although there is no record of its existence before the 17th century, Ogley Hay – a district of the town today – is recorded as a settlement in the Domesday Book. Brownhills quickly grew around the coal-mining industry, especially in the mid-19th century after the town was linked to the railway and canal networks. By the end of the century, Brownhills had grown from a hamlet of only 300 inhabitants to a town of more than 13,000, of whom the vast majority were employed in the coal industry. Mining remained the town's principal industry until the 1950s; the subsequent closure of the pits led to a severe economic decline that has continued until the present. The local authority instituted a regeneration programme in 2007, but there has been little subsequent development. (Full article...)

Vanessa Bryant

• ... that Kobe and Vanessa Bryant (pictured) were founding donors of the National Museum of African American History and Culture?
• ... that, in addition to the Armenians, the Assyrians also faced genocide in the Ottoman Empire during World War I?
• ... that Seal Rescue Ireland comforts orphaned seal pups with fake mothers made of wetsuits?
• ... that Doja Cat's "Streets" peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 because of a viral mashup on TikTok that combined it with a 1959 song by Paul Anka?
• ... that despite never having received a formal education in botany, Harry Allan became one of New Zealand's most eminent botanists?
• ... that during its fifteen-year existence, the New York City Tribune had its highest circulation during a newspaper strike?
• ... that the Museum of Classic Sci-Fi is located in the cellar of a house in Allendale, Northumberland?
• ... that an executive of Florida station WFTL-TV declared that he had "faith in its future", only to sell it within months and for the station to close within three years?

Sumatran earthquake damage

• An earthquake (damage pictured) in West Sumatra, Indonesia, leaves fourteen people dead.
• Russia launches an invasion of Ukraine.
• The Winter Olympics conclude in Beijing, China.
• At least 231 people are killed due to mudslides and floods in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

March 3: Liberation Day in Bulgaria (1878); Hinamatsuri in Japan

Poster for the premiere of Carmen

• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Samuel Nicholas and the Continental Marines successfully landed on New Providence in the Bahamas and began a raid of Nassau, capturing the port the next day.
• 1875 – French composer Georges Bizet's opera Carmen (poster pictured), based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.
• 1945 – Second World War: The Royal Air Force mistakenly bombed the neighbourhood of Bezuidenhout in The Hague, killing 511 evacuees.
• 1972 – The British rock band Jethro Tull released Thick as a Brick, a parody concept album allegedly adapted from an eight-year-old boy's epic poem.
• 2012 – Two passenger trains collided near Szczekociny, Poland, resulting in 16 deaths and 58 injuries.