Today is Saturday, Feb. 22, the 53rd day of 2020 with 313 to follow.
The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and Venus. Evening stars are Mercury, Neptune, Uranus and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include George Washington, first president of the United States, in 1732; German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in 1788; Englishman Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement, in 1857; German physicist Heinrich Hertz, discoverer of radio waves, in 1857; poet Edna St. Vincent Millay in 1892; actor/TV producer Sheldon Leonard in 1907; actor Robert Young in 1907; television announcer Don Pardo in 1918; actor Paul Dooley in 1928 (age 92); U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., in 1932; filmmaker Jonathan Demme in 1944; author Richard North Patterson in 1947 (age 73); three-time Formula 1 driving champion Niki Lauda in 1949; basketball Hall of Fame member Julius “Dr. J” Erving in 1950 (age 70); actor Julie Walters in 1950 (age 70); Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin in 1962; golfer Vijay Singh in 1963 (age 57); actor Kyle MacLachlan in 1959 (age 61); actor Rachel Dratch in 1966 (age 54); actor Jeri Ryan in 1968 (age 52); singer/songwriter James Blunt in 1974 (age 46); actor Drew Barrymore in 1975 (age 45); actor Zach Roerig in 1985 (age 35).
On this date in history:
In 1819, a treaty with Spain ceded Florida to the United States.
In 1855, Pennsylvania State University was founded in State College, Pa. It was originally called the Farmers’ High School of Pennsylvania.
In 1862, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president of the Confederate States of America.
In 1879, Woolworth, the first chain store, opened in Utica, N.Y.
In 1959, the Daytona 500 was run for the first time. Lee Petty won the race.
In 1973, Israeli fighter planes shot down a Libyan commercial airliner, killing 108 of the 113 people aboard. The military apparently believed the airliner was a security threat in Israeli-controlled airspace. Israel’s defense minister later said there was an “error in judgment” by the military. Israel paid reparations to the families of the victims.
In 1980, in one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympics history, the underdog U.S. hockey team, made up of collegians and second-tier professional players, defeated the defending champion Soviet team, regarded as the world’s finest, 4-3, at the Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y.
In 1987, artist Andy Warhol died of heart failure at age 58.
In 1998, a series of tornadoes raked central Florida, killing 42 people and injuring more than 200 others.
In 2005, a powerful earthquake struck Iran, killing more than 500 people.
In 2006, robbers took more than $43 million in cash from the Securitas bank depot in Kent, England, Britain’s largest ever theft.
In 2011, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake severely damaged Christchurch, New Zealand’s second largest city, killing 185 people and injuring up to 2,000.
In 2012, a commuter train plowed into a barrier at a Buenos Aires station, killing 49 people and injuring hundreds more.
In 2014, Ukraine’s Parliament ousted President Viktor Yanukovych following a period of violence that killed scores of people.
In 2018, the U.S. women’s ice hockey team won the Olympic gold medal for the first time in 20 years with a 4-3 victory over Canada in the Pyeongchang, South Korea, Games.
In 2019, billionaire New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was charged with two counts of soliciting a prostitute in Florida as part of a larger human-trafficking bust.
A thought for the day: U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., said, “I hope for an America where we can all contend freely and vigorously, but where we will treasure and guard those standards of civility which alone make this nation safe for both democracy and diversity.”
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