Today is Tuesday, Feb. 13, the 44th day of 2018 with 321 to follow.
The moon is waning. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Saturn. Evening stars are Neptune, Uranus and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include Bess Truman, wife of former U.S. President Harry Truman, in 1885; artist Grant Wood in 1891; golf Hall of Fame member Patty Berg in 1918; singer “Tennessee” Ernie Ford in 1919; pilot Chuck Yeager, the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound, in 1923 (age 95); actor Kim Novak in 1933 (age 85); actor George Segal in 1934 (age 84); musician Peter Tork of the Monkees in 1942 (age 76); actor Carol Lynley in 1942 (age 76); talk show host Jerry Springer in 1944 (age 74); actor Stockard Channing in 1944 (age 74): Hall of Fame basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski in 1947 (age 71); singer Peter Gabriel (Genesis) in 1950 (age 68); actor David Naughton in 1951 (age 67); fitness activist Denise Austin in 1957 (age 61); rock musician Henry Rollins in 1961 (age 57); actor Neal McDonough in 1966 (age 52); pop singer Robbie Williams in 1974 (age 44); actor Mena Suvari in 1979 (age 39); actor Sophia Lillis in 2002 (age 16).
On this date in history:
In 1635, the Boston Latin School was founded. It is the oldest public school in the United States.
In 1668, Portugal was recognized as an independent nation by Spain.
In 1861, the first Medal of Honor was awarded. It went to Col. Bernard Irwin, an assistant surgeon serving in the first major U.S. Army-Apache conflict.
In 1935, Bruno Richard Hauptmann was convicted of America’s most colossal crime, and a jury determined that he would forfeit his life in the electric chair for the murder of baby Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr.
In 1945, thousands of Allied planes started bombing the German city of Dresden in World War II. The attack caused a firestorm that destroyed the city over a three-day period. Reports of the death toll varied widely over the years, with many researchers eventually estimating it was in the 25,000 range.
In 1960, France tested its first atomic weapon, making it the fourth nuclear power.
In 1974, the Soviet Union expelled dissident writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
In 1983, a blaze engulfed a crowded movie theater in Turin, Italy, killing 74 people, many of them teenagers trampled to death in a panic-stricken race to the exits.
In 1984, Konstantin Chernenko succeeded the late Yuri Andropov as Soviet leader.
In 2001, more than 400 people were killed in an earthquake in El Salvador.
In 2006, a U.N. report accused the United States of violating prisoners’ rights at its military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In 2009, a Continental airlines turboprop commuter plane crashed into a house near Buffalo, N.Y., killing 50 people, including one person in the house.
In 2013, authorities announced that 10 police officers in the Atlanta area had been charged with taking payoffs to protect a drug gang. The U.S. attorney in the city said “the breadth of corruption is troubling.”
In 2014, the Afghan government, despite protests from the U.S. military, released 65 suspected members of the Taliban from prison.
In 2017, national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about discussions he had with Russia’s ambassador. The retired general held the position for 24 days.
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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