Today is Tuesday, Feb. 14, the 45th day of 2006. There are 320 days left in the year. This is Valentine’s Day.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Feb. 14, 1929, the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone’s gang were gunned down.
On this date:
In 1778, the American ship Ranger carried the recently adopted Star and Stripes to a foreign port for the first time as it arrived in France.
In 1859, Oregon was admitted to the Union as the 33rd state.
In 1894, comedian Jack Benny was born Benjamin Kubelsky in Waukegan, Ill.
In 1895, Oscar Wilde’s final play, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” opened at the St. James’s Theatre in London.
In 1903, the Department of Commerce and Labor was established. (It was divided into separate departments of Commerce and Labor in 1913.)
In 1912, Arizona became the 48th state of the Union.
In 1920, the League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago; its first president was Maude Wood Park.
In 1945, Peru, Paraguay, Chile and Ecuador joined the United Nations.
In 1979, Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim extremists and killed in a shootout between his abductors and police.
In 1989, Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini called on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of “The Satanic Verses,” a novel condemned as blasphemous.
Ten years ago: Texas Sen. Phil Gramm bowed out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination following his poor showings in the Louisiana and Iowa caucuses.
Five years ago: A Palestinian crashed a bus into Israeli soldiers and civilians standing at a bus stop in Azur, Israel, killing eight. (The driver, Khalil Abu Olbeh, was later sentenced to eight life terms.) The Kansas Board of Education approved new science standards restoring evolution to the state’s curriculum.
One year ago: Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated. A gas explosion inside a Chinese mine killed 214 people. President Bush said he would nominate Lester M. Crawford as head of the Food and Drug Administration, a position Crawford had held as acting commissioner for nearly a year.
Today’s Birthdays: TV personality Hugh Downs is 85. Actress-singer Florence Henderson is 72. Country singer Razzy Bailey is 67. Jazz musician Maceo Parker is 63. Movie director Alan Parker is 62. Journalist Carl Bernstein is 62. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., is 59. TV personality Pat O’Brien is 58. Magician Teller (Penn and Teller) is 58. Cajun singer-musician Michael Doucet (Beausoleil) is 55. Actor Ken Wahl is 49. Opera singer Renee Fleming is 47. Actress Meg Tilly is 46. Singer-producer Dwayne Wiggins is 45. Actor Enrico Colantoni is 43. Actor Zach Galligan is 42. Rock musician Ricky Wolking (The Nixons) is 40. Tennis player Manuela Maleeva is 39. Rock musician Kevin Baldes (Lit) is 34. Rock singer Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty) is 34. Actor Freddie Highmore (“Finding Neverland”) is 14.
Thought for Today: “Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” — Jack Benny (1894-1974).