Today is Tuesday, Feb. 15, the 46th day of 2005. There are 319 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Feb. 15, 1965, Canada’s new maple-leaf flag was unfurled in ceremonies in Ottawa.
On this date:
In 1564, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa.
In 1764, the city of St. Louis was established.
In 1820, American suffragist Susan B. Anthony was born in Adams, Mass.
In 1879, President Hayes signed a bill allowing female attorneys to argue cases before the Supreme Court.
In 1898, the U.S. battleship Maine mysteriously blew up in Havana Harbor, killing more than 260 crew members and bringing the United States closer to war with Spain.
In 1933, President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt escaped an assassination attempt in Miami that claimed the life of Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak.
In 1942, the British colony Singapore surrendered to the Japanese during World War II.
In 1961, 73 people, including an 18-member U.S. figure skating team en route to Czechoslovakia, were killed in the crash of a Sabena Airlines Boeing 707 in Belgium.
In 1982, 84 men were killed when a huge oil-drilling rig, the Ocean Ranger, sank off the coast of Newfoundland during a fierce storm.
In 1989, the Soviet Union announced that the last of its troops had left Afghanistan, after more than nine years of military intervention.
Ten years ago: The FBI arrested Kevin Mitnick, its “most wanted hacker,” and charged him with cracking security for some of the nation’s most protected computers. (Mitnick was later released after serving five years behind bars.) A fire roared through a three-story nightclub in Taichung, Taiwan, killing at least 64 people.
Five years ago: Republican presidential rivals George W. Bush and John McCain fought over campaign financing and the tenor of their nomination contest in a testy debate in Columbia, S.C., that included Alan Keyes. Fox aired “Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire?” a TV special that drew huge ratings and much notoriety.
One year ago: A pair of blazes in China killed at least 93 people. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona 500 on the same track where his father was killed three years earlier. The West defeated the East 136-132 in the NBA All-Star game. Actress Jan Miner, best known as “Madge the manicurist” in Palmolive TV ads, died in Bethel, Conn., at age 86.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Kevin McCarthy is 91. Actor Allan Arbus is 87. Country singer Hank Locklin is 87. Former Illinois Congressman John Anderson is 83. Comedian Harvey Korman is 78. Actress Claire Bloom is 74. Author Susan Brownmiller is 70. Songwriter Brian Holland is 64. Rock musician Mick Avory (The Kinks) is 61. Jazz musician Henry Threadgill is 61. Actress Jane Seymour is 54. Singer Melissa Manchester is 54. “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening is 51. Actor Christopher McDonald is 50. Reggae singer Ali Campbell (UB40) is 46. Musician Mikey Craig (Culture Club) is 45. Country singer Michael Reynolds (Pinmonkey) is 41. Actor Michael Easton is 38. Actress Renee O’Connor is 34. Actress Sarah Wynter (“24”) is 32. Rock singer Brandon Boyd (Incubus) is 29. Actress Ashley Lyn Cafagna is 22.
Thought for Today: “Nothing is mine, I have only nothing but it is enough, it is beautiful and it is all mine.” — Katherine Anne Porter, American author (1894-1980).