Today in History

Today is Tuesday, Feb. 14, the 45th day of 2023. There are 320 days left in the year. This is Valentine’s Day.

Today’s Highlight in History:

In 1989, Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini called on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of “The Satanic Verses,” a novel condemned as blasphemous.

On this date:

In 1876, inventors Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray applied separately for patents related to the telephone. (The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled Bell the rightful inventor.)

In 1912, Arizona became the 48th state of the Union as President William Howard Taft signed a proclamation.

In 1913, labor leader Jimmy Hoffa was born in Brazil, Ind.; college football coach Woody Hayes was born in Clifton, Ohio; sports broadcaster Mel Allen was born in Birmingham, Ala.

In 1924, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. of New York was formally renamed International Business Machines Corp., or IBM.

In 1929, the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone’s gang were gunned down.

In 1945, during World War II, British and Canadian forces reached the Rhine River in Germany.

In 1967, Aretha Franklin recorded her cover of Otis Redding’s “Respect” at Atlantic Records in New York.

In 1984, 6-year-old Stormie Jones became the world’s first heart-liver transplant recipient when the surgery was performed at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Ten years ago: Double-amputee Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home in Pretoria, South Africa; he was later convicted of murder and is serving a 13-year prison term.

Five years ago: A gunman identified as a former student opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., killing 17 people in the nation’s deadliest school shooting since the attack in Newtown, Conn., more than five years earlier. (Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty to murder in October 2021 and was sentenced in November 2022 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.)

One year ago: The Kremlin signaled it was ready to keep talking with the West about security grievances that led to the Ukraine crisis, offering hope that Russia might not invade its neighbor within days. (Russia would invade Ukraine less than a week later.) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked emergency powers to try to quell the protests by truck drivers and others who paralyzed Ottawa and blocked border crossings in anger over the country’s COVID-19 restrictions.

Today’s birthdays: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is 81. Jazz musician Maceo Parker is 80. Journalist Carl Bernstein is 79. Former Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., is 76. TV personality Pat O’Brien is 75. Magician Teller (Penn and Teller) is 75. Cajun singer-musician Michael Doucet (doo-SAY’) (Beausoleil) is 72. Actor Ken Wahl is 66. Opera singer Renee Fleming is 64. Actor Meg Tilly is 63. Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly is 63. Singer-producer Dwayne Wiggins is 62. Actor Sakina Jaffrey is 61. Actor Enrico Colantoni is 60. Actor Zach Galligan is 59. Former tennis player Manuela Maleeva is 56. Actor Simon Pegg is 53. Rock musician Kevin Baldes (Lit) is 51. Rock singer Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty) is 51. Former NFL quarterback Drew Bledsoe is 51. Actor Danai Gurira is 45. Actor Matt Barr is 39. Actor Stephanie Leonidas is 39. Actor Jake Lacy is 37. Actor Tiffany Thornton is 37. Actor Brett Dier is 33. Actor Freddie Highmore is 31.

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