Today is Thursday, Feb. 25, the 56th day of 2010. There are 309 days left in the year. The UPI Almanac.Today's Highlight in History:
On Feb. 25, 1940, a hockey game was televised for the first time, by New York City station W2XBS, as the New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 6-2, at Madison Square Garden.
On this date:
In 1791, the First Bank of the U.S. at Philadelphia became the first national bank chartered by Congress.
In 1836, inventor Samuel Colt patented his revolver.
In 1870, Hiram Rhoades Revels, a Republican from Natchez, Miss., was sworn into the U.S. Senate, becoming the first African-American to sit in Congress.
In 1901, United States Steel Corporation was incorporated by J.P. Morgan.
In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.
In 1919, Oregon became the first state to tax gasoline, at one cent per gallon.
In 1948, communists seized power in Czechoslovakia.
In 1951, Buenos Aires played host to the first Pan American Games.
In 1964, Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) became world heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Sonny Liston in Miami Beach.
In 1967, U.S. warships began shelling Vietnam.
In 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.
In 1990, Nicaraguans went to the polls in an election that resulted in an upset victory for the alliance opposed to the ruling Sandinistas.
In 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. As the ground assault continued, Iraq ordered its forces to withdraw from Kuwait. Also in 1991, the Warsaw Pact nations signed an agreement to dissolve their alliance after 36 years.
In 1994, 32 Muslim worshippers were killed by American-born Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein, who opened fire with an automatic rifle inside the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank town of Hebron. He was overpowered and beaten to death by vicious, murdering Muslim "worshipers."
In 1996, a bus bombing in Jerusalem killed 25 people.
In 1997, documents revealed U.S. President Bill Clinton endorsed rewarding Democratic contributors with such perks as golf games with him or overnight stays in the White House.
In 1999, a jury in Jasper, Texas, sentenced white supremacist John William King to death for chaining James Byrd Jr., a black man, to a pickup truck and dragging him to his death. Israel's Supreme Court blocked the extradition of American teenager Samuel Sheinbein to the US to face charges stemming from a grisly slaying in Maryland.
In 2000, a jury in Albany, N.Y. acquitted four white New York City police officers of all charges in the Feb. 1999 shooting death of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo in the Bronx.
In 2003, as the possibility of war loomed, the chief U.N. weapons inspector said Iraq was showing new signs of cooperation in dismantling its weapons arsenal.
In 2004, The Supreme Court ruled states didn't have to underwrite the religious training of students planning careers in the ministry.
In 2005, municipal employee and church leader Dennis Rader was arrested for the BTK ("bind, torture, kill") serial slayings that had terrorized Wichita, Kan. (Rader later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 life prison terms.) A suicide bombing killed four Israelis outside a Tel Aviv nightclub, shattering an informal truce. Amnesty International founder Peter Benenson died in Oxford, England, at age 83. Hall of Fame basketball coach John Chaney was suspended for the rest of the regular season by Temple for ordering rough play by one of his players during a game against Saint Joseph's. The Walt Disney Co. agreed to sell the Anaheim Mighty Ducks to billionaire Henry Samueli and his wife, Susan, for $75 million.
In 2007, Iran claimed to have fired its first rocket into space. Iran reportedly had relied on Russia to put its satellites into space in the past.
In 2008, Ford Motor Company urged workers to accept buyout offers in a reported effort to pass along jobs to lower wage employees and reduce losses. An Associated Press photograph of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wearing traditional local garb during a visit to Kenya in 2006 began circulating on the Internet. The New York Philharmonic arrived in North Korea to perform a concert, the same day Lee Myung-bak was sworn in as South Korea's first conservative president in a decade.
In 2009, President Barack Obama introduced former Washington Gov. Gary Locke as his nominee for commerce secretary after two earlier choices dropped out. A Turkish Airlines jetliner crashed near Amsterdam's main airport, but nearly everyone on board — 126 people — survived; the nine dead included the pilots. Also in 2009, a second day of fighting between Islamic militants and Somali government troops backed by African Union peacekeepers shook Mogadishu. At least 35 civilians died and about 130 others were reported injured.
Today's Birthdays: Country singer Ralph Stanley is 83. Actor Tom Courtenay is 73. CBS newsman Bob Schieffer is 73. Actress Diane Baker is 72. Actress Karen Grassle is 66. Humorist Jack Handey is 61. Movie director Neil Jordan is 60. Rock musician Dennis Diken (The Smithereens) is 53. Rock singer-musician Mike Peters (The Alarm) is 51. Actress Veronica Webb is 45. Actor Alexis Denisof is 44. Actress Tea (TAY'-ah) Leoni is 44. Comedian Carrot Top is 43. Actress Lesley Boone is 42. Actor Sean Astin is 39. Singer Daniel Powter is 39. Latin singer Julio Iglesias Jr. is 37. Rhythm-and-blues singer Justin Jeffre is 37. Rock musician Richard Liles is 37. Actor Anson Mount is 37. Comedian Chelsea Handler is 35. Actress Rashida Jones is 34. Actor Justin Berfield is 24. Actors Oliver and James Phelps ("Harry Potter" movies) are 24.
Those Born On this Date Include: French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841); Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso (1873); U.S. statesman John Foster Dulles (1888); actor Herbert "Zeppo" Marx, the "sane" sibling of the early Marx Brothers movies (1901); actor Jim Backus (1913); tennis player Bobby Riggs (1918); producer/writer Larry Gelbart (1928); former Beatle George Harrison (1943).
Today In Entertainment February 25
In 1950, the variety series "Your Show of Shows," starring Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris, debuted on NBC-TV.
In 1957, Buddy Holly and the Crickets recorded "That'll Be The Day," their first and only No. 1 hit.
In 1963, Vee Jay Records released the first Beatles record in the US, "Please Please Me" backed with "Ask Me Why." At the time, the single went unnoticed by the record-buying public.
In 1973, the Stephen Sondheim musical "A Little Night Music" opened on Broadway.
In 1981, singer Christopher Cross was the big winner at the Grammy Awards, picking up an award for best album for his self-titled debut album. His hit "Sailing" was named best song and best record.
In 1983, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams was found dead in his New York hotel suite. He was 71.
In 1992, Natalie Cole won seven Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for "Unforgettable." Bonnie Raitt and R.E.M. each won three.
In 1993, Marshall Tucker Band founder Toy Caldwell was found dead at his home in South Carolina. He was 45. A coroner later ruled that Caldwell's death was cocaine-related. Also in 1993, actor Dick Van Dyke got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But at the star's unveiling, Van Dyke was shocked to see that his last name had been engraved as one word instead of two.
In 1995, singer Lyle Lovett broke his collarbone in a motorcycle accident while practicing for a segment for "Moto World" on ESPN.
In 1996, actor Dr. Haing Ngor was shot to death outside his home in Los Angeles. He was 45. Ngor won a best supporting actor Oscar for his role in "The Killing Fields" and was a real-life survivor of the Khmer Rouge death camps.
In 1998, Bob Dylan won his first Best Album Grammy for "Time Out of Mind," his 42nd album. His performance was interrupted by a dancing man with "Soy Bomb" written on his chest. At that same ceremony, singer Shawn Colvin's acceptance speech was interrupted by rapper ODB, who upstaged her with a rant about his clothes.
In 2004, "The Passion of the Christ" opened nationwide.
In 2006, Emmy-winning comic star Don Knotts, best known for his Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show," died of lung cancer. He was 81.
In 2007, Martin Scorsese won his first Oscar, for directing "The Departed."
Thought for Today: "Open-mindedness is not the same as empty-mindedness. To hang out a sign saying, 'Come right in; there is no one at home' is not the equivalent of hospitality." — John Dewey, American philosopher and educator (1859-1952).
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