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The almanac

By United Press International
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Today is Monday, Feb. 24, the 55th day of 2014 with 310 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Mars, Mercury, Neptune, Saturn and Venus. The evening stars are Jupiter and Uranus.

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Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include Wilhelm Grimm, historian and, with his brother Jacob, compiler of "Grimm's Fairy Tales," in 1786; painter Winslow Homer in 1836; Irish author George Moore in 1852; baseball Hall of Fame member Honus Wagner in 1874; U.S. Navy Adm. Chester Nimitz, World War II commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, in 1885; actors Marjorie Main in 1890, Abe Vigoda in 1921 (age 93), James Farentino in 1938, Barry Bostwick in 1945 (age 69), Edward James Olmos in 1947 (age 67) and Helen Shaver in 1951 (age 63); composer Michel Legrand in 1932 (age 82); co-founder of Nike Phil Knight in 1938 (age 76); former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, Ind-Conn., in 1942 (age 72); guitarist George Thorogood in 1950 (age 64); Steven Jobs, founder of the Apple computer company, in 1955; race car driver Alain Prost, also in 1955 (age 59); baseball Hall of Fame member Eddie Murray and TV personality Paula Zahn, both in 1956 (age 58); actor Billy Zane in 1966 (age 48); the Kienast quintuplets of Liberty Corner, N.J., in 1970 (age 44); boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., in 1977 (age 37); and tennis player Lleyton Hewitt in 1981 (age 33).

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On this date in history:

In 1803, the U.S. Supreme Court established the principle of judicial review with its Marbury vs. Madison decision written by Chief Justice John Marshall.

In 1868, Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Abraham Lincoln, was impeached by the U.S. House. (Johnson, the first U.S. president to be impeached, was acquitted by a single vote three weeks later, ending a three-week trial in the Senate.)

In 1920, a group of Germans organized the National Socialist party, forerunner of the Nazi party later led by Adolf Hitler.

In 1922, Henri Landru, better known as "Bluebeard," was executed in France for killing 10 of his girlfriends.

In 1945, U.S. troops took the Philippine city of Manila from the Japanese.

In 1946, Juan Peron was elected president of Argentina.

In 1970, National Public Radio was founded.

In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court defended the right to satirize public figures when it voted 8-0 to overturn a $200,000 settlement awarded the Rev. Jerry Falwell over a parody of him in Hustler magazine.

In 1989, nine people were killed when a 10-by-40-foot section of a United Airlines 747 ripped away from the jetliner's outer skin on a flight from Hawaii to New Zealand.

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In 1992, General Motors announced a record $4.5 billion loss in 1991 and said it would close 21 plants and idle 74,000 workers over four years.

In 1995, diver Greg Louganis, who won four gold medals in the Olympic Games in 1984 and 1988, revealed he had AIDS.

In 2002, the Winter Olympics concluded at Salt Lake City. Germany finished with 36 medals and Norway, Germany and the United States were 1-2-3 in the gold medal race.

In 2004, an earthquake struck Morocco, killing about 600 people and injuring hundreds more.

In 2009, Taliban insurgents in Pakistan's militarily strategic Swat Valley agreed to a cease-fire, leaving them in charge of the area near the Afghan border.

In 2012, bombers and gunmen in Iraq killed 55 people and wounded more than 200 in a series of attacks on civilian and government targets in more than a dozen cities.

In 2013, Raul Castro was elected president of Cuba for a second five-year term and said, "I would like to make clear ... this will be my last term."


A thought for the day: Marian Anderson, in forgiving the Daughters of the American Revolution for withdrawing an invitation to perform because she was African-American, said, "You lose a lot of time hating people."

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