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UPI Almanac for Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018

On Feb. 22, 1980, the underdog U.S. hockey team defeated the Soviet team, regarded as the world's finest, 4-3, at the Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y.

By United Press International
Captain Mike Eruzione of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team celebrates with his teammates after lighting the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City on February 8, 2002. On February 22, 1980, in one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympics history, the underdog U.S. hockey team, made up of collegians and second-tier professional players, defeated the defending champion Soviet team, regarded as the world's finest, 4-3, at the Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y. File Photo by H. Ruckemann/UPI
Captain Mike Eruzione of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team celebrates with his teammates after lighting the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City on February 8, 2002. On February 22, 1980, in one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympics history, the underdog U.S. hockey team, made up of collegians and second-tier professional players, defeated the defending champion Soviet team, regarded as the world's finest, 4-3, at the Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y. File Photo by H. Ruckemann/UPI | License Photo

Today is Thursday, Feb. 22, the 53rd day of 2018 with 312 to follow.

The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter, Mars and Saturn. Evening stars are Neptune, Uranus and Venus.

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Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include George Washington, first president of the United States, in 1732; German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in 1788; Englishman Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement, in 1857; German physicist Heinrich Hertz, discoverer of radio waves, in 1857; poet Edna St. Vincent Millay in 1892; actor/TV producer Sheldon Leonard in 1907; actor Robert Young in 1907; television announcer Don Pardo in 1918; actor Paul Dooley in 1928 (age 90); U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., in 1932; filmmaker Jonathan Demme in 1944; author Richard North Patterson in 1947 (age 71); three-time Formula 1 driving champion Niki Lauda in 1949 (age 69); basketball Hall of Fame member Julius "Dr. J" Erving in 1950 (age 68); actor Julie Walters in 1950 (age 68); Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin in 1962; golfer Vijay Singh in 1963 (age 55); actor Kyle MacLachlan in 1959 (age 59); actor Rachel Dratch in 1966 (age 52); actor Jeri Ryan in 1968 (age 50); actor Drew Barrymore in 1975 (age 43); singer/songwriter James Blunt in 1974 (age 44); NFL player Khalil Mack in 1991 (age 27).

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On this date in history:

In 1819, a treaty with Spain ceded Florida to the United States.

In 1855, Pennsylvania State University was founded in State College, Pa. It was originally called the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania.

In 1862, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as president of the Confederate States of America.

In 1879, Woolworth, the first chain store, opened in Utica, N.Y.

In 1959, the Daytona 500 was run for the first time. Lee Petty won the race.

In 1973, Israeli fighter planes shot down a Libyan commercial airliner, killing 108 of the 113 people aboard. The military apparently believed the airliner was a security threat in Israeli-controlled airspace. Israel's defense minister later said there was an "error in judgment" by the military. Israel paid reparations to the families of the victims.

In 1980, in one of the most dramatic upsets in Olympics history, the underdog U.S. hockey team, made up of collegians and second-tier professional players, defeated the defending champion Soviet team, regarded as the world's finest, 4-3, at the Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y.

In 1987, artist Andy Warhol died of heart failure at age 58.

In 1998, a series of tornadoes raked central Florida, killing 42 people and injuring more than 200 others.

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In 2004, rebels attacked a refugee camp in northern Uganda, killing at least 192 people.

In 2005, a powerful earthquake struck Iran, killing more than 500 people.

In 2006, robbers took more than $43 million in cash from the Securitas bank depot in Kent, England, Britain's largest ever theft.

In 2011, a 6.3-magnitude earthquake severely damaged Christchurch, New Zealand's second largest city, killing 185 people and injuring up to 2,000.

In 2012, a commuter train plowed into a barrier at a Buenos Aires station, killing 49 people and injuring hundreds more.

In 2014, Ukraine's Parliament ousted President Viktor Yanukovych following a period of violence that killed scores of people.

In 2014, Matteo Renzi, 39, was sworn in as the youngest prime minister in the Italy's history

In 2014, notorious drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was captured in Mexico after his first prison escape.

In 2017, President Donald Trump rolled back former President Barack Obama's guidelines to give transgender students the right to use whichever public restrooms with which they are most comfortable.


A thought for the day: "One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes. -- Eleanor Roosevelt

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