On This Day in History - February 14th - Almanac

This is Thursday, Feb. 14, the 45th day of 2019 with 320 to follow.

This is Valentine's Day.

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

Those born on this date are under the sign of Aquarius. They include statesman/abolitionist Frederick Douglass in 1818; suffrage leader Anna Howard Shaw in 1847; comedy legend Jack Benny in 1894; actor Thelma Ritter in 1902; football Coach Woody Hayes in 1913; labor leader Jimmy Hoffa 1913; broadcaster Hugh Downs in 1921 (age 98); actor/singer Florence Henderson in 1934; entrepreneur/former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 1942 (age 77); writer Carl Bernstein in 1944 (age 75); dancer/actor Gregory Hines in 1946; magician Raymond Joseph Teller of Penn and Teller in 1948 (age 71); radio host Terry Gross in 1951 (age 68); opera star Renee Fleming in 1959 (age 60); actor Meg Tilly in 1960 (age 59); actor Simon Pegg in 1970 (age 49); musician Rob Thomas in 1972 (age 47); actor Danai Gurira in 1978 (age 41); actor Brett Dier in 1990 (age 29); actor Freddie Highmore in 1992 (age 27); actor Alberto Rosende in 1993 (age 26).

On this date in history:

In 1779, British navigator and explorer James Cook, first known European to reach the Hawaiian Islands, was stabbed to death by island natives while investigating the theft of a boat.

In 1849, James Polk became the first U.S. president to be photographed while in office. The photographer was Mathew Brady, who is famous for his Civil War pictures.

In 1859, Oregon was admitted as the 33rd member of the United States.

In 1903, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt signed a law creating the Department of Commerce and Labor.

In 1912, Arizona was admitted as the 48th member of the United States.

In 1920, the League of Women Voters was formed in Chicago.

In 1929, in what became known as the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre," gunmen believed to be working for Prohibition-era crime boss Al Capone killed seven members of the rival George "Bugs" Moran gang in a Chicago garage.

In 1949, Israel's legislature, the Knesset, convened for the first time.

In 1989, Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, offended by The Satanic Verses, called on Muslims to kill its author, Salman Rushdie. He offered a $1 million reward for Rushdie's death, sending the writer into hiding. Iran rescinded the death sentence in 1998.

In 1990, 90 people were killed and 56 injured in the crash of an Indian Airlines Airbus 320, about 50 yards short of a runway in Bangalore, India.

In 1994, a convicted serial killer who admitted killing 55 people -- Andrei Chikatilo -- was executed by a firing squad in a Russian prison.

In 2005, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated. Twenty-one others died with him.

In 2005, video-sharing website YouTube was founded by former PayPal employees. The company was purchased by Google a year and a half later for $1.65 billion.

In 2011, Chevron was ordered to pay $8.6 billion to clean up oil pollution in a rain forest area in northeastern Ecuador.

In 2013, police said they charged South African double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius with murder in the shooting of his girlfriend. Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter, and sentenced to five years in prison.

In 2018, a 19-year-old who had been expelled for discipline problems walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and fatally shot 17 people, including 14 students.

A thought for the day: "People will pay more to be entertained than educated." -- Johnny Carson