Today is Friday, Feb. 28, the 59th day of 2025 with 306 to follow.
The moon is waxing. Morning stars are Jupiter and Mars. Evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include writer Michel de Montaigne in 1533; scientist Linus Pauling in 1901; filmmaker Vincente Minnelli in 1903; actor Billie Bird in 1908; actor Charles Durning in 1923; architect Frank Gehry in 1929 (age 96); actor Gavin MacLeod in 1931; dancer Tommy Tune in 1939 (age 86); International Motorsports Hall of Fame member Mario Andretti in 1940 (age 85); musician Brian Jones (Rolling Stones) in 1942; actor Kelly Bishop in 1944 (age 81); former U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu in 1948 (age 77); actor Bernadette Peters in 1948 (age 77); actor Mercedes Ruehl in 1948 (age 77); economist Paul Krugman in 1953 (age 72); comedian/actor Gilbert Gottfried in 1955; actor John Turturro in 1957 (age 68); celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott in 1957 (age 68); musician Cindy Wilson (B-52's) in 1957 (age 68); actor Rae Dawn Chong in 1961 (age 64); actor Kang Ae-shim in 1963 (age 62); musician Patrick Monahan (Train) in 1969 (age 56); actor Robert Sean Leonard in 1969 (age 56); writer Daniel Handler, whose pen name is Lemony Snicket, in 1970 (age 55); actor Tasha Smith in 1971 (age 54); actor Rory Cochrane in 1972 (age 53); Hockey Hall of Fame member Eric Lindros in 1973 (age 52); actor Ali Larter in 1976 (age 49); musician Jason Aldean in 1977 (age 48); actor Geoffrey Arend in 1978 (age 47); actor Kingsley Ben-Adir in 1986 (age 39); actor Sarah Bolger in 1991 (age 34); NBA player Luka Dončić in 1999 (age 26).
On this date in history:
Related
In 1784, the Methodist Church was chartered by John Wesley.
In 1885, the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. was incorporated in New York as a subsidiary of American Bell Telephone.
In 1935, nylon was invented by DuPont researcher Wallace Carothers.
In 1942, Japanese forces landed in Java, the last Allied bastion in the Dutch East Indies.
In 1983, the concluding episode of the long-running television series M*A*S*H drew what was then the largest TV audience in U.S. history.
In 1986, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated on a street in Stockholm.
In 1992, a bomb blast blamed on the IRA ripped through a London railway station, injuring at least 30 people and shutting down the British capital's rail and subway system.
In 1993, federal agents attempting to serve warrants on the Branch Davidian religious cult's compound near Waco, Texas, were met with gunfire that left at least five people dead and 15 injured, and marked the start of a month-and-a-half-long standoff.
In 1994, NATO was involved in combat for the first time in its 45-year history when four U.S. fighter planes operating under NATO auspices shot down four Serb planes that had violated the U.N. no-fly zone in central Bosnia. The action came to be known as the Banja Luka incident.
In 2008, Prince Harry, third in line for the British throne, was pulled from the front lines in Afghanistan immediately after word got out that he was on army duty. He had spent 10 weeks in the war zone.
In 2013, Pope Benedict XVI officially stepped down as leader of the Roman Catholic Church, citing a "lack of strength of mind and body." He was the first pontiff to resign in nearly six centuries.
In 2024, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced he planned to step down as Republican leader after serving in the position for 17 years. On February 20, 2025, he said he won't seek re-election in 2026, ending four decades in the upper chamber.
A thought for the day: "Fear denies change ... And simple justice, the moral fuel of progress, makes change inevitable." -- American theologian Peter J. Gomes
