Today in History

Today is Monday, Feb. 14, the 45th day of 2022. There are 320 days left in the year. This is Valentine's Day.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Feb. 14, 2018, a gunman identified as a former student opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, killing 17 people in the nation's deadliest school shooting since the attack in Newtown, Connecticut, more than five years earlier. (Nikolas Cruz pleaded guilty to murder in October 2021; a jury will decide whether he is to be executed.)

On this date:

In 1876, inventors Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray applied separately for patents related to the telephone. (The U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled Bell the rightful inventor.)

In 1912, Arizona became the 48th state of the Union as President William Howard Taft signed a proclamation.

In 1913, labor leader Jimmy Hoffa was born in Brazil, Indiana; college football coach Woody Hayes was born in Clifton, Ohio; sports broadcaster Mel Allen was born in Birmingham, Alabama.

In 1924, the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. of New York was formally renamed International Business Machines Corp., or IBM.

In 1929, the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" took place in a Chicago garage as seven rivals of Al Capone's gang were gunned down.

In 1945, during World War II, British and Canadian forces reached the Rhine River in Germany.

In 1967, Aretha Franklin recorded her cover of Otis Redding's "Respect" at Atlantic Records in New York.

In 1979, Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim extremists and killed in a shootout between his abductors and police.

In 1984, 6-year-old Stormie Jones became the world's first heart-liver transplant recipient when the surgery was performed at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (she lived until November 1990).

In 1989, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini called on Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses," a novel condemned as blasphemous.

In 2013, double-amputee Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, at his home in Pretoria, South Africa; he was later convicted of murder and is serving a 13-year prison term.

In 2020, after being stranded at sea for two weeks because five ports refused to allow their cruise ship to dock, passengers cheered as they left the MS Westerdam in Cambodia; the Holland America Line had said no cases of the coronavirus had been confirmed among passengers and crew. (An 83-year-old American woman who was on the ship and flew from Cambodia to Malaysia was later found to be carrying the virus.)

Ten years ago: A fire broke out at a farm prison in Honduras, killing 361 inmates. "Linsanity" continued as Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with less than a second to play and New York rallied to beat the Raptors 90-87, extending a winning streak to six games. Malachy the Pekingese won best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club in New York.

Five years ago: A former store clerk, Pedro Hernandez, was convicted in New York of murder in one of the nation's most haunting missing-child cases, nearly 38 years after 6-year-old Etan Patz (AY'-tahn payts) disappeared while on the way to a school bus stop. Authorities lifted an evacuation order for nearly 200,000 Northern California residents living below the Oroville Dam after declaring that the risk of catastrophic collapse of a damaged spillway had been significantly reduced.

One year ago: Japan formally approved its first COVID-19 vaccine and said it would start nationwide inoculations within days, but months behind the U.S. and many other countries. Vast numbers of people across Myanmar flouted orders against demonstrations to march again in protest against the military takeover that ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Today's Birthdays: Actor Andrew Prine is 86. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is 80. Jazz musician Maceo Parker is 79. Journalist Carl Bernstein is 78. Former Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., is 75. TV personality Pat O'Brien is 74. Magician Teller (Penn and Teller) is 74. Cajun singer-musician Michael Doucet (Beausoleil) is 71. Actor Ken Wahl is 65. Opera singer Renee Fleming is 63. Actor Meg Tilly is 62. Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Kelly is 62. Singer-producer Dwayne Wiggins is 61. Actor Sakina Jaffrey is 60. Actor Enrico Colantoni is 59. Actor Zach Galligan is 58. Actor Valente Rodriguez is 58. Former tennis player Manuela Maleeva is 55. Actor Simon Pegg is 52. Rock musician Kevin Baldes (Lit) is 50. Rock singer Rob Thomas (Matchbox Twenty) is 50. Former NFL quarterback Drew Bledsoe is 50. Actor Danai Gurira is 44. Actor Matt Barr is 38. Actor Stephanie Leonidas is 38. Actor Jake Lacy is 36. Actor Tiffany Thornton is 36. Actor Brett Dier is 32. Actor Freddie Highmore is 30.