Today in History for Feb. 18:
On this date:
In 1546, Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, died.
In 1564, Michelangelo Buonarroti, the Italian Renaissance artist whose works include the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, died in Rome.
In 1678, Puritan preacher John Bunyan published "The Pilgrim's Progress," the best-selling book (apart from the Bible) in history.
In 1685, French explorer La Salle established the first settlement in what would become the state of Texas.
In 1688, the Quaker community in Germantown, Pa., issued the first formal North American protest of slavery.
In 1885, Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published in the U.S. for the first time. The book had made its debut the previous year in Canada and Britain.
In 1915, Germany officially began its submarine blockade of Britain during the First World War.
In 1930, photographic evidence of Pluto (now designated a "dwarf planet") was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.
In 1953, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz signed the most lucrative TV contract to date -- three years of "I Love Lucy" for $8 million.
In 1970, the Chicago Seven defendants were found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 U.S. Democratic Party convention. Five were later convicted individually of seeking to incite a riot, but those convictions were overturned on appeal.
In 1977, the space shuttle "Enterprise," sitting atop a Boeing 747, went on its maiden "flight" above California's Mojave Desert.
In 1980, Pierre Trudeau's Liberals were re-elected with a majority government after nine months out of office. Only a few weeks earlier, Trudeau had announced he was retiring as Liberal leader. The Liberals ousted a minority Conservative government led by Joe Clark, Canada's youngest prime minister. Trudeau remained in office until retiring in 1984.
In 1980, Israel opened an embassy in Egypt, its first in an Arab country.
In 1984, Italy and the Vatican signed an agreement under which Roman Catholicism ceased to be the state religion of Italy.
In 1995, Russian President Boris Yeltsin banned alcohol and tobacco advertising in an effort to reduce the country's death and illness rates.
In 2001, seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in a crash during the final lap of the Daytona 500. He was 49.
In 2002, Sears said its Eatons stores would be closed or converted to Sears outlets, spelling the end of the 133-year-old Eatons brand.
In 2002, longtime CTV News anchor Harvey Kirck died in Toronto at age 73.
In 2003, a mentally-ill man ignited a blaze in a subway car in Daegu, South Korea's third-largest city, killing an estimated 194 people and injuring 146. The man survived and was sentenced to life in prison. The conductor apparently fled the scene without making sure the doors were open.
In 2009, the Montreal Canadiens organization played its 6,000th game, including 150 in the National Hockey Association from 1910-17. The franchise was founded on Dec. 4, 1909.
In 2010, Canadian Christine Nesbitt overcame a poor start to capture the Olympic gold medal in the women's 1,000-metre long-track speedskating race at the Vancouver Games.
In 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected a $10-million damage award for widows of the miners slain during Yellowknife's bitter 1992 Giant Mine dispute, striking down earlier rulings that found government, unions and private security forces all bore some responsibility for one of Canada's worst outbreaks of labour violence.
In 2010, John Babcock, the last known veteran of Canada's First World War army, died in Spokane, Wa., where he had lived since 1932. He was 109. He was the last link to the over 600,000 Canadians who enlisted to serve.
In 2011, Mark Edward Grant was convicted of second-degree murder in the 1984 freezing death of 13-year-old Candace Derksen. (He was later sentenced to 25 years in jail before eligible for parole. But in 2013, the Manitoba Court of Appeal overturned the conviction. In March 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the appeal court ruling and the Crown elected to seek a new judge-only trial, which began on Jan. 16, 2017. He was found not guilty and the Crown did not appeal.)
In 2012, Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins was among 22 men elevated to the position of cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. Collins became the 16th Canadian to reach that elite level.
In 2018, Quebec City freestyle skier Alex Beaulieu-Marchand captured bronze in the men's slopestyle competition at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
In 2018, Austin Dillon won the 60th running of the Daytona 500, capturing the race by leading only the final lap after surviving a 12-car melee with two laps remaining.
In 2019, Gerald Butts, Justin Trudeau's principal secretary and long-time friend, resigned amid allegations that the Prime Minister's Office interfered to prevent criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin. Butts released a statement in which he categorically denied the accusation that he or anyone else in the PMO improperly pressured former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to help the Montreal engineering giant avoid prosecution on corruption and bribery charges related to contracts in Libya. While he said the accusation simply wasn't true, it was distracting from the vital work Trudeau was doing.
In 2020, The Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy protection amid an avalanche of new sex-abuse lawsuits.
In 2020, Canadian National Railway announced temporarily layoffs for about 450 workers at its operations in Eastern Canada due to protest blockades. CN said the layoffs affected operational staff, calling the situation "regrettable."
In 2020, the NDP government of BC introduced its 2020 budget with millions set aside for public schools, post-secondary education, health care and climate action.
In 2021, a NASA rover streaked through the orange Martian sky and landed on the planet — the riskiest step yet in an epic quest to bring back rocks that could answer whether life ever existed on Mars. Ground controllers at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California cheered and exchanged fist bumps and high-fives in triumph and relief.
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(The Canadian Press)
The Canadian Press
