TODAY IN HISTORY
Today is Saturday, Feb. 25, the 56th day of 2023. There are 309 days left in the year.
ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
On Feb. 25, 1964, Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) became world heavyweight boxing champion as he defeated Sonny Liston in Miami Beach.
1913 — The 16th Amendment to the US Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.
1919 — Oregon became the first state to tax gasoline, at one cent per gallon.
1954 — Gamal Abdel Nasser became Egypt’s prime minister after the country’s president, Mohammed Naguib, was effectively ousted in a coup.
1957 — The Supreme Court, in Butler v. Michigan, overturned a Michigan statute making it a misdemeanor to sell books containing obscene language that would tend to corrupt “the morals of youth.”
1986 — President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.
1991 — During the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a US barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
1994 — American-born Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein opened fire with an automatic rifle inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank, killing 29 Muslims before he was beaten to death by worshippers.
2010 — In Vancouver, the Canadian women beat the United States 2-0 for their third straight Olympic hockey title.
2020 — US health officials warned that the Coronavirus was certain to spread more widely in the United States; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged Americans to be prepared.
One year ago — President Joe Biden nominated federal appeals court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, making her the first Black woman selected to serve on it. (She would be confirmed by the Senate on April 7.)
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS
Actor Ann McCrea is 92. Actor Tom Courtenay is 86. Former CBS newsman Bob Schieffer is 86. Actor Diane Baker is 85. Actor Karen Grassle is 81. Former talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael is 81. Former professional wrestler Ric Flair is 74. Humorist Jack Handey is 74. Movie director Neil Jordan is 73. Rock singer-musician/actor John Doe (X) is 70. Rock musician Dennis Diken (The Smithereens) is
66. Rock singer-musician Mike Peters (The Alarm; Big Country) is 64. Comedian Carrot Top is 58. Model and actor Veronica Webb is 58. Actor Alexis Denisof is 57. Actor Tea Leoni is 57. Actor Lesley Boone is 55. Actor Sean Astin is 52. Singer Daniel Powter is
52. Latin singer Julio Iglesias Jr. is 50. R&B singer Justin Jeffre is
50. Actor Anson Mount is 50. Comedian-actor Chelsea Handler is 48. Actor Rashida Jones is 47. Country singer Shawna Thompson (Thompson Square) is 45. Actor Justin Berfield is 37. Actors James and Oliver Phelps (“Harry Potter” movies) are 37. Actor Jameela Jamil is 37.