TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY IS THURSDAY, FEB. 2, the 33rd day of 2023. There are 332 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1990, in a concession to South Africa’s Black majority, President F.W. de Klerk lifted a ban on the African National Congress and promised to free Nelson Mandela.
In 1887, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, held its first Groundhog Day festival. In 1913, New York City’s rebuilt Grand Central Terminal officially opened to the public at one minute past midnight.
In 1925, the legendary Alaska Serum Run ended as the last of a series of dog mushers brought a life-saving treatment to Nome, scene of a diphtheria epidemic, six days after the drug left Nenana.
In 1948, President Harry S. Truman sent a civil rights program to Congress, where the proposals ran into fierce opposition. In 2006, House Republicans elected John Boehner of Ohio their new majority leader to replace the indicted Tom DeLay. In 2016, health officials reported that a person in Texas had been infected with the Zika virus through sex in the first case of the illness being transmitted within the United States.
In 2017, police stormed Delaware’s largest prison, ending a nearly 20-hour hostage standoff with inmates; one hostage, a guard, was killed.
In 2020, the Philippines reported that a 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan had died in a Manila hospital from the new coronavirus; it was the first death from the virus recorded outside of China.
TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS: Comedian Tom Smothers is 86. Rock singerguitarist Graham Nash is 81. Actors Jack McGee and Brent Spiner, and rock musician Ross Valory (Journey) are 74. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and the former president of South Korea, Park Geun-hye, are 71. Model Christie Brinkley is 69. Actors Michael Talbott and Kim Zimmer are 68. Actorcomedian Adam Ferrara and rock musician Robert DeLeo are 57. Actor Jennifer Westfeldt is 53. Rapper T-Mo is 51. Actor Marissa Jaret Winokur is 50. Actor Lori Beth Denberg is 47. Singer Shakira is 46. Actor Rich Sommer is 45. Country singer Blaine Larsen is 37. Actor Zosia Mamet is 35.