BLASTS FROM THE PAST
Today’s highlight in history
On Feb. 13, 1996, the rock musical “Rent,” by Jonathan Larson, opened off-Broadway.
On this date
In 1861, Abraham Lincoln was officially declared winner of the 1860 presidential election as electors cast their ballots.
In 1914, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, also known as ASCAP, was founded in New York.
In 1920, the League of Nations recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.
In 1935, a jury in Flemington, N.J., found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of firstdegree murder in the kidnap-slaying of Charles A. Lindbergh Jr., the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was later executed.)
In 1960, France exploded its first atomic bomb in the Sahara Desert.
In 1980, the 13th Winter Olympics opened in Lake Placid, New York.
In 1991, during Operation Desert Storm, allied warplanes destroyed an underground shelter in Baghdad that had been identified as a military command center; Iraqi officials said 500 civilians were killed.
Ten years ago: Auditors reported that millions of dollars in Hurricane Katrina disaster aid had been squandered, paying for such items as a $450 tattoo and $375-a-day beachfront condos.
Five years ago: Lady Antebellum was the big winner at the Grammys with five awards, including record and song of the year for the band’s yearning crossover ballad “Need You Now,” but rockers Arcade Fire won the biggest prize, album of the year, for “The Suburbs.”
One year ago: Calling cyberspace the new “Wild West,” President Barack Obama told the private sector during a White House cybersecurity summit at Stanford University that it needed to do more to stop cyberattacks aimed at the U.S. every day.