Today in history

On Feb. 17, 1801, the House of Representatives broke an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, electing Jefferson president; Burr became vice president.

In1817 a street in Baltimore becamethe first to be lighted with gas from America’s first gas company.

In1933 Newsweek was first published.

In 1944 in World War II, U.S. forces attacked Japanese held Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

In 1965 the U. S. spacecraft Ranger Eight was launched from Cape Kennedy, and madea crash-landing on the moon three days later after sending back more than 7,000pictures.

In1976 President Gerald Ford told a Washington news conference that former California Gov. Ronald Reagan was too conservative to be elected president. (Four years later, Ford would support Reagan’s successful presidential campaign.)

In1992 serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced in Milwaukee to life in prison. (Hewas beaten to death in prison inNovember1994.)

In1993 a ferry carrying up to 1,500 people sank off Haiti; only 285 people were known to have survived.

In 2002 the new Transportation Security Administration took over supervision of aviation security fromthe airline industry and the Federal Aviation Administration.

In 2006 Harry Whittington, the lawyer shot by Vice President Dick Cheney while quail hunting, left a Corpus Christi, Texas, hospital, saying “accidents do and will happen.”

In 2014 a U. N. report detailed North Korean brutality and possible crimes against humanity. A three-page letter accompanying the 400-page report warned leader Kim Jong Unhe could be held responsible for atrocities committed by underlings. Also in 2014, Jimmy Fallon took over as host of “The Tonight Show.”