DAILY ALMANAC
Today is Saturday, Feb. 18, the 49th day of 2023. There are 316 days left in the year. On this date in:
1564: Michelangelo died in Rome at age 88.
1885: Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was published in the U.S. for the first time (after being published in Britain and Canada).
1970: The “Chicago Seven” defendants were found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention; five were convicted of violating the Anti-riot Act of 1968 (those convictions were later reversed).
1983: Thirteen people were shot to death at a gambling club in Seattle’s Chinatown in what became known as the Wah Mee Massacre. (Two men were convicted of the killings and were sentenced to life in prison; a third was found guilty of robbery and assault.)
1984: Italy and the Vatican signed an accord under which Roman Catholicism ceased to be the state religion of Italy.
1988: Anthony M. Kennedy was sworn in as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
1994: At the Winter Olympic Games in Norway, U.S. speedskater Dan Jansen finally won a gold medal, breaking the world record in the 1,000 meters.
2001: Veteran FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested, accused of spying for Russia. (Hanssen later pleaded guilty to espionage and attempted espionage and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.)
Auto racing star Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in a crash at the Daytona 500; he was 49.
2003: An arson attack involving two South Korean subway trains in the city of Daegu claimed 198 lives.
2016: In what was seen as a criticism of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Pope Francis said that a person who advocated building walls was “not Christian.”
Vocalist Yoko Ono is 90. Singer Herman Santiago of Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers is 82. Singer Irma Thomas is 82. Actor Jess Walton (“The Young and the Restless”) is 77. Singer Dennis Deyoung (Styx) is 76. Actor Cybill
Shepherd is 73. Singer Randy Crawford is 71. Actor John Travolta is 69. Actor John Pankow (“Mad About You”) is 68. Game show hostess Vanna White (“Wheel of Fortune”) is 66. Actor Jayne Atkinson (“Criminal Minds”) is 64. Actor Greta Scacchi is 63. Actor Matt Dillon is 59. Rapper Dr. Dre is 58. Actor Molly Ringwald is 55. Guitarist-keyboardist Trevor Rosen of Old Dominion is 48. Actor Ike Barinholtz (“The Mindy Project”) is 46. Actor Kristoffer Polaha (“Ringer,” “Life Unexpected”) is 46. Guitarist Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek is 46. Actor Tyrone Burton (“The Parent ’Hood”) is 44.