POLICE STATE
1993 A gun battle erupted at a compound near Waco, Texas, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to serve warrants on the Branch Davidians; four agents and six Davidians were killed as a 51-day standoff began.
1994 Brady Law, imposing a wait-period to buy a hand-gun, went into effect.
WAR!
1847 US defeats México in battle of Sacramento.
1917 AP reports México & Japan will ally with Germany if US enters WWI.
TERRORISM
1982 FALN (PR Nationalist Group) bombs Wall Street.
2007 A federal judge in Miami ruled that suspected al-Qaida operative Jose Padilla was competent to stand trial on terrorism support charges, rejecting arguments that he was severely damaged by 3 1/2 years of interrogation and isolation in a military brig.
DISASTER
1704 Indians attack Deerfield MA, kill 40, kidnap 100.
1844 A 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer and several others.
1888 Ferry in San Pablo Bay explodes.
1956 13 die in a train crash in Swampscott MA.
1975 More than 40 people were killed in London's Underground when a subway train smashed into the end of a tunnel.
1997 Earthquake in Pakistan, kills 45.
SLEEPING
1646 Roger Scott was tried in Massachusetts for sleeping in church.
EXODUS
1879 "Exodus of 1879" southern blacks flee political/economic exploitation.
SEALS
1913 6.8-m, 4000-kg elephant seal killed, South Georgia (South Atlantic).
SMOOTH
1935 Nylon discovered by Dr Wallace H Carothers.
POGROMS
1988 Anti-Armenian pogrom in Azerbaijan, 30 killed.
KILLER WHALES
1977 1st killer whale born in captivity (Marineland, Los Angeles CA).
MAINSTREAM MEDIA
1940 1st televised basketball game (college game at NYC's Madison Square Garden-University of Pittsburgh beats Fordham U, 50-37).
1983 Final TV episode of "MASH" airs (CBS); record 125 million watch.
1984 26th Grammy Awards Beat It, Michael Jackson wins 8.
1989 Memo by Bryant Gumbel criticizing Today Show co-workers becomes public.
POPULATION
1940 US population at 131,669,275 (12,865,518 blacks (9.8%)).
SPIES
1997 FBI agent Earl Pitts pleads guilty to selling secrets to Russia.
DRUG WAR
1990 Dutch police seize 3,000 kg of cocaine.
NAZIS
1933 German President Von Hindenburg abolishes free expression of opinion. Hitler disallows German communist party (KPD).
GOLD!
1849 The California gold rush began in earnest as regular steamship service started bringing gold-seekers to San Francisco.
WITCHES
1692 Salem witch hunt begins.
PROGRESS
1827 The first U.S. railroad chartered to carry passengers and freight, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co., was incorporated by the state of Maryland. It ran from Baltimore to Wheeling, WV (then part of Virginia).
1970 Bicycles permitted to cross Golden Gate Bridge.
POLITICS
1854 Republican Party formally organized at Ripon WI.
1859 Arkansas legislature requires free blacks to choose exile or slavery.
1861 The Territories of Colorado and Nevada organized.
1961 JFK names Henry Kissinger special advisor.
MAFIA
1951 The Senate committee headed by Estes Kefauver, D-Tenn., issued an interim report saying at least two major crime syndicates were operating in the U.S.
PATENTS
1893 Edward Acheson, Pennsylvania, patents an abrasive he names "carborundum".
1956 Forrester issued a patent for computer core memory.
SHOOT-OUTS
1997 In North Hollywood, Calif., two heavily armed masked robbers bungled a bank heist and came out firing, unleashing their arsenal on police, bystanders, cars and TV choppers before they were killed.
NANNY STATE
1871 2nd Enforcement Act gives federal control of congressional elections.
1997 Smokers must prove they are over 18 to purchase cigarettes in US.
1998 In their weekly radio addresses, President Clinton and the Republicans sparred over education, with Clinton describing tests showing American high school students lagging behind those of other industrial nations as a "wake-up call" while the Republicans blamed the disappointing results on a "hungry bureaucracy in Washington" that gobbled up education funds.
2003 The Food and Drug Administration announced that every bottle of ephedra would soon bear stern warnings that the popular herb could cause heart attacks or strokes, even kill.
ATHEISTS
2003 The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stood by its ruling that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was unconstitutional because of the words "under God."
REVOLT
1708 Slave revolt, Newton, Long Island NY, 11 die.
ECONOMY
1982 AT&T looses record $7 BILLION for fiscal year ending on this day.
2007 Wall Street rebounded fitfully from the previous session's 416-point plunge in the Dow industrials as investors took comfort from comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that he still expected moderate economic growth.
SCIENCE
1953 Scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announced they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the human genes.
2003 NASA released video taken aboard Columbia that had miraculously survived the fiery destruction of the space shuttle with the loss of all seven astronauts; in the footage, four of the crew members can be seen doing routine chores and admiring the view outside the cockpit.
ASSASSINATION
1908 Failed assassination attempt on Shah Mohammed Ali in Teheran.
1986 Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot to death in central Stockholm.
BORN
1824 Charles Blondin France, acrobat/aerialist.
1928 Smokey The Bear.
1943 Donny Iris, singer.
BIRTHDAYS
Actor Charles Durning is 85. Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of Josef Stalin, is 82. Actor Gavin MacLeod is 77. Actor Don Francks is 76. Actor-director-dancer Tommy Tune is 69. Auto racer Mario Andretti is 68. Singer Joe South is 68. Actor Frank Bonner is 66. Actress Kelly Bishop is 64. Football player Bubba Smith is 63. Actress Stephanie Beacham is 61. Actress Mercedes Ruehl is 60. Actress Bernadette Peters is 60. Comedian Gilbert Gottfried is 53. Basketball player Adrian Dantley is 52. Actor John Turturro is 51. Rock singer Cindy Wilson is 51. Actress Rae Dawn Chong is 47. Actor Robert Sean Leonard is 39. Rock singer Pat Monahan is 39. Actress Maxine Bahns is 37. Country singer Jason Aldean is 31. Actor Bobb'e J. Thompson is 12.
DEATH
1966 Charles A Bassett II astronaut, dies in a crash of T-38 jet at 34.
1966 Elliot McKay See Jr astronaut, dies in T-38 jet crash at 38.
1977 Eddie "Rochester" Anderson comedian (Jack Benny Show), dies at 71.
2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. died in New York at age 89.
February 28, the 59th day of 2008. There are 307 days left in the year.
compiled by Mondoreb
image: crimtrials
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
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