Today in Background | Wellness & Health

Right now is Friday, Feb. 18, the 49th working day of 2022. There are 316 days remaining in the calendar year.

Today’s Spotlight in History:

On Feb. 18, 2001, automobile racing star Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in a crash at the Daytona 500 he was 49.

In 1564, artist Michelangelo died in Rome.

In 1885, Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was revealed in the U.S. for the to start with time (just after being printed in Britain and Canada).

In 1970, the “Chicago Seven” defendants have been observed not responsible of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic nationwide conference five had been convicted of violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968 (these convictions ended up later reversed).

In 1972, the California Supreme Courtroom struck down the state’s dying penalty.

In 1983, 13 individuals ended up shot to death at a gambling club in Seattle’s Chinatown in what became acknowledged as the Wah Mee Massacre. (Two adult males were being convicted of the killings and had been sentenced to everyday living in prison a third was uncovered guilty of robbery and assault.)

In 1984, Italy and the Vatican signed an accord less than which Roman Catholicism ceased to be the condition faith of Italy.

In 1988, Anthony M. Kennedy was sworn in as an affiliate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1994, at the Winter Olympic Video games in Norway, U.S. speedskater Dan Jansen ultimately won a gold medal, breaking the environment record in the 1,000 meters.

In 2001, veteran FBI agent Robert Philip Hanssen was arrested, accused of spying for Russia. (Hanssen later on pleaded guilty to espionage and tried espionage and was sentenced to lifetime in jail without the possibility of parole.)

In 2003, an arson assault involving two South Korean subway trains in the town of Daegu claimed 198 lives. (The arsonist was sentenced to life in jail, exactly where he died in 2004.)

In 2016, in what was found as a criticism of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Pope Francis mentioned that a man or woman who advocated developing partitions was “not Christian” Trump rapidly retorted it was “disgraceful” to dilemma a person’s faith. (A Vatican spokesman stated the upcoming working day that the pope’s remark was not supposed as a “personal attack” on Trump.)

In 2020, President Donald Trump commuted the 14-year jail sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich for political corruption Blagojevich still left prison hrs later on and returned residence to Chicago. (Trump also issued pardons or clemency to previous New York Town law enforcement commissioner Bernie Kerik, financier Michael Milken and a extensive listing of other individuals.)

10 a long time in the past: A star-studded funeral services was held for pop singer Whitney Houston at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, a week immediately after her loss of life at age 48. Syrian stability forces fired reside rounds and tear gas at hundreds of persons marching in a funeral procession that turned into a single of the major protests in Damascus due to the fact the 11-month rebellion in opposition to President Bashar Assad commenced.

Five several years back: Norma McCorvey, whose lawful challenge beneath the pseudonym “Jane Roe” led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark selection that legalized abortion but who afterwards grew to become an outspoken opponent of the technique, died in Katy, Texas, at age 69. Omar Abdel-Rahman, the so-identified as “Blind Sheik” convicted of plotting terror assaults in the United States in the 1990s, died at a federal prison in North Carolina where he was serving a life sentence he was 78.

One year back: Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who had flown with his family members to a holiday vacation in Mexico as his condition dealt with a deadly winter storm that crippled the electric power grid, returned residence a working day later and explained the excursion as “obviously a miscalculation.” Bob Dole, a 97-yr-outdated former longtime senator and the 1996 Republican presidential nominee, stated he’d been diagnosed with Phase 4 lung cancer. (Dole died in December 2021.) Health officers noted that existence expectancy in the United States had dropped by one calendar year for the duration of the initially half of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic caused its very first wave of fatalities. Naomi Osaka stopped Serena Williams’ most recent bid for a document-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title in the Australian Open semifinals.

Today’s Birthdays: Singer Yoko Ono is 89. Singer-songwriter Bobby Hart is 83. Singer Irma Thomas is 81. Singer Herman Santiago (Frankie Lymon and the Adolescents) is 81. Actor Jess Walton is 76. Singer Dennis DeYoung is 75. Actor Sinead Cusack is 74. Actor Cybill Shepherd is 72. Singer Randy Crawford is 70. Rock musician Robbie Bachman is 69. Actor John Travolta is 68. Actor John Pankow is 67. Recreation present host Vanna White is 65. Actor Jayne Atkinson is 63. Actor Greta Scacchi (SKAH’-kee) is 62. Actor Matt Dillon is 58. Rock musician Tommy Scott (Room) is 58. Rapper Dr. Dre is 57. Actor Molly Ringwald is 54. Actor Sarah Brown is 47. State musician Trevor Rosen (Aged Dominion) is 47. Actor Ike Barinholtz is 45. Actor Kristoffer Polaha is 45. Singer-musician Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek) is 45. Rock-singer musician Regina Spektor is 42. Opera singer Isabel Leonard is 40. Roots rock musician Zac Cockrell (Alabama Shakes) is 34. Actor Shane Lyons is 34. Actor Sarah Sutherland is 34. Actor Maiara Walsh is 34.