Today in History

Today is Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18, the 49th day of 2015. There are 316 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Feb. 18, 1885, Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was published in the U.S. for the first time (after already being published in Britain and Canada).

On this date:

In 1546, Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, died in Eisleben.

In 1564, artist Michelangelo Buonarroti died in Rome, just weeks before his 89th birthday.

In 1861, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as provisional president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Alabama.

In 1930, photographic evidence of Pluto (now designated a "dwarf planet") was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona.

In 1943, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the wife of the Chinese leader, addressed members of the Senate and then the House, becoming the first Chinese national to address both houses of the U.S. Congress.

In 1953, "Bwana Devil," the movie that heralded the 3D fad of the 1950s, had its New York opening.

In 1960, the 8th Winter Olympic Games were formally opened in Squaw Valley, California, by Vice President Richard M. Nixon.

In 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).

In 1995, the NAACP replaced veteran chairman William Gibson with Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers.

In 2001, auto racing star Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in a crash at the Daytona 500; he was 49.

Ten years ago: Explosions tore through Baghdad and a nearby city on the eve of Shiite Muslims' holiest day, killing three dozen people. Uli Derickson, the flight attendant who'd helped save passengers during the 1985 TWA hijacking, died in Tucson, Arizona, at age 60.

Five years ago: In Austin, Texas, software engineer A. Joseph Stack III crashed his single-engine plane into a building containing IRS offices, killing one person besides himself. President Barack Obama personally welcomed the Dalai Lama to the White House, but kept the get-together off camera and low key in an attempt to avoid inflaming tensions with China. In Vancouver, Evan Lysacek became the first U.S. man to win the Olympic gold medal since Brian Boitano in 1988, shocking everyone by upsetting defending champion Evgeni Plushenko.

One year ago: Defiant protesters shouted "Glory to Ukraine!" as burning tents lit up the night sky after thousands of riot police moved against the sprawling protest camp in the center of Kiev. Megan Rice, an 84-year-old nun, was sentenced in Knoxville, Tennessee, to nearly three years in prison for breaking into a nuclear weapons complex and defacing a bunker holding bomb-grade uranium, a demonstration that exposed serious security flaws at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (Two other activists received sentences of just over five years.) Jorrit Bergsma set an Olympic record and led another Dutch speedskating sweep, winning the 10,000 meters at Sochi with an upset of countryman Sven Kramer in 12:44.45, eclipsing the Olympic record of 12:58.55. Maria Franziska von Trapp, 99, the last surviving member of the seven original Trapp Family Singers of "Sound of Music" fame (and stepdaughter of "the" Maria von Trapp), died in Stowe, Vermont.

Thought for Today: "Temperament is temper that is too old to spank." — Charlotte Greenwood, American actress-comedian (1893-1978).

(Above Advance for Use Wednesday, Feb. 18)