Today is Saturday, Feb. 25, the 56th day of 2017. There are 309 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Feb. 25, 1913, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, was declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.
On this date:
In 1836, inventor Samuel Colt patented his revolver.
In 1905, the Upton Sinclair novel "The Jungle" was first published in serial form by the Appeal to Reason newspaper.
In 1922, French serial killer Henri Landru, convicted of murdering 10 women and the son of one of them, was executed in Versailles (vehr-SY').
In 1940, a National Hockey League game was televised for the first time by New York City station W2XBS as the New York Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 6-2, at Madison Square Garden.
In 1956, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev harshly criticized the late Josef Stalin in a speech before a Communist Party congress in Moscow.
In 1957, the Supreme Court, in Butler v. Michigan, overturned a Michigan statute making it a misdemeanor to sell books containing obscene language that would tend to corrupt "the morals of youth." Chicago gangster George "Bugs" Moran, a rival of Al Capone, died in prison at age 63.
In 1964, Eastern Airlines Flight 304, a DC-8, crashed shortly after taking off from New Orleans International Airport, killing all 58 on board. Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) became world heavyweight boxing champion as he defeated Sonny Liston in Miami Beach.
In 1977, the ice hockey comedy "Slap Shot" starring Paul Newman was released by Universal Pictures.
In 1986, President Ferdinand Marcos fled the Philippines after 20 years of rule in the wake of a tainted election; Corazon Aquino assumed the presidency.
In 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, 28 Americans were killed when an Iraqi Scud missile hit a U.S. barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
In 1994, an American-born Jewish settler opened fire with an automatic rifle inside the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the West Bank, killing 29 Muslims before he was beaten to death by worshippers.
In 1997, a jury in Media, Pennsylvania, convicted chemical fortune heir John E. du Pont of third-degree murder, deciding he was mentally ill when he shot and killed world-class wrestler David Schultz. (Du Pont died in prison in Dec. 2010 while serving a 13- to 30-year sentence; he was 72.)
