Pope Benedict XVI becomes first pope to resign in six centuries – Chicago Tribune

Today is Wednesday, February 28, the 59th day of 2024. There are 307 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On February 28, 2013, Benedict XVI became the first pope to resign in 600 years, ending his eight-year term as pope. (Benedict was succeeded by Pope Francis the following month.)

On this date:

In 1844, a 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton exploded while the ship was sailing on the Potomac River, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of the Navy Thomas W. Gilmer, and several others.

In 1849, the California gold rush began in earnest as regular steamboat services began bringing gold prospectors to San Francisco.

In 1911, President William Howard Taft nominated William H. Lewis to be the first Black Assistant Attorney General of the United States.

In 1953, scientists James D. Watson and Francis HC Crick announced that they had discovered the double helix structure of DNA.

In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai issued the Shanghai Declaration, calling for the normalization of relations between their countries at the end of Nixon’s historic visit to China.

In 1975, 42 people died when a train crashed into the end of the London Underground tunnel.

In 1993, a gunfight broke out at a religious compound near Waco, Texas, when agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms attempted to arrest Branch Davidian leader David Koresh on weapons charges; Four agents and six Davidians were killed, beginning a 51-day standoff.

In 1996, Britain’s Princess Diana agreed to divorce Prince Charles. (Their 15-year marriage officially ended in August 1996; Diana died in a car crash in Paris a year later.)

Paul Harvey, the news commentator and talk radio pioneer whose staccato style made him one of the country’s most familiar voices, died in Phoenix in 2009 at the age of 90.

In 2012, Republican Mitt Romney won the presidential primaries in Arizona and Michigan.

In a clear warning to Moscow in 2014, President Barack Obama expressed his deep concern about Russia’s military activities in Ukraine and warned that any intervention would “come with a price.”

As students and teachers returned to Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School under police guard in 2018, classes resumed for the first time since the shooting that left 17 people dead.

The number of countries affected by the coronavirus increased to approximately 60 in 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the week down 12.4%, the market’s worst weekly performance since the 2008 financial crisis.

In 2022, Russian forces shelled Ukraine’s second-largest city, shaking a residential area and approaching the capital Kiev in a 27-kilometer convoy of hundreds of tanks and other vehicles.

Today’s birthdays: Architect Frank Gehry is 95. Singer Sam the Sham is 87. Actor-director-dancer Tommy Tune is 85. Hall of Fame race car driver Mario Andretti is 84. Actor Kelly Bishop is 80. Actor Stephanie Beacham is 77. Writer-director Mike Figgis is 76. Actor Mercedes Ruehl is 76. Actor Bernadette Peters is 76. Former Energy Secretary Steven Chu is 76. Actor Ilene Graff is 75. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman is 71. Basketball Hall of Fame member Adrian Dantley is 69 years old. Actor John Turturro 67. Rock singer Cindy Wilson 67. Actor Rae Dawn Chong 63. Actor Maxine Bahns 55. Actor Robert Sean Leonard 55. Rock singer Pat Monahan 55. Writer Daniel Handler (also known as “Lemony Snicket”) 54. Actor Tasha Smith 53. Actor Rory Cochrane 52. Actor Ali Larter 48. Country singer Jason Aldean 47. Actor Geoffrey Arend 46. Actor Melanie Chandra (TV: “Code Black”) 40. Actor Michelle Horn 37, MLB relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman 36, Actor True O’Brien is 30, Actor Madisen Beaty is 29, Actor Quinn Shephard is 29, Actor Bobb’e J. Thompson is 28 years old.