Today is the 46th day of 2015 and the 57th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1898, the U.S. battleship Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor in Cuba, ultimately leading the United States to declare war on Spain.

In 1961, the U.S. figure skating team was killed in a plane crash in Belgium.

In 1972, sound recordings were granted U.S. federal copyright protection.

In 2001, the first draft of the complete human genome was published in the scientific journal Nature.

In 2013, a meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk Oblast in Russia, injuring 1,500 people and damaging 7,200 buildings in six cities.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), scientist; Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906), activist; Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922), explorer; Harold Arlen (1905-1986), songwriter; Jane Seymour (1951- ), actress; Matt Groening (1954- ), animator/screenwriter; Chris Farley (1964-1997), actor/comedian; Jaromir Jagr (1972- ), hockey player; Amber Riley (1986- ), singer/actress; Zachary Gordon (1998- ), actor.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1998, after 19 losses, Dale Earnhardt Sr. won his first and only Daytona 500.

TODAY'S FACT: "The Simpsons," created by Matt Groening and currently in its 26th season, is the longest-running American sitcom.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation." -- Susan B. Anthony

TODAY'S NUMBER: 12,750 -- total length, in miles, of sidewalks in New York City.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Feb. 11) and new moon (Feb. 18).

Today is the 45th day of 2015 and the 56th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1779, British explorer James Cook was killed on the island of Hawaii.

In 1859, Oregon was admitted as the 33rd U.S. state

In 1912, Arizona was admitted as the 48th U.S. state.

In 1929, seven mob associates were shot and killed in a Chicago garage in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

In 2003, Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, was euthanized at the age of 6.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Jack Benny (1894-1974), actor/comedian; Mel Allen (1913-1996), sports broadcaster; Herbert Hauptman (1917-2011), mathematician; Florence Henderson (1934- ), actress; Michael Bloomberg (1942- ), business magnate/politician; Gregory Hines (1946-2003), dancer/actor; Jim Kelly (1960- ), football player; Meg Tilly (1960- ), actress; Simon Pegg (1970- ), actor; Rob Thomas (1972- ), singer-songwriter; Steve McNair (1973-2009), football player; Freddie Highmore (1994- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: The U.S. Congress approved the use of voting machines in federal elections on this day in 1899.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1988, Bobby Allison became the oldest driver (age 50) to win the Daytona 500, while his son Davey finished second. It was the race's first 1-2 father-son finish.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "We are never more creative than when we are at odds with the world and there is nothing so artistically destructive as comfort." -- Simon Pegg

TODAY'S NUMBER: $5 -- Hall of Fame baseball broadcaster Mel Allen's per-game salary when he became the New York Yankees' radio announcer in 1935.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Feb. 11) and new moon (Feb. 18).

Today is the 44th day of 2015 and the 55th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1866, Jesse James held up his first bank.

In 1945, Allied aircraft began bombing the German city of Dresden.

In 1960, France successfully detonated its first atomic bomb.

In 2000, the last of Charles Schulz's original "Peanuts" comic strips ran in Sunday papers, one day after the cartoonist's death.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Grant Wood (1891-1942), artist; Tennessee Ernie Ford (1919-1991), singer/actor; Chuck Yeager (1923- ), aviator; Kim Novak (1933- ), actress; Stockard Channing (1944- ), actress; Jerry Springer (1944- ), TV personality; Peter Gabriel (1950- ), singer-songwriter; Henry Rollins (1961- ), singer-songwriter; Robbie Williams (1974- ), singer-songwriter; Randy Moss (1977- ), football player; Mena Suvari (1979- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: The central event of author Kurt Vonnegut's celebrated novel "Slaughterhouse-Five" is the Allied bombing of the city of Dresden during World War II. Estimates of civilian casualties from the bombings range from 35,000 to 135,000.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1920, the Negro National League was established at a YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri, becoming the first black professional baseball league.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Most pilots learn, when they pin on their wings and go out and get in a fighter, especially, that one thing you don't do, you don't believe anything anybody tells you about an airplane." -- Chuck Yeager

TODAY'S NUMBER: 300 -- estimated number of nuclear weapons in France's stockpile as of June 2014.

TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Feb. 11) and new moon (Feb. 18).