GOOD MORNING – TODAY IS THURSDAY, February 19, the 49th day of 2015 with 315 to follow. Sunrise in the Boston area is @ 6:36 and sunset is @ 5:20. The moon is waxing. The morning stars are stars are Mercury, & Saturn. The evening stars are Jupiter, Mars, Neptune, Uranus & Venus.

ON THIS DAY IN: 1807 – Aaron Burr, former US vice president, was arrested in Alabama on charges of plotting to annex Spanish territory in Louisiana and Mexico to be used toward the establishment of an independent republic. He was acquitted on the grounds that, although he had conspired against the United States, he was not guilty of treason because he had not engaged in an “overt act,” a requirement of treason as specified by the Constitution of the United States of America.

1861 – Russian czar Alexander II abolished serfdom.
1878 – Thomas Edison received a patent for his phonograph.
1881 – Kansas became the first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.
1906 – William Kellogg established the Battle Creek Toasted Cornflake Company, selling breakfast cereals. The cereals were originally developed as a health food for psychiatric patients.
1922 – Ed Wynn became the first big-name vaudeville entertainer to sign on as a radio talent.
1942 – President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order that relocated Japanese-Americans to remote internment camps, which lasted for about 2.5 years.
1945 – Around 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima where they began a month-long battle to take the island from the Japanese in World War II.
1959 – An agreement was signed by Britain, Turkey, and Greece granting independence to Cyprus.
1982 – Ozzy Osbourne was arrested for urinating on The Alamo.
1985 – Cherry Coke was introduced by the Coca-Cola Company.
1986 – The Soviet Union launches the Mir (Мир, which can mean both “world” and “peace” in Russian) space station.
2001 – An Oklahoma City bombing museum is dedicated at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
2005 – The USS Jimmy Carter, the third and last of the Seawolf-class submarines, was commissioned at Groton, Conn.
2006 – The Rolling Stones stage the world’s largest rock concert at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2008 – After a lengthy illness, Fidel Castro announced he is stepping down as president of Cuba.