Moments in Time – February 8, 2023

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• On Feb. 25, 1570, Pope Pius V declared England’s Queen Elizabeth I a heretic and excommunicated her from the Roman Catholic Church by way of a papal bull releasing Catholics from any loyalty to her and calling upon them to remove her from the throne.
• On Feb. 22, 1879, Frank Winfield Woolworth opened the Great 5 Cents Store (later Woolworth’s) in Utica, New York. Originally promising that nothing would cost more than a nickel, the chain expanded over the next 50 years to 1,000 stores, but retail market changes eventually forced the last U.S. shop to permanently close in 1997.
• On Feb. 21, 1933, Miriam A. “Ma” Ferguson, who made history by becoming the first woman governor of Texas, announced that Feb. 26 through March 4 would be officially known as “Texas Week.” The state’s Independence Day, March 2, falls in this period.
• On Feb. 26, 1951, American novelist James Jones published “From Here to Eternity,” about the U.S. Army in Hawaii before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. It was later memorably adapted into an Academy Award-winning movie featuring such Hollywood luminaries as Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster, Donna Reed and Montgomery Clift.
• On Feb. 20, 1962, the NASA spaceship Friendship 7, named and piloted by Marine Lieutenant John Glenn, was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the first complete orbit around Earth made by an American astronaut.
• On Feb. 23, 1997, the three-and-a-half-hour Holocaust drama “Schindler’s List” aired commercial-free on the NBC television network. Seen by 60 million people, it was the first film to display TV Guide’s rating of TV-MA (unsuitable for children under 17), due to scenes of violence and brief nudity, which also sparked some political controversy.
• On Feb. 24, 2020, American film producer Harvey Weinstein’s career came to a disgraceful end amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assault when he was convicted of rape and a criminal sex act. Many people, especially women, viewed the verdict as a victory for the burgeoning #MeToo movement, which sought to assist survivors of sexual assault.

© 2023 King Features Synd., Inc.