Gunman kills 6 in shootings in Mississippi, North Korea reportedly fires missile into the sea, and more morning headlines

1928 — At Moritz, Switzerland, Sonja Henie becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating champion. At 15 years and 315 days, easily beats Austria’s Fritzi Burger and American Beatrix Loughran.

1932 — Sonja Henie wins her sixth straight World Figure Skating title.

Sonja Henie practices in Oslo, Norway, Jan. 24, 1928. Henie will compete in the Figure Skating Ladies Single at the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in St. Moritz. (AP Photo)

1944 — One day after playing in a high school basketball game, 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall signs with the Cincinnati Reds.

Joe Nuxhall, age 15, is shown in a Cincinnati Reds uniform in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 10, 1944, when he entered a game and pitched two-thirds of an inning to become the youngest player to ever participate in a major league game. (AP Photo)

1973 — Richard Petty wins his fourth Daytona 500. Petty gets two breaks when Cale Yarborough blows his engine on the 153rd lap and Baker blows his engine with 15 miles to go.

Richard Petty and Bobby Allison, rear, give a push to Cale Yarborough after his racer stopped as he was returning to the garage area after a practice run for the Daytona 500 stock car race Feb. 18, 1973. (AP Photo)

1990 — Dale Earnhardt blows a tire with one mile remaining in the Daytona 500, giving unheralded Derrike Cope the biggest upset in stock car racing history.

Derrike Cope drives his Chevrolet across the finish line ahead of Terry Labonte's Oldsmobile to win the Daytona 500, Sunday, Feb. 18, 1990. (AP Photo/Mark Foley)

1994 — After numerous Olympic setbacks, American speedskater Dan Jansen breaks his jinx by winning the gold in the 1000-meter race at the Lillehammer Winter Games.

American speed skater Dan Jansen of Greenfield, Wis., exults after winning the gold medal in the men?s 1,000 meter speedskating race on Friday, Feb. 18, 1994 at Hamar Olympic Hall in Hamar, Norway. Jansen set a world record in his performance in 1 minute, 12:43 seconds. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

2006 — Shani Davis becomes the first Black athlete to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history, capturing the men’s 1,000-meter speedskating race. Joey Cheek makes it a 1-2 American finish at the Turin Games.

United States Shani Davis, from Chicago, Ill., races on his way to the gold medal during the Winter Olympics men's 1,000 meter speedskating competition at the Oval Lingotto in Turin, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006. (AP Photo/Jasper Juinen)

2010 — Figure skater Evan Lysacek becomes the first U.S. man to win the Olympic gold medal since Brian Boitano in 1988, shocking everyone with an upset of defending champion Evgeni Plushenko.

In this Feb. 18, 2010 file photo, Evan Lysacek waves the U.S. flag during the victory ceremony after winning the gold medal in the men's free program figure skating competition at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

2001 — Dale Earnhardt, the greatest stock car star of his era, is killed in a crash on the last turn of the last lap of the Daytona 500 as he tries to protect Michael Waltrip’s victory.

In this Feb. 18, 2001, file photo, Dale Earnhardt's (3) window pops out of the car after being hit by Ken Schrader (36) during the Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Greg Suvino, File)

2012 — Shenneika Smith’s 3-pointer from the wing with 8 seconds left lifts St. John’s to a 57-56 win over No. 2 Connecticut, snapping the Huskies’ 99-game home court winning streak. It’s the Huskies’ first home loss to an unranked opponent in nearly 19 years.

St. John's Shenneika Smith, right, runs for the basket while pursued by Connecticut's Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis in the second half of an NCAA women's college basketball game at Storrs, Conn., Saturday, Feb. 18, 2012. St. John's defeated Connecticut 57-56. (AP Photo/Bob Child)

2013 — Brittney Griner scores 25 points, including the 3,000th of her career, to help No. 1 Baylor rally past third-ranked Connecticut 76-70. Griner is the eighth player in Division I history to reach the milestone.

Baylor's Brittney Griner, left, is pressured by Connecticut's Stefanie Dolson during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Hartford, Conn., Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

2017 — Mikaela Shiffrin wins a third straight slalom title at the ski world championships to retain her unbeaten record at major events. The 21-year-old American beats home crowd favorite, Wendy Holdener of Switzerland. Shiffrin’s gold medal streak in slalom includes each world championships she entered, starting in 2013, and the 2014 Olympics. Her victory gives the United States its first world title at St. Moritz in the 10th of 11 medal events.

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin poses with the gold medal of the women's slalom, at the alpine ski World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Saturday, Feb.18, 2017. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)

2018 — LeBron James scores 29 points and hits the go-ahead layup with 34.5 seconds to play, winning his third All-Star Game MVP award while his hand-picked team rallies to win an uncommonly entertaining showcase, beating Team Stephen 148-145. For the first time in All-Star Game history, the league abandons the traditional East-West format used since 1951 and allows team captains James and Stephen Curry to choose their own rosters.

Team LeBron's LeBron James, of the Cleveland Cavaliers, holds the MVP trophy after his team defeated Team Stephen at the NBA All-Star basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018, in Los Angeles. Team LeBron won 148-145. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

In 1885, Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was published in the U.S. for the first time (after being published in Britain and Canada).

In 1970, the “Chicago Seven” defendants were found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention; five were convicted of violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968 (those convictions were later reversed).

In 1988, Anthony M. Kennedy was sworn in as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1994, at the Winter Olympic Games in Norway, U.S. speedskater Dan Jansen finally won a gold medal, breaking the world record in the 1,000 meters.

On Feb. 18, 2001, auto racing star Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in a crash at the Daytona 500; he was 49.

In 2003, an arson attack involving two South Korean subway trains in the city of Daegu claimed 198 lives. (The arsonist was sentenced to life in prison, where he died in 2004.)

A star-studded funeral service was held for pop singer Whitney Houston at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, a week after her death at age 48. 

In 2016, in what was seen as a criticism of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Pope Francis said that a person who advocated building walls was “not Christian”; Trump quickly retorted it was “disgraceful” to question a person’s faith. 

Norma McCorvey, whose legal challenge under the pseudonym “Jane Roe” led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision that legalized abortion but who later became an outspoken opponent of the procedure, died in Katy, Texas, at age 69. 

Omar Abdel-Rahman, the so-called “Blind Sheik” convicted of plotting terror attacks in the United States in the 1990s, died at a federal prison in North Carolina where he was serving a life sentence; he was 78.

In 2020, President Donald Trump commuted the 14-year prison sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich for political corruption; Blagojevich left prison hours later and returned home to Chicago. 

Naomi Osaka stopped Serena Williams’ latest bid for a record-tying 24th Grand Slam singles title in the Australian Open semifinals.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who had flown with his family to a vacation in Mexico as his state dealt with a deadly winter storm that crippled the power grid, returned home a day later and described the trip as “obviously a mistake.”