ROSS SIMPSON
SAMARRA, Iraq (AP) — On this day in 2006, Sunni extremists blew up a revered Shiite shrine, igniting the worst sectarian violence Iraq had ever seen.
Iraqis walk past the damaged al-Askari shrine following the
explosion.
Former NBA player Robert Reid, who spent most of his 13-year
career with the Rockets, has died.
Reid died after a battle with cancer, according to the Houston
Chronicle.
On February 19, 1847, the first rescuers reach surviving members
of the Donner Party, a group of California-bound emigrants stranded
by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
In the summer of 1846, in the midst of a Western-bound fever
sweeping the United States, 89 people—including 31 members
of the Donner and Reed families—set out in a wagon train from Springfield, Illinois.
After arriving at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, the emigrants decided to
avoid the usual route and try a new trail recently blazed by
California promoter Lansford Hastings, the so-called “Hastings
Cutoff.”
After electing George Donner as their captain, the party departed
Fort Bridger in mid-July.
The shortcut was nothing of the sort: It set the Donner Party back
nearly three weeks and cost them much-needed supplies. After
suffering great hardships in the Wasatch Mountains, the Great Salt
Lake Desert and along the Humboldt River, they finally reached the
Sierra Nevada Mountains in early October.
Despite the lateness of the season, the emigrants continued to press
on, and on October 28 they camped at Truckee Lake, located in the
high mountains 21 kilometers northwest of Lake Tahoe. Overnight,
an early winter storm blanketed the ground with snow, blocking the mountain pass and trapping the Donner Party.
Donner Party Monument at Donner Memorial State Park
Truckee, California.
On February 18, 2001, Dale Earnhardt Sr., considered one of the
greatest drivers in National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) history, died at the age of 49 in a last-lap crash at the
43rd Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Earnhardt was driving his famous black No. 3 Chevrolet and vying
for third place when he collided with another car, then crashed into
a wall. After being cut from his car, Earnhardt, whose tough,
aggressive driving style earned him the nickname “The Intimidator,”
was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Earnhardt died of a basilar skull ring fracture, the most serious
type of skull fracture.
Ralph Dale Earnhardt
(April 29, 1951 – February 18, 2001)
Lisa Lopez-Galvan has been identified as a victim of the
Kansas City Super Bowl parade shooting that saw 29
injured, including nine children.
