Today is Thursday, Feb. 18, the 49th day of 2016. There are 317 days left in the year.

Today’s birthdays: Actor George Kennedy is 91. Former senator John Warner, Republican of Virginia, is 89. Author Toni Morrison is 85. Movie director Milos Forman is 84. Singer Yoko Ono is 83. Singer Irma Thomas is 75. Actress Cybill Shepherd is 66. Singer Juice Newton is 64. Actor John Travolta is 62. Game show host Vanna White is 59. Actress Jayne Atkinson is 57. Actor Matt Dillon is 52. Rapper Dr. Dre is 51. Actress Molly Ringwald is 48. Opera singer Isabel Leonard is 34. Roots rock musician Zac Cockrell (Alabama Shakes) is 28.

In 1861, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as provisional president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Ala.

In 1885, Mark Twain’s ‘‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’’ was published in the United States 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 1984, Italy and the Vatican signed an accord under which Roman Catholicism ceased to be the state religion of Italy.

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

Last year, President Obama, hosting a White House summit on countering violent extremism, said Muslims in the United States and around the world had a responsibility to fight a misconception that terrorist groups were speaking for them.