Today’s highlights

On Feb. 23, 1945, during World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised two American flags. On this date

1836: The siege of the Alamo by Mexican troops began in San Antonio, Texas.

1903: President Theodore Roosevelt signed an agreement with Cuba to lease the area around Guantanamo Bay to the United States.

1942: The first shelling of the U.S. mainland during World War II occurred as a Japanese submarine fired on an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California.

2011: In a major policy reversal, the Obama administration said it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law banning recognition of same-sex marriage.

2020: Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was fatally shot on a residential Georgia street; a white father and son had armed themselves and pursued him after seeing him running through their neighborhood.

Today’s birthdays

Football Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff is 82. Actor Patricia Richardson is 74. Singer Howard Jones is 70. Japanese Emperor Naruhito is 65. Actor Kristin Davis is 60. Business executive Michael Dell is 60. TV personality-business executive Daymond John is 56. Actor Niecy Nash is 55. Democratic Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland is 54. Country singer Steve Holy is 53. Actor Kelly Macdonald is 49. Rapper Residente, born René Juan Pérez Joglar, is 47. Actor Josh Gad is 44. Actor Emily Blunt is 42.