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Today is Friday, Feb. 8, the 39th day of 2002. There are 326 days left in the year. 

Today’s Highlight in History: 

On Feb. 8, 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated. 

On this date: 

In 1904, the Russo-Japanese War began. 

In 1915, D.W. Griffith’s silent movie epic about the Civil War, “The Birth of a Nation,” premiered in Los Angeles. 

In 1922, President Harding had a radio installed in the White House. 

In 1924, the first execution by gas in the United States took place at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City. 

In 1968, three college students were killed in a confrontation with highway patrolmen in Orangeburg, S.C., during a civil rights protest against a whites-only bowling alley. 

In 1973, Senate leaders named seven members of a select committee to investigate the Watergate scandal. 

In 1974, the three-man crew of the Skylab space station returned to Earth after spending 84 days in space. 

In 1978, the deliberations of the Senate were broadcast on radio for the first time as members opened debate on the Panama Canal treaties. 

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter unveiled a plan to re-introduce draft registration. 

In 1989, 144 people were killed when an American-chartered Boeing 707 filled with Italian tourists slammed into a fog-covered mountain in the Azores. 

Ten years ago: The 16th Olympic Winter Games opened in Albertville, France. 

Five years ago: President Clinton announced in his weekly radio address that he was releasing the first of a $200 million program of grants to provide schools with computers and Internet training. 

One year ago: A House committee opened hearings into former President Clinton’s last-minute pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich, with former prosecutors complaining that they hadn’t been consulted before the pardon was granted. President Bush sent his proposed $1.6 trillion, 10-year tax cut plan to Congress. 

Today’s Birthdays: Composer-conductor John Williams is 70. ABC News anchor Ted Koppel is 62. Actor Nick Nolte is 61. Comedian Robert Klein is 60. Country singer Dan Seals is 54. Singer Ron Tyson is 54. Actress Brooke Adams is 53. Actress Mary Steenburgen is 49. Author John Grisham is 47. Rock singer Vince Neil (Motley Crue) is 41. Rock singer-musician Sammy LLanas (The BoDeans) is 41. Actor Gary Coleman is 34. Actress Mary McCormack is 33. Actor Seth Green (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) is 28. Actress Karle Warren (“Judging Amy”) is 10.