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Today is Friday, Feb. 22, the 53rd day of 2002. There are 312 days left in the year. 

Today’s Highlight in History: 

On Feb. 22, 1732, the first president of the United States, George Washington, was born at his parents’ plantation in the Virginia Colony. 

On this date: 

In 1819, Spain ceded Florida to the United States. 

In 1865, Tennessee adopted a new constitution abolishing slavery. 

In 1879, Frank Winfield Woolworth opened a five-cent store in Utica, N.Y. 

In 1889, President Cleveland signed a bill to admit the Dakotas, Montana and Washington state to the Union. 

In 1892, “Lady Windermere’s Fan,” by Oscar Wilde, was first performed, at London’s St. James’s Theater. 

In 1924, Calvin Coolidge delivered the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House. 

In 1935, it became illegal for airplanes to fly over the White House. 

In 1973, the United States and China agreed to establish liaison offices. 

In 1980, the U.S. Olympic hockey team upset the Soviets at Lake Placid, N.Y., 4-to-3. (The U.S. team went on to win the gold medal.) 

In 1987, pop artist Andy Warhol died at a New York City hospital at age 58. 

Ten years ago: President Bush renewed his attack on a Democratic tax plan, saying in a radio address that congressional Democrats were choosing “politics over duty.” At the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, American speedskater Cathy Turner won the women’s 500-meter race. 

Five years ago: Cutbacks began under new welfare law limiting childless adults, under age 50 and able to work, to three months of food stamps in any three-year period. Albert Shanker, the leader of the American Federation of Teachers who championed public school reforms, died in New York at age 68. 

One year ago: President Bush held his first full-fledged presidential news conference, in which he defended his tax-cutting and budget-tightening plans and gave FBI director Louis Freeh a vote of confidence following the arrest of veteran agent Robert Hanssen on spying charges. A U.N. war crimes tribunal convicted three Bosnian Serbs standing trial on charges of rape and torture in the first case of wartime sexual enslavement to go before an international court. 

Today’s Birthdays: Actor Sir John Mills is 94. Announcer Don Pardo is 84. Actor Paul Dooley is 74. Hollywood “ghost singer” Marni Nixon is 72. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., is 70. Movie director Jonathan Demme is 58. Actor John Ashton is 54. Actress Ellen Greene is 52. Actress Miou-Miou is 52. Actress Julie Walters is 52. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Julius Erving is 52. Actor Kyle MacLachlan is 43. Actress Jeri Ryan is 34. Actress-singer Lea Salonga is 31. Actor Jose Solano (“Baywatch”) is 31. Tennis player Michael Chang is 30. Actress Drew Barrymore is 27.