Today is Thursday, Feb. 26, the 57th day of 2026. There are 308 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Feb. 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin, 17, was shot to death in Sanford, Florida, during an altercation with neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who said he acted in self-defense. (Zimmerman was later acquitted of second-degree murder.)

Also on this date:

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from exile on the island of Elba, sailing back to France in a bid to regain power.

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In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson signed an act making the Grand Canyon a national park.

In 1952, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had developed its own atomic bomb.

In 1987, the Tower Commission, which had probed the Iran-Contra affair, issued its report, which rebuked President Ronald Reagan for failing to control his national security staff.

In 1993, a truck bomb built by Islamic extremists exploded in the parking garage of the North Tower of New York’s World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others, mainly due to smoke inhalation. (The bomb failed to topple the north tower into the south tower, as the terrorists had hoped; both towers were destroyed in the 9/11 attack eight years later.)

In 1998, a jury in Amarillo, Texas, rejected an $11 million lawsuit brought by Texas cattlemen who blamed Oprah Winfrey’s talk show for a price fall after a segment on food safety that included a discussion about mad cow disease.

In 2008, the New York Philharmonic performed in North Korea as part of a historic cultural exchange in a feat of musical diplomacy. It was the first American orchestra to ever perform in the isolated communist nation.

In 2013, a hot-air balloon burst into flames during a sunrise flight over the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor and plummeted 1,000 feet to earth, killing 19 tourists.

In 2017, at the Academy Awards, “Moonlight” won three Oscars, including best picture of 2016; in a startling gaffe, the musical “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as the best picture winner before the error was corrected.

Today’s birthdays:

Singer Mitch Ryder is 81.
Singer Michael Bolton is 73.
Hockey Hall of Famer Joe Mullen is 69.
Actor Greg Germann is 68.
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia is 68.
Singer Erykah Badu (EHR’-ih-kah bah-DOO’) is 55.
Filmmaker Sean Baker is 55.
Football Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk is 53.
Olympic swimming gold medalist Jenny Thompson is 53.
Singer Corinne Bailey Rae is 47.
Tennis Hall of Famer Li Na is 44.
Singer Natalia Lafourcade is 42.
Actor Teresa Palmer is 40.
Actor Taylor Dooley is 33.
Rapper Yeat is 26.

Hill-Murray has one of the most tradition-rich boys hockey teams in the state, a regular at the state tournament with four championships in its school’s history.

Gentry Academy is a young program, which earned its own championship — in Class A — in its lone state appearance in 2021.

Count one for the upstart.

Gentry Academy, seeded fifth, beat top-seed Hill-Murray 4-2 in the Class 2A, Section 4 semifinals on Wednesday at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood.

Third-seed White Bear Lake beat No. 2-seed Stillwater 2-1 in overtime in the section’s other semifinal. The Bears trailed 1-0 in the final minute of regulation, but Rian Marquardt tied the contest with 56 ticks remaining after White Bear Lake pulled its goalie.

Then Nash Roed scored the winner less than a minute into the extra session.

The two winners will face off for the section title at 7 p.m. Friday at Aldrich Arena.

Gentry Academy kept its upset run in the section tournament going after a minor 6-3 upset of No. 4-seed East Ridge to open the tournament. The Stars then took control early Wednesday against Hill-Murray.

Braden Bois scored 4:48 into the first period for Gentry Academy, before Caden Zasada evened the game just over a minute late for the Pioneers. Collin Hennes scored before the end of the first for the Stars, who pulled out to a 4-1 advantage midway through the second period. Everett Nelson and Brekken Zabrok scored in the second for Gentry Academy.

Tristan Will closed the scoring for Hill-Murray, which outshot the Stars 36-25. The Pioneers won’t play in a section final for the first time since 2005.

Gentry Academy’s Gavin Grose made 34 saves in goal. Grayson Hanggi made 21 saves for the Pioneers.

In the other semifinal, Teague McGlynn opened the scoring in the second for Stillwater, who wasn’t able to make the one goal stand up.

Gavin Bajda made 27 saves in goal for the Ponies. Bears goaltender Riley Helmberger stopped 19 shots.

Section 6AA Championship

Edina won its section title on Wednesday by beating Wayzata 3-1 at Ridder Arena on the University of Minnesota campus. Bode McConnell had a hat trick for the second-seeded Hornets, who also got 28 saves from Chase Bjorgaard.

Fourth-seed Wayzata couldn’t keep it’s run going after upsetting No. 1-seed Rogers 5-2 in the semifinals. Eli Molde scored to give the Trojans a 1-0 lead over Edina in the first. Ryan Pellinger stopped 25 shots in goal for Wayzata.

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Recognizing a looming eviction crisis following Operation Metro Surge, the St. Paul City Council voted Wednesday to redirect more than $1.42 million from various housing funds toward the city’s recently-revived emergency rent help program.

The seven-member council, first meeting as the St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority and then as the full council, approved an amendment to the Planning and Economic Development budget, dipping into unused Housing Trust Fund money for $926,000 to support the city’s recently-expanded Emergency Rental Assistance program. That funding will help pay for two additional staff positions this year, as well as staffing for future years.

St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her directed another $500,000 to the program from Local Affordable Housing Aid dollars by administrative order, bringing the total amount of money in the rent assistance program to $3.8 million.

The program was established in 2020 to support renters in response to the pandemic, and revived in 2025 at the urging of Ward 7 Council Member Cheniqua Johnson, whose East Side ward has among the highest number of evictions in the state. Working with Planning and Economic Development, the council has adjusted and expanded eligibility guidelines.

The program launched in mid-November with an initial $1 million in funding, offering a one-time payment of up to $2,500 for late rent and associated fees, paid directly to the landlord. By early December, it had paused applications as a result of overwhelming demand. Council members said they expected it to reopen soon.

Statewide, residential eviction filings were already flirting with state records by the end of last year.

“Even before recent federal actions and economic disruption, too many neighbors were already at risk of displacement, and those pressures have only intensified,” said Johnson, in a written statement issued Wednesday night.

The council this month called on Gov. Tim Walz and state lawmakers to direct the state’s Public Utility Commission to enact an energy and gas shutoff moratorium, and previously voted Jan. 21 to ask the governor and state leaders for a temporary eviction moratorium, with the goal of protecting workers impacted by Operation Metro Surge from losing their housing.

Her, who was also quoted in the written statement, said the city is “pulling every lever we can at the local level to respond to the crisis Trump unnecessarily brought to St. Paul” and said “we need more buy-in from the state and federal government to help our communities bounce back.”

The St. Thomas women’s basketball team kept its strong run going Wednesday by pulling out a 73-71 win against Kansas City at Lee & Penny Anderson Arena in St. Paul.

The Tommies (15-14, 8-7 Summit) won for the fifth time in six games and second straight by coming up clutch late.

Kansas City (7-22, 4-12) led 70-66 with 40 second remaining. St. Thomas’s Alyssa Sand hit a pair of free throws to draw within two points. Tierra Trotter made one of two free throws for a three-point Kansas City advantage with 20 seconds left. From there, it was all Tommies.

Faith Feuerbach converted a layup with 11 seconds left for St. Thomas. Then, Tommies forward Autumn McCall had a steal and assisted to Jada Hood for a layup. Hood was fouled and added a free throw for the final margin.

Sand had 23 points to lead St. Thomas. Mikalya Werner had 22 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Savahhan McGowan added 10 points off the bench.

The Tommies finish the regular season on Saturday at 2 p.m. on the road against Oral Roberts.

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