It Was a Big Day For a Lot of People

1. It was a long night at the Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday as the commissioners voted on one of the biggest issues in Rancho Santa Margarita's 10-year history. Our April Josephson will shake it out for you later today.

2. While the residents of Dove Canyon were holed up in the chambers at City Hall, it was a frantic—in a good way—environment at just down the street for a fundraiser for who has had a couple of operations to remove a brain tumor and is now trying to recover from a stroke. We'll have pictures from a big night of pizza sales.

3. Fifteen athletes at , 10 from and six from high schools signed a National Letter of Intent to attend college and play sports. Click on the link to each school to go to the story.

4. If your significant other has already commandeered the television to watch a big day of HGTV programming on Sunday, we'll offer up a few places to watch that other thing that's going on, the Super Bowl.

5. On this date in history, Feb. 3, 1959, Buddy Holly, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and Ritchie Valens perish in a small aircraft within five minutes of takeoff, forever marking this as "the day the music died." In 1870, the 15th amendment to the U.S. Constitution made official the rights of African American men to vote. Born on this date were Morgan Fairchild (61), Fran Tarkenton (71) and the late Joey Bishop (1918), James Michener (1907) and Norman Rockwell (1894). 

For What it's Worth: This is Beans (both dried and fresh) Month, as well as Women's Heart Week. It is also the first day of the Chinese New Year, and this begins the Year of the Rabbit.