In the week ending February 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment insurance was 262,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 269,000, the Labor Department reported. The 4-week moving average was 273,250, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 281,250.

Major U.S. stock indices lost ground Thursday as several companies issued weak earnings reports, according to the Associated Press. The Dow was down 40.40 points (0.25%) at 16,413.43, the NASDAQ fell 46.53 points (1.03%) to 4,487.54, and the S&P 500 closed 8.99 points (0.47%) lower at 1,917.83. The Russell 2000 lost 6.43 points (0.64%) to finish at 1,004.70, and the Wilshire 5000 decreased 82.79 points (0.42%) to 19,547.21.

On the NYSE, 3.1 billion shares traded, with a slight lead for advancers. On the NASDAQ, 2.6 billion shares changed hands, with 3 declining issues for every 2 advancing issues.

ON THIS DATE: In 1807, former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr was arrested in Alabama. He was later tried and acquitted on charges of treason. In 1878, Thomas Alva Edison patented a music player (the phonograph). In 1881, Kansas became the first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages. In 1942, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed an executive order giving the military the authority to relocate and intern Japanese-Americans. In 1945, during World War II, about 30,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima. In 1985, William Schroeder became the first artificial-heart patient to leave the confines of the hospital. In 1985, Cherry Coke was introduced by the Coca-Cola Company. In 1999, Dennis Franz received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2002, NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft began using its thermal emission imaging system to map Mars.

In Cádiz, Spain, a water treatment plant was to give an award for an employee’s 20 years of loyal service. That is, until they found out he hadn’t been working for the last six years. According to the Huffington Post, the building supervisor quietly collected a $41,500 salary from his local government without showing up for work. “I wondered whether he was still working there—had he retired, had he died? But the payroll showed he was still receiving a salary,” deputy mayor Jorge Blas told Spanish newspaper El Mundo. Garcia’s attorney, speaking on his behalf, reportedly blamed bullying at his workplace for his absence. He also said there was no work to do. People close to Garcia told El Mundo he dedicated himself to reading philosophy instead, and that he did not report the bullying out of fear that he could be fired.

In DeLand, Florida, a man called 911 at least six times in one day. According to the Huffington post, among other things he asked dispatchers to throw people out of homes in order to “serve and protect,” tried to report an emergency at the White House, and told dispatchers his emergency was being “poor” and not able to vote. Dispatchers also said he hung up on two occasions when they tried to transfer him to a non-emergency line. A police officer was sent to the man’s home. When the officer asked him what he was doing, he said, “talking to your dispatcher because I’m bored.”

In Alamo, California, a man was distressed about running out of family photos to put on the computer. According to The Onion, the project has occupied many of his weeknights and Saturday afternoons since he came across a scanner on sale at a local electronics retailer three months ago. He told reporters, “I suppose I could still go through and take the red-eye out of them. And I should get a hard drive to back them up on, in case something happens to my computer. Maybe I’ll check the attic again to make sure I’m not missing any old school portraits.” However, sources now say he has taken on the task of going back through each image and adding approximate dates.