February 5, 1981 (Thursday)
- A fire broke out at 5:33 a.m. at the State Office Building in Binghamton, New York, and ended up contaminating the building with toxic polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) and a cleanup job that took more than 13 years and cost $47,000,000.
- Died: Ella T. Grasso, 61, Governor of Connecticut 1974-1980, and the first woman to be elected to become a U.S. governor without her husband preceding her.
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