TODAY HISTORY IN

Today is Saturday, Jan. 16, the 16th day of 2021. There are 349 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Jan. 16, 2020, the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump opened in the Senate, with senators standing and swearing an oath of “impartial justice.” Trump again denounced the proceedings as a “hoax,” while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said new evidence reinforced the need to call additional witnesses. On this date:

■ In 1865, Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman decreed that 400,000 acres of land in the South would be divided into 40-acre lots and given to former slaves. (The order, later revoked by President Andrew Johnson, is believed to have inspired the expression, “Forty acres and a mule.”)

■ In 1920, Prohibition began the United States as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution took effect, one year to the day after its ratification. (It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.)

■ In 1969, two manned Soviet Soyuz spaceships became the first vehicles to dock in space and transfer personnel.

Today’s Birthdays: Authoreditor Norman Podhoretz is 91. Hall of Fame auto racer A.J. Foyt is 86. Singer Barbara Lynn is 79. Country singer Ronnie Milsap is 78. Country singer Jim Stafford is 77. Talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger is 74. Movie director John Carpenter is 73. Actor-writer-director Josh Evans is 50. Actor-comedian Jonathan Mangum is 50. Actor Richard T. Jones is 49. Actor Josie Davis is 48. Model Kate Moss is 47. Country musician James Young (The Eli Young Band) is 41. Rock musician Nick Valensi (The Strokes) is 40.