HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY

Today’s highlight:

On Jan. 26, 1998, President Bill Clinton forcefully denied having an affair with a former White House intern, telling reporters, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”

On this date:

1784: In a letter to his daughter Sarah, Benjamin Franklin expressed unhappiness over the choice of the bald eagle as the symbol of America, and stated his own preference: the turkey. 1837: Michigan became the 26th state. 1870: Virginia rejoined the Union. 1939: Principal photography began for David O. Selznick’s movie version of “Gone with the Wind.”

1942: The first American Expeditionary Force to head to Europe during World War II arrived in Belfast, Northern

Ireland.

1962: The United States launched Ranger 3 to land scientific instruments on the moon — but the probe ended up missing its target by more than 22,000 miles.

1988: Australians celebrated the 200th anniversary of their country as a grand parade of tall ships re-enacted the voyage of the first European settlers. The Andrew

Lloyd Webber musical “Phantom of the Opera” opened at Broadway’s Majestic Theater.

1992: Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton, appearing with his wife, Hillary, on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” acknowledged “causing pain in my marriage,” but said past problems were not relevant to the campaign.

2003: Secretary of State Colin Powell, citing Iraq’s lack of cooperation with U.N. inspectors, said he’d lost faith in the inspectors’ ability to conduct a definitive search for banned weapons programs.

2005: A U.S. Marine helicopter crashed in western Iraq, killing 30 Marines and a Navy medic aboard. A man parked his SUV on railroad tracks in Glendale, California, setting off a crash of two commuter trains that killed 11 people. The SUV’s driver,

Juan Alvarez, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 11 consecutive life terms.