Today in History

Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023

Today is Tuesday, Jan. 10, the 10th day of 2023. There are 355days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Jan. 10, 1776, Thomas Paine anonymously published his influential pamphlet, “Common Sense,” which argued for American independence from British rule.

On this date:

In 1860, the Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts, collapsed and caught fire, killing up to 145 people, mostly female workers from Scotland and Ireland.

In 1861, Florida became the third state to secede from the Union.

In 1863, the London Underground had its beginnings as the Metropolitan, the world’s first underground passenger railway, opened to the public with service between Paddington and Farringdon Street.

In 1870, John D. Rockefeller incorporated Standard Oil. In 1920, the League of Nations was established as the Treaty of Versailles (vehrsy’) went into effect. In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his State of the Union address, asked Congress to impose a surcharge on both corporate and individual income taxes to help pay for his “Great Society” programs as well as the war in Vietnam. Massachusetts Republican Edward W. Brooke, the first Black person elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote, took his seat.

In 1971, French fashion designer Coco Chanel died in Paris at age 87.

In 1984, the United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations for the first time in more than a century.

In 2002, Marines began flying hundreds of al-qaida prisoners in Afghanistan to a U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In 2003, North Korea withdrew from a global treaty barring it from making nuclear weapons.

In 2007, President George W. Bush said he took responsibility for any mistakes in Iraq and announced an increase in U.S. troops there to quell violence. The Democratic-controlled House voted 315-116 to increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour.

In 2011, a judge in Austin, Texas, ordered former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom Delay to serve three years in prison for his money laundering conviction. (Delay’s conviction was ultimately overturned.) No. 1Auburn beat No. 2 Oregon 22-19 on a last-second field goal to win the BCS national title. Ten years ago: Vice President Joe Biden met with representatives from the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups as he worked on recommendations to curb gun violence. A series of bombings in different parts of Pakistan killed nearly 200 people. Three Kurdish women, including a founder of a militant separatist group battling Turkish troops, were found shot to death in Paris. Major League Baseball announced it would test for human growth hormone throughout the regular season and increase efforts to detect abnormal levels of testosterone.

Five years ago: The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra said Charles Dutoit had stepped down as artistic director and principal conductor after multiple allegations of sexual assault. After nine terms in the House, California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa announced that he would not seek re-election.

One year ago: Robert Durst, the New York real estate heir who was sentenced to life in prison for killing his best friend, died at a hospital outside the California prison where he’d been serving the sentence; he was 78. Novak Djokovic returned to the tennis court for training after winning a round in the legal battle to stay in Australia and compete in the Australian Open; a judge reinstated his visa, which had been pulled after officials said he didn’t qualify for an exemption to a rule requiring all non-citizens to be vaccinated against COVID-19. (Djokovic would eventually be deported for almost a year before returning for the Australian Open in 2023.) Stetson Bennett threw two touchdown passes to lead Georgia to a 33-18 win over Alabama for its first national championship in 41 years. Today’s birthdays: Jan. 10: Opera singer Sherrill Milnes is 88. Movie director Walter Hill is 83. Actor William Sanderson is 79. Singer Rod Stewart is 78. Rock singer-musician Donald Fagen (Steely Dan) is 75. Boxing Hall of Famer and entrepreneur George Foreman is 74. Roots rock singer Alejandro Escovedo is 72. Rock musician Scott Thurston (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) is 71. Singer Pat Benatar is 70. Hall of Fame race car driver and team owner Bobby Rahal is

69. Rock musician Michael Schenker (UFO) is 68. Singer Shawn Colvin is 67. Rock singer-musician Curt Kirkwood (Meat Puppets) is 64. Actor Evan Handler is

62. Rock singer Brad Roberts (Crash Test Dummies) is 59. Actor Trini Alvarado is

56. Rock singer Brent Smith (Shinedown) is 45. Rapper Chris Smith (Kris Kross) is

44. Actor Sarah Shahi is

43. American roots singer Valerie June is 41.

Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 11, the 11th day of 2023. There are 354days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Jan. 11, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the Grand Canyon National Monument (it became a national park in 1919).

On this date:

In 1913, the first enclosed sedan-type automobile, a Hudson, went on display at the 13th National Automobile Show in New York. In 1927, the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was proposed during a dinner of Hollywood luminaries at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

In 1935, aviator Amelia Earhart began an 18-hour trip from Honolulu to Oakland, California, that made her the first person to fly solo across any part of the Pacific Ocean.

In 1943, the United States and Britain signed treaties relinquishing extraterritorial rights in China.

In 1963, the Beatles’ single “Please Please Me” (B side “Ask Me Why”) was released in Britain by Parlophone.

In 1964, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued “Smoking and Health,” a report that concluded that “cigarette smoking contributes substantially to mortality from certain specific diseases and to the overall death rate.”

In 1978, two Soviet cosmonauts aboard the Soyuz 27 capsule linked up with the Salyut 6 orbiting space station, where the Soyuz 26 capsule was already docked. In 1989, nine days before leaving the White House, President Ronald Reagan bade the nation farewell in a prime-time address, saying of his eight years in office: “We meant to change a nation and instead we changed a world.”

In 2003, calling the death penalty process “arbitrary and capricious, and therefore immoral,” Illinois Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences of 167 condemned inmates, clearing his state’s death row two days before leaving office. In 2010, Mark Mcgwire admitted to The Associated Press that he’d used steroids and human growth hormone when he broke baseball’s home run record in 1998.

In 2020, health authorities in the central Chinese city of Wuhan reported the first death from what had been identified as a new type of coronavirus; the patient was a 61-year-old man who’d been a frequent customer at a food market linked to the majority of cases there.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met at the White House, where they agreed to speed up slightly the schedule for moving Afghanistan’s security forces into the lead across the country. The government assured the public that Boeing’s new 787 “Dreamliner” was safe to fly, even as it launched a review to find out what caused a fire, a fuel leak and other recent incidents. Italian actress Mariangela Melato (“Swept Away”), 71, died in Rome.

Five years ago: President Donald Trump was quoted as having used bluntly vulgar language during an Oval Office meeting with lawmakers while asking why the U.S. would accept more immigrants from Haiti and African countries rather than places like Norway. Edgar Ray Killen, a 1960s Klan leader who was convicted decades later in the slayings of three civil rights workers, died in prison at the age of 92.

One year ago: Speaking in Atlanta, President Joe Biden called on senators to “stand against voter suppression” by changing Senate rules to pass voting rights legislation that Republicans were blocking from debate and votes. (The legislation failed after two Democrats refused to join others in their party in changing the rules to overcome a Republican filibuster.) Just days after the one-year anniversary of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department’s top national security official told lawmakers that the department was establishing a specialized unit focused on domestic terrorism.

Today’s birthdays:

Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien (zhahn kray-tee-ehn’) is 89. Movie director Joel Zwick is 81. World Golf Hall of Famer Ben Crenshaw is 71. Singer Robert Earl Keen is 61. Actor Phyllis Logan is 67. Musician Vicki Peterson (The Bangles) is 65. Actor Kim Coles is 60. Actor Jason Connery is 60. Former child actor Dawn Lyn (TV: “My Three Sons”) is 60. Rock musician Tom Dumont (No Doubt) is 55. Movie director Malcolm D. Lee is 53. Singer Mary J. Blige is 52. Musician Tom Rowlands (The Chemical Brothers) is 52. Actor Marc Blucas is 51. Actor Amanda Peet is 51. Actor Rockmond Dunbar is

50. Actor Aja Naomi King is

38. Actor Kristolyn Lloyd is

38. Reality TV star Jason Wahler is 36. Pop singer Cody Simpson is 26.