Today in history
Today is Friday, Jan. 29, the 29th day of 2016. There are 337 days left in the year. On this date in the SCV: In 1943, a saturated and nearly paralyzed Soledad township and all of its communities began to resume normal activity as the day dawned bright and cold after six days of rain. When the storm subsided, a total of 14.34 inches of precipitation was registered on the flood control gauge. A second, smaller storm came in three days later and added nearly another inch, making the total for the five days 15.38 inches, and for the season 16.80 inches. The Southern Pacific and almost every highway bridge in the township went out of commission. No estimate of the total damage could be made. There was no loss of human life. Today’s Highlight in History: On Jan. 29, 1845, Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven” was first published in the New York Evening Mirror. Ten years ago: ABC “World News Tonight” co-anchor Bob Woodruff and a cameraman were seriously injured in a roadside bombing in Iraq. Roger Federer won his seventh Grand Slam title, overcoming an early challenge from unseeded Marcos Baghdatis to win the Australian Open 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2. Avant garde video artist Nam June Paik died in Miami at age 74. Five years ago: With protests raging, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak named his intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, as his first-ever vice president as chaos engulfed Cairo. Kim Clijsters finally won her first Australian Open title and the fourth major of her career, after she beat Li Na 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Alissa Czisny won her second title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, held in Greensboro, North Carolina. Avant-garde composer Milton Babbitt, 94, died in Princeton, New Jersey. One year ago: A sundown deadline passed with no word on the fate of a Japanese journalist and a Jordanian fighter pilot held by the Islamic State group. President Barack Obama called for a surge in government spending and asked Congress to throw out the sweeping spending cuts both parties agreed to four years earlier when deficits were spiraling out of control. Obama proposed $74 billion in added spending to be split about evenly between domestic and defense programs. Nine Democrats joined 53 Republicans in passing a Senate bill to construct the Keystone XL oil pipeline in defiance of a presidential veto threat. Rod McKuen, whose music, verse and spoken-word recordings made him one of the best-selling poets in history, died at 81.