Today is Monday, Jan. 4, the fourth day of 2016. There are 362 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 4, 1896, Utah was admitted as the 45th state.
On this date:
In 1821, the first native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, died in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
In 1904, the Supreme Court, in Gonzalez v. Williams, ruled that Puerto Ricans were not aliens and could enter the United States freely; however, the court stopped short of declaring them U.S. citizens. (Puerto Ricans received U.S. citizenship in 1917.)
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, called for legislation to provide assistance for the jobless, elderly, impoverished children and the handicapped.
In 1943, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin made the cover of TIME as the magazine’s 1942 “Man of the Year.”
In 1951, during the Korean War, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces recaptured the city of Seoul (sohl).
In 1960, author and philosopher Albert Camus (al-BEHR’ kah-MOO’) died in an automobile accident in Villeblevin, France, at age 46.
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered his State of the Union address in which he outlined the goals of his “Great Society.”
In 1974, President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.
In 1987, 16 people were killed when an Amtrak train bound from Washington, D.C., to Boston collided with Conrail locomotives that had crossed into its path from a side track in Chase, Maryland.
In 1990, Charles Stuart, who claimed that he’d been wounded and his pregnant wife fatally shot by a robber, leapt to his death off a Massachusetts bridge after he himself came under suspicion.
In 1995, the 104th Congress convened, the first entirely under Republican control since the Eisenhower era.
In 2007, Nancy Pelosi was elected the first female speaker of the House as Democrats took control of Congress.
Ten years ago: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a significant stroke; his official powers were transferred to his deputy, Ehud Olmert (EH’-hood OHL’-murt). (Sharon remained in a coma until his death in Jan. 2014.) In a triple-overtime game that began Jan. 3 and finished after midnight, No. 3. Penn State beat No. 22 Florida State, 26-23, in the Orange Bowl. No. 2 Texas won college football’s championship, beating No. 1 Southern California 41-38 in the Rose Bowl.
Five years ago: President Barack Obama signed a $1.4 billion overhaul of the nation’s food safety system. The Navy fired the commander of the USS Enterprise, Capt. Owen Honors, more than three years after he’d made lewd videos to boost morale for his crew. (Honors was later reprimanded but allowed to remain in the Navy; he retired in 2012.) The Mega Millions lottery drew two winning tickets for a jackpot totaling $380 million. (In a strange coincidence, four of the six winning numbers matched those used by a lottery-winning character on the TV show “Lost.”)
One year ago: Pope Francis named 156 new cardinals, selecting them from 14 countries, including far-flung corners of the world, to reflect the diversity of the Roman Catholic church and its growth in places like Asia and Africa. North Korea criticized the United States for slapping sanctions on Pyongyang officials and organizations for a cyberattack on Sony Pictures.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Barbara Rush is 89. Football Hall-of-Fame coach Don Shula is 86. Opera singer Grace Bumbry is 79. Actress Dyan Cannon is 77. Author-historian Doris Kearns Goodwin is 73. Country singer Kathy Forester (The Forester Sisters) is 61. Actress Ann Magnuson is 60. Rock musician Bernard Sumner (New Order, Joy Division) is 60. Country singer Patty Loveless is 59. Actor Julian Sands is 58. Rock singer Michael Stipe is 56. Actor Patrick Cassidy is 54. Actor Dave Foley is 53. Actress Dot Jones is 52. Actor Rick Hearst is 51. Singer-musician Cait O’Riordan is 51. Actress Julia Ormond is 51. Tennis player Guy Forget (ghee fohr-ZHAY’) is 51. Country singer Deana Carter is 50. Rock musician Benjamin Darvill (Crash Test Dummies) is 49. Actor Josh Stamberg is 46. Actor Jeremy Licht is 45. Actor Damon Gupton is 43. Actress-singer Jill Marie Jones is 41. Alt-country singer Justin Townes Earle is 34. Christian rock singer Spencer Chamberlain (Underoath) is 33. Actress Lenora Crichlow is 31. Comedian-actress Charlyne Yi is 30. Actress-singer Coco Jones is 18.
Thought for Today: “The last temptation is the greatest treason: to do the right deed for the wrong reason.” – T.S. Eliot, American-born English poet (born in 1888, died this date in 1965).
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