Today is Tuesday, Jan. 24, the 24th day of 2017. There are 341 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 24, 1942, the Roberts Commission placed much of the blame for America’s lack of preparedness for Imperial Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on Rear Adm. Husband E. Kimmel and Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short, the Navy and Army commanders.
On this date:
In 1742, Charles VII was elected Holy Roman Emperor during the War of the Austrian Succession.
In 1848, James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter’s Mill in northern California, a discovery that led to the gold rush of ’49.
In 1908, the Boy Scouts movement began in England under the aegis of Robert Baden-Powell.
In 1924, the Russian city of Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg) was renamed Leningrad in honor of the late revolutionary leader. (However, it has since been renamed St. Petersburg.)
In 1939, at least 28,000 people were killed by an earthquake that devastated the city of Chillan in Chile.
In 1945, Associated Press war correspondent Joseph Morton was among a group of captives executed by the Germans at the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria.
In 1961, a U.S. Air Force B-52 crashed near Goldsboro, North Carolina, dropping its payload of two nuclear bombs, neither of which went off; three crew members were killed.
In 1963, a U.S. Air Force B-52 on a training mission crashed into Elephant Mountain in Maine; seven of the nine crew members were killed.
In 1965, British statesman Winston Churchill died in London at age 90.
In 1975, the extremist group FALN bombed Fraunces Tavern in New York City, killing four people.
In 1989, confessed serial killer Theodore Bundy was executed in Florida’s electric chair.
In 1992, a judge in El Salvador sentenced an army colonel and a lieutenant to 30 years in prison for their part in the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter. (However, Col. Guillermo Alfredo Benavides and Lt. Yusshy Mendoza were freed in April 1993 under an amnesty law.)
Ten years ago: The Democratic-controlled Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed a nonbinding measure, 12-9, dismissing President George W. Bush’s plans for a troop buildup in Iraq as “not in the national interest” of the United States. Colorado’s Joe Sakic (SAK’-ihk) had four assists to lead the Western Conference to a 12-9 victory in the NHL All-Star game.
Five years ago: Declaring the American dream under siege, President Barack Obama used his State of the Union address to deliver a populist challenge to shrink the gap between rich and poor, promising to tax the wealthy more and help jobless Americans get work and hang onto their homes. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released his 2010 tax returns, showing that his annual income topped $20 million and that he had paid about $3 million in federal income taxes.
One year ago: A magnitude-7.1 quake knocked items off shelves and walls in Alaska, jolting the nerves of residents in the earthquake-prone region. The Denver Broncos defeated the New England Patriots, 20-18, to win the AFC Championship; the Carolina Panthers claimed the NFC Championship with a 49-15 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Adam Rippon won his first U.S. figure skating title at the championship in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Jerry Maren (Film: “The Wizard of Oz”) is 98. Cajun musician Doug Kershaw is 81. Singer-songwriter Ray Stevens is 78. Singer-songwriter Neil Diamond is 76. Singer Aaron Neville is 76. Actor Michael Ontkean is 71. Actor Daniel Auteuil is 67. Country singer-songwriter Becky Hobbs is 67. Comedian Yakov Smirnoff is 66. Actor William Allen Young is 63. Bandleader-musician Jools Holland is 59. Actress Nastassja Kinski is 58. Rhythm-and-blues singer Theo Peoples is 56. Country musician Keech Rainwater (Lonestar) is 54. Obama White House budget director Shaun Donovan is 51. Comedian Phil LaMarr is 50. Olympic gold medal gymnast Mary Lou Retton is 49. Rhythm-and-blues singer Sleepy Brown (Society of Soul) is 47. Actor Matthew Lillard is 47. Actress Merrilee McCommas is 46. Blues/rock singer Beth Hart is 45. Actor Ed Helms is 43. Actor Mark Hildreth is 39. Actress Tatyana Ali is 38. Rock musician Mitchell Marlow (Filter) is 38. Actress Carrie Coon (Film: “Gone Girl”) is 36. Actor Daveed Diggs (TV: “black-ish”) is 35. Actor Justin Baldoni is 33. Actress Mischa Barton is 31.
Thought for Today: “All men wish to have truth on their side; but few to be on the side of truth.” — Richard Whately, British theologian (1787-1863).
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