Today in History – KTAR.com
Today in History
Today is Wednesday, January 26, the 26th day of 2022. There are 339 days left in the year.
Today’s highlight in the story:
On January 26, 2020, the US consulate in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, announced that it would evacuate its staff and some private citizens on a charter flight. Five cases of the new coronavirus have now been confirmed in the United States, including new cases in California and Arizona; all implicated people who had traveled to Wuhan.
To this date :
In 1861, Louisiana passed an ordinance of secession, becoming the sixth state to break free from the United States.
In 1911, Richard Strauss’ opera “Der Rosenkavalier” (The Rider of the Rose) premiered in Dresden, Germany.
In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Rocky Mountain National Park Act, which created the 10th national park in the United States.
In 1962, the United States launched Ranger 3 to land scientific instruments on the Moon. (The probe ended up missing its target by more than 22,000 miles.)
In 1992, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton, appearing with his wife, Hillary, on “60 Minutes” on CBS, admitted “causing pain in my marriage,” but said past issues weren’t not relevant to the campaign.
In 1993, Vaclav Havel (VAHTS’-lahv HAH’-vel) was elected president of the newly formed Czech Republic.
In 1994, a scare occurred during a visit to Sydney, Australia, by Britain’s Prince Charles as student David Kang lunged at the prince, firing two blank shots with a pistol departure. (Kang was later sentenced to 500 hours of community service.)
In 1998, President Bill Clinton strenuously denied having an affair with a former White House intern, telling reporters, “I didn’t have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”
In 2005, a US Navy helicopter crashed in western Iraq, killing 30 Marines and a Navy doctor on board. A man parked his SUV on train tracks in Glendale, California, causing a two-train commuter crash that killed 11 people. (The driver of the SUV, Juan Alvarez, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 11 consecutive life terms.)
In 2009, Nadya Suleman gave birth at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center in California to six boys and two girls; the criticism came after the public learned that the unemployed single mother had become pregnant with the octuplets and six older children through in vitro fertilization.
In 2016, the FBI arrested the leaders of an armed group that had occupied a national wildlife refuge in Oregon for more than three weeks during a traffic stop that left Robert “LaVoy” Finicum dead. Actor Abe Vigoda, 94, died in Woodland Park, New Jersey.
In 2020, NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, and seven others were killed when their helicopter plunged down a steep hill in heavy morning fog in Southern California; the former Lakers star was 41. 18-year-old singer Billie Eilish made Grammy history, becoming the youngest to win one of the top Grammy awards and the first to sweep all four in nearly 40 years.
Ten years ago: The Pentagon laid out a plan to slow the growth of military spending, including reducing the size of the Army and Marine Corps, retiring older planes and cutting war costs. To cap three days of mourning, some 12,000 people – including Penn State students, fans and football stars – paid their respects to the late Joe Paterno during a memorial service on campus that revealed a strong current of anger at his dismissal.
Five years ago: Tensions erupted between President Donald Trump and Mexico, with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (PAYN’-yuh nee-EH’-toh) canceling a planned visit to Washington and the White House threatening a 20% tax on imports to pay for Trump’s proposed wall along the southern border. Actor Mike Connors, 91, who played the hard-hitting private detective on TV’s “Mannix,” has died in Los Angeles. Actress Barbara Hale, 94, who played steadfast secretary Della Street on ‘Perry Mason,’ has died at her home in Sherman Oaks, Calif.
A year ago: The acting capitol police chief, in prepared testimony before lawmakers, apologized for failing to prepare for what turned into a violent insurgency on Jan. 6 despite warnings that supremacists whites and far-right groups would target Congress. President Joe Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin had their first phone conversation as counterparts; Biden raised concerns about the arrest of opposition figure Alexei Navalny and other issues. The Biden administration has said it is restoring relations with the Palestinians and renewing aid for Palestinian refugees, a reversal of the Trump administration’s cut. The Justice Department rescinded a Trump-era memo that established a “zero tolerance” enforcement policy for migrants crossing the US-Mexico border illegally, resulting in thousands of family separations. The San Francisco school board voted to remove the names of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and others from public schools after authorities deemed them unworthy of the honor. (The plan was later put on hold.)
Today’s birthdays: cartoonist Jules Feiffer is 93 years old. Sports actor Bob Uecker is 87 years old. Actor Scott Glenn is 83 years old. Singer Jean Knight is 79 years old. Activist Angela Davis is 78 years old. Actor Richard Portnow is 75 years old. Rock musician Corky Laing (Mountain) is 74 Actor David Strathairn (streh-THEHRN’) is 73. Producer-director Mimi Leder is 70 years old. DeGeneres is 64 years old. Rock musician Charlie Gillingham (Counting Crows) is 62 years old. Hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky is 61. Musician Andrew Ridgeley is 59 years old. R&B singer Jazzie B (Soul II Soul) is 59 years old. Actor Paul Johansson is 58 years old. Director Lenny Abrahamson is 56 years old. Actor Bryan Callen is 55 years old. Gospel singer Kirk Franklin is 52 years old. Actor Nate Mooney is 50 years old. Actress Jennifer Crystal is 49 years old. Rock musician Chris Hesse (Hoobastank) is 48 years old. Actor Matilda Szydagis is 48 years old. ma-REE’-nee) is 46 years old. Gospel singer Tye Tribbett is 46 years old. Retired NBA player Vince Carter is 45 years old. Actor Sarah Rue is 44 years old. Actor Colin O’Donoghue is 41 years old.
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