This day in history

[February 04, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Friday, Jan. 15, the 15th day of 2010. There are 350 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Jan. 15, 2009, US Airways Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger ditched his Airbus 320 in the Hudson River after a flock of birds disabled both the plane's engines; all 155 people aboard survived.

On this date:

In 1559, England's Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey.

In 1777, the people of New Connecticut declared their independence. (The tiny republic later became the state of Vermont.)

In 1844, the University of Notre Dame received its charter from the state of Indiana.

In 1850, pioneering Russian mathematician Sonya Kovalevsky was born in Moscow.

In 1929, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta.

In 1942, Jawaharlal Nehru was named to succeed Mohandas K. Gandhi as head of India's Congress Party.

In 1943, work was completed on the Pentagon, headquarters of the U.S. Department of War (now Defense).

In 1947, the mutilated remains of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, who came to be known as the "Black Dahlia," were found in a vacant Los Angeles lot; her slaying remains unsolved.

In 1967, the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League 35-10 in the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game, retroactively known as Super Bowl I.

In 1973, President Richard M. Nixon announced the suspension of all U.S. offensive action in North Vietnam, citing progress in peace negotiations.

Ten years ago: Masked gunmen opened fire in a hotel lobby in Belgrade, killing Serbian warlord Zeljko Raznatovic, better known as Arkan, who had been indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for alleged atrocities in Bosnia and Croatia.

Five years ago: Wilbert Rideau, an award-winning black journalist who'd spent nearly 44 years in Louisiana prisons for the 1961 death of a white bank teller, Julia Ferguson, was found guilty of manslaughter in a fourth trial by a racially mixed jury and set free. Mahmoud Abbas was sworn in as Palestinian president. Michelle Kwan won her ninth title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Portland, Ore.; earlier, Johnny Weir won his second straight men's title. Actress Ruth Warrick died in New York at 88. Opera singer Victoria de los Angeles died in Barcelona, Spain, at 81.

One year ago: In a farewell address to the nation, President George W. Bush said while his policies were unpopular, there could be little debate about the results: "America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil." Congress cleared the release of the final $350 billion in bailout funds for the financial industry. After a wave of controversy, Roland Burris was sworn in as a U.S. senator from Illinois. Israeli artillery shells struck the U.N. headquarters in the Gaza Strip, drawing a sharp rebuke from the visiting U.N. chief, Ban Ki-moon.

Today's birthdays: Actress Margaret O'Brien is 73. Singer Don Van Vliet (aka "Captain Beefheart") is 69. Actress Andrea Martin is 63. Actor-director Mario Van Peebles is 53. Actor James Nesbitt is 45. Singer Lisa Lisa (Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam) is 43. Actor Chad Lowe is 42. Alt-country singer Will Oldham (aka "Bonnie Prince Billy") is 40. Actress Regina King is 39. Actor Eddie Cahill is 32. Rapper/reggaeton artist Pitbull is 29.

Thought for today: "A man can't ride your back unless it's bent." -- Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

[Associated Press]

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