This day in history

[January 29, 2011]  (AP)  Today is Saturday, Jan. 29, the 29th day of 2011. There are 336 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On Jan. 29, 1861, Kansas became the 34th state of the Union.

On this date:

In 1820, Britain's King George III died at Windsor Castle.

In 1843, the 25th president of the United States, William McKinley, was born in Niles, Ohio.

In 1845, Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" was first published in the New York Evening Mirror.

In 1856, Britain's Queen Victoria introduced the Victoria Cross to reward military acts of valor during the Crimean War.

In 1919, the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which launched Prohibition, was certified by Acting Secretary of State Frank L. Polk.

In 1929, The Seeing Eye, a New Jersey-based school which trains guide dogs to assist the blind, was incorporated by Dorothy Harrison Eustis and Morris Frank.

In 1936, the first members of baseball's Hall of Fame, including Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, were named in Cooperstown, N.Y.

In 1963, the first members of pro football's Hall of Fame were named in Canton, Ohio. Poet Robert Frost died in Boston at age 88.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter formally welcomed Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping to the White House, following the establishment of diplomatic relations.

In 1998, a bomb rocked an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Ala., killing security guard Robert Sanderson and critically injuring nurse Emily Lyons. (The bomber, Eric Rudolph, was captured in May 2003 and is serving a life sentence.)

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush promised to "act boldly and swiftly" to address the nation's energy problems, and directed Vice President Dick Cheney to head a task force. DaimlerChrysler announced it was eliminating 26,000 jobs at its money-losing Chrysler division.

Five 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.

One year ago: In a remarkably sharp face-to-face confrontation in Baltimore, President Barack Obama chastised Republican lawmakers for opposing him on taxes, health care and the economic stimulus, while they accused him in turn of brushing off their ideas and driving up the national debt. A jury in Wichita, Kan., swiftly convicted abortion opponent Scott Roeder (ROH'-dur) of murder in the shooting death of Dr. George Tiller, one of the only doctors to offer late-term abortions in the U.S. Haitian authorities detained 10 U.S. Baptist missionaries who were transporting 33 children to a Dominican Republic orphanage, though as it turned out, most of the children had living parents; all of the Americans were later released.

Today's birthdays: Actor Noel Harrison is 77. Author Germaine Greer is 72. Actress Katharine Ross is 71. Actor Tom Selleck is 66. Rhythm-and-blues singer Bettye LaVette is 65. Actor Marc Singer is 63. Actress Ann Jillian is 61. Rock musician Tommy Ramone (Ramones) is 59. Rock musician Louie Perez (Los Lobos) is 58. Rhythm-and-blues/funk singer Charlie Wilson is 58. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is 57. Country singer Irlene Mandrell is 55. Actress Diane Delano is 54. Actress Judy Norton Taylor ("The Waltons") is 53. Rock musician Johnny Spampinato (NRBQ) is 52. Olympic gold-medal diver Greg Louganis is 51. Rock musician David Baynton-Power (James) is 50. Rock musician Eddie Jackson (Queensryche) is 50. Actor Nicholas Turturro is 49. Rock singer-musician Roddy Frame (Aztec Camera) is 47. Actor-director Edward Burns is 43. Actress Heather Graham is 41. Actor Sharif Atkins is 36. Actress Sara Gilbert is 36. Actor Sam Jaeger (TV: "Parenthood") is 34. Actor Andrew Keegan is 32. Actor Jason James Richter is 31. Blues musician Jonny Lang is 30. Pop-rock singer Adam Lambert ("American Idol") is 29.

Thought for today: "Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired." -- Robert Frost, American poet (1874-1963)

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.