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 Today's
highlight in history:
On Jan. 21, 1958, Charles Starkweather, 19, killed the mother, stepfather and half-sister of his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, at her family's home in Lincoln, Neb. (Starkweather, who had also killed a gas station attendant the previous November, and Fugate went on a road trip which resulted in seven more slayings. Starkweather was executed in 1959; Fugate, who maintained she had been Starkweather's hostage, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life; she was paroled in 1976.)
On this date:
In 1793, during the French Revolution, King Louis the XVI, condemned for treason, was executed on the guillotine.
In 1858, Felix Marma Zuloaga became president of Mexico upon the ouster of Ignacio Comonfort.
In 1908, New York City's Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance prohibiting women from smoking in public. (However, the measure was vetoed by Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. two weeks later).
In 1915, the first Kiwanis Club was founded, in Detroit.
In 1924, Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin died at age 53.
In 1950, former State Department official Alger Hiss, accused of being part of a Communist spy ring, was found guilty in New York of lying to a grand jury. (Hiss, who always proclaimed his innocence, served less than four years in prison.)
In 1954, the first atomic submarine, the USS Nautilus, was launched at Groton, Conn. (However, the Nautilus did not make its first nuclear-powered run until nearly a year later).
In 1968, the Battle of Khe Sahn began during the Vietnam War as North Vietnamese forces attacked a U.S. Marine base; the Americans were able to hold their position until the siege was lifted 2 1/2 months later.
In 1968, an American B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed in Greenland, killing one crew member and scattering radioactive material.
In 1976, the supersonic Concorde jet was put into service by Britain and France.
Ten years ago: President Bill Clinton angrily denied reports he had had an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and then tried to get her to lie about it. Pope John Paul II began a historic pilgrimage to Cuba. Actor Jack Lord of "Hawaii Five-O" fame died in Honolulu at age 77.
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Five years ago: The Census Bureau announced that Hispanics had surpassed blacks as America's largest minority group. A powerful earthquake shook west-central Mexico, killing 28 people and leaving 10,000 homeless. A gunman ambushed two U.S. defense workers in Kuwait, killing one and wounding another. Colombian rebels kidnapped an American photographer and a British reporter, the first time foreign journalists were abducted in Colombia's four-decade-long civil war. (Scott Dalton and Ruth Morris were freed after 11 days in captivity.)
One year ago: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told U.S. officials to "Go to hell, gringos!" and called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "missy" on his weekly radio and TV show, lashing out at Washington for what he called unacceptable meddling in his country's affairs. Lovie Smith became the first black head coach to make it to the Super Bowl when his Chicago Bears won the NFC championship, beating the New Orleans Saints 39-14; Tony Dungy became the second when his Indianapolis Colts took the AFC title over the New England Patriots, 38-34.
Today's birthdays: Actor Paul Scofield is 86. Actress Ann Wedgeworth is 73. Blues singer-musician Snooks Eaglin is 72. Golfer Jack Nicklaus is 68. Opera singer Placido Domingo is 67. Singer Richie Havens is 67. Singer Mac Davis is 66. Actress Jill Eikenberry is 61. Country musician Jim Ibbotson (The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) is 61. Singer-songwriter Billy Ocean is 58. Actor Robby Benson is 52. Actress Geena Davis is 52. Basketball player Hakeem Olajuwon is 45. Actress Charlotte Ross is 40. Actor John Ducey is 39. Actress Karina Lombard is 39. Rapper Levirt (B-Rock and the Bizz) is 38. Rock musician Mark Trojanowski (Sister Hazel) is 38. Rock DJ Chris Kilmore (Incubus) is 35. Singer Emma Bunton (Spice Girls) is 32. Rhythm-and-blues singer Nokio (Dru Hill) is 29. Actress Izabella Miko is 27.
Thought for today: "Too bad all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair."
-- George Burns, American comedian (1896-1996)
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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