Today is Sunday, Jan. 15, the 15th day of 2006. There are 350 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 15, 1929, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta.
On this date:
In 1559, England’s Queen Elizabeth I was crowned in Westminster Abbey.
In 1844, the University of Notre Dame received its charter from the state of Indiana.
In 1919, pianist and statesman Ignace Jan Paderewski became the first premier of the newly created republic of Poland.
In 1942, Jawaharlal Nehru succeeded Mohandas K. Gandhi as head of India’s National Congress Party.
In 1943, work was completed on the Pentagon, now the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense.
In 1947, the mutilated remains of 22-year-old aspiring actress Elizabeth Short, known as the “Black Dahlia,” were found in a vacant Los Angeles lot.
In 1967, the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League in the first Super Bowl, 35-10.
In 1973, President Nixon announced the suspension of all U.S. offensive action in North Vietnam, citing progress in peace negotiations.
In 1976, Sara Jane Moore was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Ford in San Francisco.
In 1981, the police drama series “Hill Street Blues” premiered on NBC.
Ten years ago: Risking the lives of more than 100 hostages in an effort to wipe out their Chechen rebel captors, the Russian military hurled rockets and shells at the tiny village of Pervomayskaya. Ailing Greek Premier Andreas Papandreou resigned.
Five years ago: President-elect Bush marked the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday at an elementary school in Houston, where he promised wary black Americans: “My job will be to listen not only to the successful, but also to the suffering.”
One year ago: A military court at Fort Hood, Texas, sentenced Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr. to 10 years behind bars for physically and sexually mistreating Iraqi prisoners. Mahmoud Abbas was sworn in as Palestinian president. Michelle Kwan won her ninth title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships; earlier, Johnny Weir won his second straight men’s title. Actress Ruth Warrick died in New York at age 88. Opera singer Victoria de los Angeles died in Barcelona, Spain, at age 81.
Today’s Birthdays: Actress Margaret O’Brien is 69. Singer Don Van Vliet (aka “Captain Beefheart”) is 65. Actress Andrea Martin is 59. Rock singer Martha Davis is 55. Actor-director Mario Van Peebles is 49. Actor James Nesbitt is 41. Singer Lisa Lisa (Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam) is 39. Actor Chad Lowe is 38. Actress Regina King is 35. Actor Eddie Cahill is 28.
Thought for Today: “A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.” — Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968).