Today is Friday, Jan. 8, the eighth day of 2021. There are 357 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Jan. 8, 1998, Ramzi Yousef (RAHM’-zee YOO’-sef), the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was sentenced in New York to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
On this date:
In 1815, the last major engagement of the War of 1812 came to an end as U.S. forces defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans, not having gotten word of the signing of a peace treaty.
In 1935, rock-and-roll legend Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his State of the Union address, declared an “unconditional war on poverty in America.”
In 1968, the Otis Redding single ”(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” was released on the Volt label almost a month after the singer’s death in a plane crash.
In 1982, American Telephone and Telegraph settled the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against it by agreeing to divest itself of the 22 Bell System companies.
In 1994, Tonya Harding won the ladies’ U.S. Figure Skating Championship in Detroit, a day after Nancy Kerrigan dropped out because of the clubbing attack that had injured her right knee. (The U.S. Figure Skating Association later stripped Harding of the title.)
In 2004, A U.S. Black Hawk medivac helicopter crashed near Fallujah, Iraq, killing all nine soldiers aboard.
In 2008, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton powered to victory in New Hampshire’s 2008 Democratic primary in a startling upset, defeating Sen. Barack Obama and resurrecting her bid for the White House; Sen. John McCain defeated his Republican rivals to move back into contention for the GOP nomination.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor-comedian Larry Storch is 98. Former CBS newsman Charles Osgood is 88. Singer Shirley Bassey is 84. Game show host Bob Eubanks is 83. Country-gospel singer Cristy Lane is 81.Rock musician Robby Krieger (The Doors) is 75. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is 63. Actor Rachel Nichols is 41. Actor Gaby Hoffman is 39.
