Today in History: JAN 11, Wuhan reports 1st COVID-19 death

Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 11, the 11th day of 2023. There are 354 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Jan. 11, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the Grand Canyon National Monument (it became a national park in 1919).

On this date:

In 1913, the first enclosed sedan-type automobile, a Hudson, went on display at the 13th National Automobile Show in New York.

In 1927, the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was proposed during a dinner of Hollywood luminaries at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

In 1935, aviator Amelia Earhart began an 18-hour trip from Honolulu to Oakland, California, that made her the first person to fly solo across any part of the Pacific Ocean.

In 1943, the United States and Britain signed treaties relinquishing extraterritorial rights in China.

In 1963, the Beatles’ single “Please Please Me” (B side “Ask Me Why”) was released in Britain by Parlophone.

In 1964, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued “Smoking and Health,” a report that concluded that “cigarette smoking contributes substantially to mortality from certain specific diseases and to the overall death rate.”

In 1978, two Soviet cosmonauts aboard the Soyuz 27 capsule linked up with the Salyut 6 orbiting space station, where the Soyuz 26 capsule was already docked.

In 1989, nine days before leaving the White House, President Ronald Reagan bade the nation farewell in a prime-time address, saying of his eight years in office: “We meant to change a nation and instead we changed a world.”

In 2003, calling the death penalty process “arbitrary and capricious, and therefore immoral,” Illinois Gov. George Ryan commuted the sentences of 167 condemned inmates, clearing his state’s death row two days before leaving office.

In 2010, Mark McGwire admitted to The Associated Press that he’d used steroids and human growth hormone when he broke baseball’s home run record in 1998.

In 2020, health authorities in the central Chinese city of Wuhan reported the first death from what had been identified as a new type of coronavirus; the patient was a 61-year-old man who’d been a frequent customer at a food market linked to the majority of cases there.

Ten years ago: President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met at the White House, where they agreed to speed up slightly the schedule for moving Afghanistan’s security forces into the lead across the country. The government assured the public that Boeing’s new 787 “Dreamliner” was safe to fly, even as it launched a review to find out what caused a fire, a fuel leak and other recent incidents. Italian actress Mariangela Melato (“Swept Away”), 71, died in Rome.

Five years ago: President Donald Trump was quoted as having used bluntly vulgar language during an Oval Office meeting with lawmakers while asking why the U.S. would accept more immigrants from Haiti and African countries rather than places like Norway. Edgar Ray Killen, a 1960s Klan leader who was convicted decades later in the slayings of three civil rights workers, died in prison at the age of 92.

One year ago: Speaking in Atlanta, President Joe Biden called on senators to “stand against voter suppression” by changing Senate rules to pass voting rights legislation that Republicans were blocking from debate and votes. (The legislation failed after two Democrats refused to join others in their party in changing the rules to overcome a Republican filibuster.) Just days after the one-year anniversary of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department’s top national security official told lawmakers that the department was establishing a specialized unit focused on domestic terrorism.

Today’s birthdays: Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien (zhahn kray-tee-EHN’) is 89. Movie director Joel Zwick is 81. World Golf Hall of Famer Ben Crenshaw is 71. Singer Robert Earl Keen is 61. Actor Phyllis Logan is 67. Musician Vicki Peterson (The Bangles) is 65. Actor Kim Coles is 60. Actor Jason Connery is 60. Former child actor Dawn Lyn (TV: “My Three Sons”) is 60. Rock musician Tom Dumont (No Doubt) is 55. Movie director Malcolm D. Lee is 53. Singer Mary J. Blige is 52. Musician Tom Rowlands (The Chemical Brothers) is 52. Actor Marc Blucas is 51. Actor Amanda Peet is 51. Actor Rockmond Dunbar is 50. Actor Aja Naomi King is 38. Actor Kristolyn Lloyd is 38. Reality TV star Jason Wahler is 36. Pop singer Cody Simpson is 26.

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