JANUARY 11TH

Today is Sunday, Jan. 11, the 11th day of 2009.
There are 354 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Jan. 11, 1908, the Grand Canyon National Monument was created with a proclamation by President Theodore Roosevelt. (It became a national park in 1919.)

On this date:

• In 1805, the Michigan Territory was created by an act of Congress.
• In 1815, Sir John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada, was born in Glasgow, Scotland.
• In 1861, Alabama seceded from the Union.
• In 1913, the first sedan-type automobile, a Hudson, went on display at the 13th National Automobile Show in New York.
• In 1935, aviator Amelia Earhart began a trip from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Oakland, Calif., that made her the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean.
• In 1942, Japan declared war against the Netherlands, the same day that Japanese forces invaded the Dutch East Indies.
• In 1943, the United States and Britain signed treaties relinquishing extraterritorial rights in China.
• In 1964, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued the first government report saying smoking may be hazardous to one's health.
• In 1977, France set off an international uproar by releasing Abu Daoud, a PLO official behind the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
• In 1995, 52 people were killed when a Colombian airliner crashed as it was preparing to land near the Caribbean resort of Cartagena.

Ten years ago:

• President Bill Clinton and House Republicans clashed in impeachment trial papers, with the White House claiming the perjury and obstruction allegations fell short of high crimes and misdemeanors and GOP lawmakers rebutting: "If this is not enough, what is?"

Five years ago:

• Democrat Howard Dean defended his record on race in the last debate before the Iowa caucuses, as he was forced to acknowledge that no blacks or Hispanic had served in his cabinet during his 12 years as governor of Vermont.

One year ago:

• Bank of America said it would buy Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion in stock in a deal rescuing the country's biggest mortgage lender.
• Authorities in Jacksonville, N.C., found the remains of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach in the yard of Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean, a comrade she had accused of raping her. (Laurean, who fled to Mexico, was arrested last April and charged in Lauterbach's death.)
• Former Olympic track gold medalist Marion Jones was sentenced to six months in prison for lying to investigators about using performance-enhancing drugs and her role in a check-fraud scam.
• Sir Edmund Hillary, the first to conquer Mount Everest, died in Auckland, New Zealand, at age 88.

Today's Birthdays:

• Producer Grant Tinker is 84.
• Producer David L. Wolper is 81.
• Actor Rod Taylor is 79.
• The former prime minister of Canada, Jean Chretien, is 75.
• Actor Mitchell Ryan is 75.
• Actor Felix Silla is 72.
• Rock musician Clarence Clemons is 67.
• Movie director Joel Zwick is 67.
• Country singer Naomi Judd is 63.
• Golfer Ben Crenshaw is 57.
• Singer Robert Earl Keen is 53.
• Musician Vicki Peterson (The Bangles) is 51.
• Actress Kim Coles is 47.
• Actor Jason Connery is 46.
• Contemporary Christian musician Jim Bryson (MercyMe) is 41.
• Rock musician Tom Dumont (No Doubt) is 41.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Maxee Maxwell (Brownstone) is 40.
• Movie director Malcolm D. Lee is 39.
• Singer Mary J. Blige is 38.
• Musician Tom Rowlands (The Chemical Brothers) is 38.
• Actor Marc Blucas is 37.
• Actress Amanda Peet is 37.
• Actor Rockmond Dunbar is 36.
• Reality TV star Jason Wahler (TV: "Laguna Beach"; "The Hills") is 22.

Thought for Today:

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could."
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, poet and philosopher (1803-1882).

"Let's all be careful out there!"