JANUARY 9TH

Today is Friday, Jan. 9, the ninth day of 2009.
There are 356 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On Jan. 9, 1913, Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, was born in Yorba Linda, Calif.

On this date:

• In 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
• In 1793, Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a hot-air balloon, flew between Philadelphia and Woodbury, N.J.
• In 1859, women's suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt was born in Ripon, Wis.
• In 1861, Mississippi seceded from the Union.
• In 1945, during World War II, American forces began landing at Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines.
• In 1959, the Western series "Rawhide" premiered on CBS-TV.
• In 1964, anti-U.S. rioting broke out in the Panama Canal Zone, resulting in the deaths of 21 Panamanians and several U.S. soldiers.
• In 1968, the Surveyor 7 space probe made a soft landing on the moon, marking the end of the American series of unmanned explorations of the lunar surface.
• In 1972, reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, speaking by telephone from the Bahamas to reporters in Hollywood, said a purportedly authorized biography of him by Clifford Irving was a fake.
• In 1997, a Comair commuter plane crashed 18 miles short of the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing all 29 people on board.

Ten years ago:

• At the White House, presidential advisers prepared a public and legal defense in President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, meanwhile, pledged "above all, fairness" to the president, who ended up being acquitted.

Five years ago:

• Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced that the nation's threat level had been lowered from orange to yellow.
• Officials said Pentagon lawyers determined that former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein had been a prisoner of war since his capture.
• An Ohio woman who'd claimed to have lost a lottery ticket worth $162 million was charged with filing a false police report. (Elecia Battle was later convicted of the misdemeanor and put on one year's probation.)

One year ago:

• President Bush, on his first visit to Israel as president, warned Iran of "serious consequences" if it meddled again with U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf.
• The U.S. military reported nine American soldiers were killed in the first two days of a new offensive to root out al-Qaida in Iraq fighters holed up in districts north of Baghdad.
• Johnny Grant, the honorary mayor of Hollywood, died in Los Angeles at age 84.

Today's Birthdays:

• Author Judith Krantz is 81.
• Football Hall-of-Famer Bart Starr is 75.
• Sportscaster Dick Enberg is 74.
• Actress K. Callan is 73.
• Folk singer Joan Baez is 68.
• Rockabilly singer Roy Head is 68.
• Actress Susannah York is 68.
• Rock musician Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) is 65.
• Singer David Johansen (aka Buster Poindexter) is 59.
• Singer Crystal Gayle is 58.
• Actor J.K. Simmons is 54.
• Nobel Peace laureate and human rights activist Rigoberto Menchu is 50.
• Rock musician Eric Erlandson is 46.
• Actress Joely Richardson is 44.
• Rock musician Carl Bell (Fuel) is 42.
• Rock singer Steve Harwell (Smash Mouth) is 42.
• Rock singer-musician Dave Matthews is 42.
• Actress-director Joey Lauren Adams is 41.
• Singer A.J. McLean (Backstreet Boys) is 31.
• Pop-rock musician Drew Brown (OneRepublic) is 25.
• Rock-soul singer Paolo Nutini is 22.

Thought for Today:

"No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion."
Carrie Chapman Catt, American women's suffrage leader (1859-1947).

"Let's all be careful out there!"

DAILY CHUCKLE 9-009

"Let's all be careful out there!"