Local History

50 years ago: Juel Reinhart was elected president of the New Ulm Snowmobile Club.

10 years ago: Connecting Point Technologies, operated by Steve and Sam Bloedow, opened at 103 N. Minnesota Street.

5 years ago: Dr. Christopher Wallyn accepted a donation from the Lafayette Lions Club for the Foundation for Saving Sight.

One year ago: St. Paul’s Lutheran Elementary School took first place out of eleven schools at the 3M MathCounts meet in New Ulm.

And elsewhere…

Today is Saturday, Jan. 18, the 18th day of 2020. There are 348 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight:

On Jan. 18, 1993, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time.

On this date:

In 1778, English navigator Captain James Cook reached the present-day Hawaiian Islands, which he named the “Sandwich Islands.”

In 1911, the first landing of an aircraft on a ship took place as pilot Eugene B. Ely brought his Curtiss biplane in for a safe landing on the deck of the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Harbor.

In 1919, the Paris Peace Conference, held to negotiate peace treaties ending the First World War, opened in Versailles, France.

In 1943, during World War II, Jewish insurgents in the Warsaw Ghetto launched their initial armed resistance against Nazi troops, who eventually succeeded in crushing the rebellion. The Soviets announced they’d broken through the long Nazi siege of Leningrad (it was another year before the siege was fully lifted).

In 1949, Charles Ponzi, engineer of one of the most spectacular mass swindles in history, died destitute at a hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at age 66.

In 1957, a trio of B-52’s completed the first non-stop, round-the-world flight by jet planes, landing at March Air Force Base in California after more than 45 hours aloft.

In 1967, Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the “Boston Strangler,” was convicted of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses. (Sentenced to life, DeSalvo was killed in prison in 1973.)

In 1990, Washington D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was arrested in an FBI sting on drug-possession charges (he was later convicted of a misdemeanor).

In 1996, Lisa Marie Presley-Jackson filed for divorce from Michael Jackson.

Ten years ago: Taliban militants wearing explosive vests launched a brazen daylight assault on the center of Kabul with suicide bombings and gunbattles that paralyzed the Afghan capital for hours.

Five years ago: Pope Francis ended his Asian pilgrimage with an appeal for the future of the Catholic Church, urging an estimated 3 million rain-soaked Filipinos to protect their young from sin and vice so they can instead become missionaries of the faith.

One year ago: The White House announced that President Donald Trump would hold a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in February to try to coax the North to give up its nuclear program. (The talks collapsed, with both sides pointing to U.S. sanctions as a sticking point.)

Today’s Birthdays: Singer-songwriter Bobby Goldsboro is 79. Actor-director Kevin Costner is 65. Actress Alison Arngrim (TV: “Little House on the Prairie”) is 58. Singer Christian Burns (BBMak) is 46. Actor Derek Richardson is 44. Actor Jason Segel is 40. Actress Samantha Mumba is 37. Country singer Kristy Lee Cook (TV: “American Idol”) is 36. Actress Devin Kelley is 34. Actress Ashleigh Murray (TV: “Riverdale”) is 32. Actor Zeeko Zaki is 30. Tennis player Angelique Kerber is 32. Actor Mateus Ward is 21.

Thought for Today: “None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license.” — John Milton, English poet (1608-1674).