Today is Wednesday, Jan. 7, the seventh day of 2015. There are 358 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History: On Jan. 7, 1927, commercial transatlantic telephone service was inaugurated
between New York and London.
On this date:
In 1610, astronomer Galileo Galilei began observing three of Jupiter’s moons (he spotted a fourth moon
almost a week later).
In 1789, America held its first presidential election as voters chose electors who, a month later,
selected George Washington to be the nation’s first chief executive.
In 1894, one of the earliest motion picture experiments took place at the Thomas Edison studio in West
Orange, New Jersey, as Fred Ott was filmed taking a pinch of snuff and sneezing.
In 1904, the Marconi International Marine Communication Company of London announced that the telegraphed
letters "CQD" would serve as a maritime distress call (it was later replaced with
"SOS").
In 1942, the Japanese siege of Bataan began during World War II. (The fall of Bataan three months later
was followed by the notorious Death March.)
In 1955, singer Marian Anderson made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in Verdi’s
"Un Ballo in Maschera."
In 1963, the U.S. Post Office raised the cost of a first-class stamp from 4 to 5 cents.
In 1979, Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge
government.
In 1999, for the second time in history, an impeached American president went on trial before the Senate.
President Bill Clinton faced charges of perjury and obstruction of justice; he was acquitted.
Ten years ago: A military jury at Fort Hood, Texas, acquitted Army Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Perkins of
involuntary manslaughter in the alleged drowning of an Iraqi civilian, but convicted him of assault in
the Jan. 2004 incident. (Perkins was sentenced to six months in prison.)
One year ago: Brutal polar air that made the Midwest shiver over the past few days spread to the East and
the Deep South, shattering records that in some cases had stood for more than a century. A U.S. Air
Force Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in a coastal area of eastern England during a training mission,
killing all four crew members aboard.