January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 348 days remaining until the end of the year (349 in leap years).
Holidays
- Christian Feast Day:
- National Day (Minorca)
- The opening ceremony of Patras Carnival, celebrated until Clean Monday. (Patras)
- Judgment Day (2008)
- Kid Inventor’s Day
- Liberation Day (Poland) Celebration of 1945 liberation of the city of Warsaw from Nazi oppression on this day by Soviet troops.
History
In 38 BC, Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
In 395, Emperor Theodosius I dies in Milan, the Roman Empire is re-divided into an eastern and a western half. The Eastern Roman Empire is centered in Constantinople under Arcadius, son of Theodosius, and the Western Roman Empire in Mediolanum under Honorius, his brother (aged 10).
In 1287, King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca.
In 1377, Pope Gregory XI moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.
In 1562, France recognizes the Huguenots by the Edict of Saint-Germain.
In 1595, Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.
In 1608, Emperor Susenyos surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his men.
In 1648, England’s Long Parliament passes the “Vote of No Addresses“, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.
In 1773, Captain James Cook and his crew become the first Europeans to sail below the Antarctic Circle.
In 1781, American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens – Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.
In 1799, Maltese patriot Dun Mikiel Xerri, along with a number of other patriots, is executed.
In 1811, Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionaries.
In 1852, The United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Boer colonies of the Transvaal.
In 1873, A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, part of the Modoc War.
In 1885, A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.
In 1893, The Citizen’s Committee of Public Safety, led by Lorrin A. Thurston, overthrows the government of Queen Liliuokalani of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
In 1893, Rutherford B. Hayes, American politician, 19th President of the United States (b. 1822) died. He was the 19th President of the United States (1877–1881). As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction, began the efforts that led to civil service reform, and attempted to reconcile the divisions left over from the Civil War and Reconstruction. In 1876, Hayes was elected president in one of the most contentious and confused elections in national history. He lost the popular vote to Democrat Samuel J. Tilden but he won an intensely disputed electoral college vote after a Congressional commission awarded him twenty contested electoral votes. The result was the Compromise of 1877, in which the Democrats acquiesced to Hayes’s election and Hayes ended all federal army intervention in Southern politics. That caused the collapse of Republican state governments and led to a solidly Democratic South.
In 1899, The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.
In 1903, El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico becomes part of the United States National Forest System as the Luquillo Forest Reserve.
In 1904, Anton Chekhov‘s The Cherry Orchard receives its premiere performance at the Moscow Art Theatre.
In 1912, Captain Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.
In 1913, Raymond Poincaré is elected President of France.
In 1917, The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands.
In 1918, Finnish Civil War: The first serious battles take place between the Red Guards and the White Guard.
In 1929, Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Segar, first appears in the Thimble Theatre comic strip.
In 1929, Inayatullah Khan, king of the Emirate of Afghanistan abdicates the throne after only three days.
In 1941, Franco-Thai War: French forces inflict a decisive defeat over the Royal Thai Navy.
In 1944, World War II: Allied forces launch the first of four assaults on Monte Cassino with the intention of breaking through the Winter Line and seizing Rome, an effort that would ultimately take four months and cost 105,000 Allied casualties.
In 1945, World War II: Soviet forces capture the almost completely destroyed Polish city of Warsaw.
In 1945, The Nazis begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.
In 1945, Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg is taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary; he is never publicly seen again.
In 1946, The UN Security Council holds its first session.
In 1949, The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, airs for the first time.
In 1950, The Great Brinks Robbery – 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company’s offices in Boston, Massachusetts.
In 1961, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the “military-industrial complex“.
In 1961, Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba is murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
In 1966, Palomares incident: A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton nuclear bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.
In 1969, Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.
In 1977, Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on capital punishment in the United States.
In 1981, President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifts martial law eight years and five months after declaring it.
In 1982, “Cold Sunday“: in numerous cities in the United States temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years.
In 1983, The tallest department store in the world, Hudson’s flagship store in downtown Detroit, closes due to high cost of operating.
In 1989, Cleveland School massacre: Patrick Purdy opens fire with an assault rifle at the Cleveland Elementary School playground in Stockton, California, killing five children and wounding 29 others and one teacher before taking his own life.
In 1991, Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning. Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
In 1991, Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V.
In 1992, During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
In 1994, 1994 Northridge earthquake: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Northridge, California.
In 1995, The Great Hanshin earthquake: A magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurs near Kobe, Japan, causing extensive property damage and killing 6,434 people.
In 1996, The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.
In 1997, A Delta 2 carrying a GPS2R satellite explodes 13 seconds after launch, dropping 250 tons of burning rocket remains around the launch pad.
In 1998, Lewinsky scandal: Matt Drudge breaks the story of the Bill Clinton–Monica Lewinsky affair on his website The Drudge Report.
In 2001, U.S. President Bill Clinton posthumously promotes Meriwether Lewis from Lieutenant to Captain.
In 2002, Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
In 2003, Richard Crenna, American actor (b. 1926) died. He was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Un Flic, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, the remake of Sabrina and The Flamingo Kid. Crenna played “Walter Denton” in the CBS radio network and CBS-TV network series Our Miss Brooks, and “Luke McCoy” in ABC’s TV comedy series, The Real McCoys, (1957–63), which moved to CBS-TV in September 1962.
In 2004, Noble Willingham, American actor (b. 1931) He was an American television and film actor. He was best known for his role as C.D. Parker on the series Walker, Texas Ranger from 1993 to 1999. Willingham appeared in more than thirty feature films, including Chinatown (1974),The Boys in Company C (1978), Norma Rae (1979), Harry’s War (1981), Independence Day (1983), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), the HBO Movie The Heist (1989), City Slickers (1991), The Last Boy Scout (1991), The Distinguished Gentleman (1992), Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold (1994) and Up Close & Personal (1996). Willingham was teaching high school government and economics in Houston before he followed his dream of becoming an actor. He auditioned for a part in The Last Picture Show (1971), which was filmed in Texas. He won the role, which led to another appearance, in 1973’s Paper Moon. On television, Willingham had a recurring role in the ABC series Home Improvement with Tim Allen as John Binford, and appeared as a guest star in the 1975 CBS family drama series Three for the Road. He also guest starred on Murder, She Wrote, Star Trek: The Next Generation (1989), Northern Exposure, Rockford Files, Tucker’s Witch with Tim Matheson and Catherine Hicks, and Quantum Leap. His additional television credits include A Woman With A Past, The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory, and Unconquered. He also played the conductor in Kenny Rogers as The Gambler (1980), he appeared in the 1986 miniseries Dream West, and appeared in Badge of the Assassin (1985) and Men Don’t Tell (1993).
In 2007, Art Buchwald, American columnist (b. 1925) died. He was an American humorist best known for his long-running column in The Washington Post, which in turn was carried as a syndicated column in many other newspapers. His column focused on political satire and commentary. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Outstanding Commentary in 1982 and in 1986 was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
In 2007, The Doomsday Clock is set to five minutes to midnight in response to North Korea nuclear testing.
In 2008, British Airways Flight 38 crash lands just short of London Heathrow Airport in England with no fatalities. It is the first complete hull loss of a Boeing 777.
In 2008, Jackson Energy Authority on the loose in Nashville. A friend had a recent conversation with Ellen Bryson, formerly of IRIS, now with the “Tennessee Fiber Optic Communities”. She is pushing SB 3375, expanding muni and coop authority to provide infrastructure and services in coop territories….on good intel, this is a JEA bill.
By the way cash is tight in municipality and recently witnessed the board vote to refinance an existing $38 million bond issue of the old bonds ($600,000 in closing costs!) increasing aggregate bond total by $905,000 (to over 54 million) borrowed an additional $3.7M from electric to replenish the Telecom Debt Service Reserve Sub-Account which they had to tap into to cover an interest payment they couldn’t make, and increased their debt to Regions to a new total of $11,015,000. Apparently, no principal was repaid. The audit is no longer breaking out voice vs data vs cable. “Telecom” no longer has any allocation for “billing”, “bad debt” etc; it is all showing up under the Electric Division. Lucky ratepayers.
Source: P. R. , JEA Audit Report
In 2008, Bobby Fischer, American chess player and author (b. 1943) died. He was an American chess prodigy, grandmaster, and the eleventh World Chess Champion. He is considered by many to be the greatest chess player who ever lived. At age 13, Fischer won a “brilliancy” that became known as The Game of the Century. Starting at age 14, he played in eight United States Championships, winning each by at least a point. At the age of 15 years, 6 months and 1 day, he became both the youngest grandmaster and the youngest candidate for the World Championship up to that time. He won the 1963–64 U.S. Championship with 11/11, the only perfect score in the history of the tournament. He was then 20 years old. His book My 60 Memorable Games, published in 1969, remains a revered work in all chess literature.
In 2010, Rioting begins between Muslim and Christian groups in Jos, Nigeria, resulting in at least 200 deaths.
In 2011, Don Kirshner, American songwriter and producer (b. 1934) dies of heart failure in a Boca Raton, Florida hospital on January 17, 2011, at age 76, survived by his wife of 50 years, Sheila; his son, Ricky; daughter, Daryn Lewis; and five grandchildren. He was known as The Man With the Golden Ear, was an American music publisher, rock music producer, talent manager, and songwriter. He was best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups, such as the Monkees, Kansas, and the Archies. Kirshner achieved his first major success in the late 1950s and early 1960s as co-owner of the influential New York-based publishing company Aldon Music with partner Al Nevins, which had under contract at various times several of the most important songwriters of the so-called “Brill Building” school, including Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka, Neil Diamond, Paul Simon, Phil Spector, Howard Greenfield, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil and Jack Keller. As a producer-promoter, Kirshner was instrumental in launching the careers of singers and songwriters, including Bobby Darin, with whom he collaborated on a number of advertising jingles and pop “ditties” – their first was called Bubblegum Pop. He was also responsible for finding Neil Diamond, Carole King, and Sarah Dash of Labelle, as well as discovering the occasional rock act, such as Kansas.
In 2015, The Coalition for a Healthy Tennessee decided that this tiny little newspaper is worthy of its notice…. we are thrilled, of course, however since they are likely funded by the teat of the taxpayer we can’t be that thrilled. However since they have mothballed their site.
In 2015, Lt. Gov. Brad Owen announced Friday that the public will no longer be able to openly carry firearms in the state Senate chamber‘s public viewing area. Owen, a Democrat who also served as president of the Senate, said a notice of the change will be posted outside the gallery at the Capitol, likely before Monday’s floor session.”We’re just noting that open carry is a form of demonstration and it’s no different than carrying a placard or something else of that nature,” he said.
In 2016, New Mexico’s environmental agency said it’s suing the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the August mine waste spill in Colorado. Officials have yet to tally the total damage from the spill of 3 million gallons of toxic sludge into the Animas River and downstream to New Mexico. But they say the EPA has repeatedly failed in its duties to protect the state and its residents. “From the very beginning, the EPA failed to hold itself accountable in the same way that it would a private business,” Ryan Flynn, secretary of New Mexico’s Environment Department, said in a statement.