January 28th

Today's Highlight in History:
On January 28th, 1986, the space shuttle "Challenger" exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members.

On this date:
In 1547, England's King Henry the Eighth died; he was succeeded by his nine-year-old son, Edward the Sixth.

In 1596, English navigator Sir Francis Drake died off the coast of Panama; he was buried at sea.

In 1853, Cuban revolutionary Jose Marti was born in Havana.

In 1902, the Carnegie Institute was established in Washington DC.

In 1909, the United States ended direct control over Cuba.

In 1915, the Coast Guard was created by an act of Congress.

In 1916, Louis D. Brandeis was appointed by President Wilson to the Supreme Court, becoming its first Jewish member.

In 1945, during World War Two, Allied supplies began reaching China over the newly reopened Burma Road.

In 1980, six US diplomats who had avoided being taken hostage at their embassy in Tehran flew out of Iran with the help of Canadian diplomats.

In 1982, Italian anti-terrorism forces rescued US Brigadier General James L. Dozier, 42 days after he had been kidnapped by the Red Brigades.

Ten years ago: The San Francisco 49ers routed the Denver Broncos 55-to-ten in Super Bowl 24.

Five years ago: President Clinton hosted a five-and-a-half-hour "work session" of governors, legislators and local officials, both Democrats and Republicans, to discuss welfare reform.

One year ago: Ford Motor Company announced it was buying the Volvo car division in a $6.45 billion deal. Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan honored a personal request for mercy from Pope John Paul the Second, sparing triple murderer Darrell Mease from being executed.

"The best teacher, until one comes to adult pupils, is not the one who knows most, but the one who is most capable of reducing knowledge to that simple compound of the obvious and the wonderful which slips into the infantile comprehension.... The best teacher of children, in brief, is one who is essentially childlike."

-- H.L. Mencken, American author-journalist (1880-1956).