Andy Griffith (right) as Sheriff Andy Taylor and Don Knotts (left) as Deputy Barney Fife, in a scene from the "The Andy Griffith Show", Jan. 24, 1963. (AP Photo)

Today is Sunday, Jan. 22, the 22nd day of 2023. There are 343 days left in the year.

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Today’s Highlight

in History

On Jan. 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Roe v. Wade decision, declared a nationwide constitutional right to abortion.

President George H. W..Bush and his wife Barbara, kneel and pray during the National Prayer Service Sunday, Jan. 22, 1989 at the Washington Cathedral in Washington. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)

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On this date

n 1901, Britain’s Queen Victoria died at age 81 after a reign of 63 years; she was succeeded by her eldest son, Edward VII.

In 1938, Thornton Wilder’s play “Our Town” was performed publicly for the first time in Princeton, New Jersey.

In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces began landing at Anzio, Italy.

Frank Sinatra, gradually emerging from a self-imposed retirement, opened a one-week engagement at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Jan. 26, 1974. Sinatra played to some 1,000 invited guests during the opening show, his first night club date in some three years. (AP Photo)

In 1947, America’s first commercially licensed television station west of the Mississippi, KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, made its official debut.

In 1953, the Arthur Miller drama “The Crucible” opened on Broadway.

In 1995, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy died at the Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, at age 104.

In 1997, the Senate confirmed Madeleine Albright as the nation’s first female secretary of state.

In 1998, Theodore Kaczynski (kah-ZIHN’-skee) pleaded guilty in Sacramento, California, to being the Unabomber responsible for three deaths and 29 injuries in return for a sentence of life in prison without parole.

A portrait of Alexander Graham Bell, February 6, 1912. (AP Photo)

In 2006, Kobe Bryant scored 81 points, the second-highest in NBA history, in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 122-104 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

In 2007, a double car bombing of a predominantly Shiite commercial area in Baghdad killed 88 people. Iran announced it had barred 38 nuclear inspectors on a United Nations list from entering the country in apparent retaliation for U.N. sanctions imposed the previous month.

In 2008, actor Heath Ledger, 28, was found dead of an accidental prescription overdose in a New York City apartment.

In 2009, President Barack Obama signed an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp within a year. (The facility remained in operation as lawmakers blocked efforts to transfer terror suspects to the United States; President Donald Trump later issued an order to keep the jail open and allow the Pentagon to bring new prisoners there.)

In 2020, Chinese health authorities urged people in the city of Wuhan to avoid crowds and public gatherings after warning that a new viral illness that had infected hundreds of people and caused at least nine deaths could spread further. Health officials in Washington state said they were actively monitoring 16 people who’d come in close contact with a traveler to China, the first U.S. resident known to be infected with the virus.

Ten years ago: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line bloc fared worse than expected in a parliamentary election, forcing Netanyahu to negotiate a broad coalition deal. The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution condemning North Korea’s rocket launch in Dec. 2012 and imposing new sanctions. Linda Pugach, who was blinded in 1959 when her then-lover, Burton Pugach, hired hit men to throw lye in her face – and became a media sensation after later marrying him – died in New York at age 75.

Five years ago: President Donald Trump signed a bill reopening the government after a 69-hour shutdown. Former soccer star George Weah was sworn in as Liberia’s new president, taking over the impoverished West African nation from Africa’s first female leader, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Singer Neil Diamond announced that he would be retiring from touring because he’d recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

One year ago: Thousands of people gathered in European capitals to protest vaccine passports and other requirements their governments had imposed in hopes of ending the coronavirus pandemic. Don Wilson, co-founder and rhythm guitarist of the instrumental guitar band The Ventures, died at 88.

Today’s birthdays: Actor Piper Laurie is 91. Celebrity chef Graham Kerr (TV: “The Galloping Gourmet”) is 89. Author Joseph Wambaugh is 86. Singer Steve Perry is 74. Country singer-musician Teddy Gentry (Alabama) is 71. Movie director Jim Jarmusch is 70. Actor John Wesley Shipp is 68. Actor Linda Blair is 64. Actor Diane Lane is 58. Actor and rap DJ Jazzy Jeff is 58. Celebrity chef Guy Fieri is 55. Actor Olivia d’Abo is 54. Actor Katie Finneran is 52. Actor Gabriel Macht is 51. Actor Balthazar Getty is 48. Actor Christopher Kennedy Masterson is 43. Jazz singer Lizz Wright is 43. Pop singer Willa Ford is 42. Actor Beverley Mitchell is 42. Rock singer-musician Ben Moody (Evanescence) is 42. Actor Kevin Sheridan is 41. Actor-singer Phoebe Strole is 40. Rapper Logic is 33. Tennis player Alizé Cornet (uh-LEEZ’ kohr-NAY’) is 33. Actor Sami Gayle is 27.

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JANUARY 23

On Jan. 23, 1964, the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, eliminating the poll tax in federal elections, was ratified as South Dakota became the 38th state to endorse it.

In 1932, New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

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JANUARY 24

On Jan. 24, 1984, Apple Computer began selling its first Macintosh model, which boasted a built-in 9-inch monochrome display, a clock rate of 8 megahertz and 128k of RAM.

In 1965, British statesman Winston Churchill died in London at age 90.

In 1989, confessed serial killer Theodore Bundy was executed in Florida’s electric chair.

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JANUARY 25

On Jan. 25, 1945, the World War II Battle of the Bulge ended as German forces were pushed back to their original positions.

In 1971, Charles Manson and three women followers were convicted in Los Angeles of murder and conspiracy in the 1969 slayings of seven people, including actor Sharon Tate.

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JANUARY 26

On Jan. 26, 1998, President Bill Clinton forcefully denied having an affair with a former White House intern, telling reporters, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”

In 1915, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Rocky Mountain National Park Act, which created America’s 10th national park.

In 1992, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton, appearing with his wife, Hillary, on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” acknowledged “causing pain in my marriage,” but said past problems were not relevant to the campaign.

In 2009, Nadya Suleman gave birth at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center in California to six boys and two girls; criticism came after the public learned that the unemployed, single mother had gotten pregnant with the octuplets and six elder children through in vitro fertilization.

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JANUARY 27

On Jan. 27, 1967, astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft.

In 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.

In 2010, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad tablet computer during a presentation in San Francisco. J.D. Salinger, the reclusive author of “The Catcher in the Rye,” died in Cornish, New Hampshire, at age 91.

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JANUARY 28

On Jan. 28, 1973, a cease-fire officially went into effect in the Vietnam War, a day after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords by the United States, North Vietnam and South Vietnam.

In 1547, England’s King Henry VIII died; he was succeeded by his 9-year-old son, Edward VI.

In 1956, Elvis Presley made his first national TV appearance on “Stage Show,” a CBS program hosted by Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey.

In 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.

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