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GOOD MORNING – TODAY IS SUNDAY, January 05, the 5th day of 2020 with 361 to follow. 2020 is a “Leap Year.” Sunrise in the Boston area is @ 7:14 and sunset is @ 4:24. The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mars, Neptune and Uranus. Evening stars are Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, Uranus and Venus.
ON THIS DAY IN: 1781 – Richmond, VA, was burned by a British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold.
1885 – The Long Island Railroad Company became the first to offer piggy-back rail service which was the transportation of farm wagons on trains.
1896 – It was reported by The Austrian newspaper that Wilhelm Roentgen had discovered the type of radiation that became known as X-rays.
1900 – In Ireland, Nationalist leader John Edward Redmond called for a revolt against British rule.
1903 – The general public could use the Pacific cable for the very first time.
1914 – Ford Motor Company announced that there would be a new daily minimum wage of $5 and an eight-hour workday.
1925 – Mrs. Nellie Taylor Ross was sworn in as the governor of Wyoming She was the first female governor in the U.S.
1933 – In California, construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began.
1934 – Both the National and American baseball leagues decided to use a uniform-size baseball. It was the first time in 33 years that both leagues used the same size ball. (MLB)
1935 – Phil Spitalny’s All-Girl Orchestra was featured on CBS radio on the program, “The Hour of Charm.”
1940 – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) got its very first demonstration of FM radio.
1944 – The London “Daily Mail” was the first transoceanic newspaper to be published.
1948 – Warner Brothers-Pathe showed the very first color newsreel. The footage was of the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl football classic.
1956 – In the Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy walked on two legs for the first time.
1961 – “Mr. Ed” debuted. The show would run for six years.
1970 – “All My Children” premiered on ABC.
1972 – U.S. President Richard M. Nixon ordered the development of the space shuttle.
1987 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan underwent prostate surgery.
1993 – The state of Washington executed Westley Allan Dodd. It was America’s first legal hanging since 1965. Dodd was an admitted child sex killer.
1996 – Yahya Ayyash, a member of the Hamas in Israel, is killed by a booby-trapped cellular phone.
1998 – U.S. Representative Sonny Bono died in skiing accident.
2002 – A 15 year-old student pilot, Charles Bishop, crashed a small plane into a building in Tampa, FL. Bishop was about to begin a flying lesson when he took off without permission and without an instructor.