Today in History

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 18, the 18th day of 2023. There are 347 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History: On Jan. 18, 2020, ahead of opening statements in the first Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, House prosecutors wrote that Trump had "used his official powers to pressure a foreign government to interfere in a United States election for his personal political gain," while Trump's legal team denounced what it called a "brazen and unlawful attempt to overturn the results of the 2016 election."

On this date:

In 1778, English navigator Captain James Cook reached the present-day Hawaiian Islands, which he named the "Sandwich Islands."

In 1911, the first landing of an aircraft on a ship took place as pilot Eugene B. Ely brought his Curtiss biplane in for a safe landing on the deck of the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Harbor.

In 1913, entertainer Danny Kaye was born David Daniel Kaminsky in New York City.

In 1943, during World War II, Jewish insurgents in the Warsaw Ghetto launched their initial armed resistance against Nazi troops, who eventually succeeded in crushing the rebellion.

In 1975, the situation comedy "The Jeffersons," a spin-off from "All in the Family," premiered on CBS-TV.

In 1990, a jury in Los Angeles acquitted former preschool operators Raymond Buckey and his mother, Peggy McMartin Buckey, of 52 child molestation charges.

In 1991, financially strapped Eastern Airlines shut down after more than six decades in business.

In 1993, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was observed in all 50 states for the first time.

In 2005, the world's largest commercial jet, the Airbus A380 "superjumbo" capable of flying up to 800 passengers, was unveiled in Toulouse, France.

In 2012, President Barack Obama rejected the Keystone XL project, a Canadian company's plan to build a 1,700-mile pipeline to carry oil across six U.S. states to Texas refineries.

In 2019, Jason Van Dyke, the white Chicago police officer who gunned down Black teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014, was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison.

Ten years ago: Former Democratic New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was indicted on charges that he'd used his office for personal gain, accepting payoffs, free trips and gratuities from contractors while the city was struggling to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. (Nagin was later convicted and released from prison in 2020.)

Five years ago: At the end of a visit to Chile that was meant to heal the wounds of a sex abuse scandal, Pope Francis accused victims of Chile's most notorious pedophile of slandering another bishop; Francis said he would need to see proof that Bishop Juan Barros was complicit in covering up the sex crimes of the Rev. Fernando Karadima. Texas executed by lethal injection Anthony Allen Shore, who became known as Houston's "Tourniquet Killer" because of the murder technique used on four female victims.

One year ago: AT&T and Verizon said they would delay launching new wireless service near key airports after the nation's largest airlines said the 5G service would interfere with aircraft technology and cause widespread flight disruptions. (Some flights to and from the U.S. would still be canceled despite the scaled-back rollout.) The White House launched a website allowing Americans to request free at-home COVID-19 tests.

Today's birthdays: Movie director John Boorman is 90. Former Sen. Paul Kirk, D-Mass., is 85. Singer-songwriter Bobby Goldsboro is 82. Comedian-singer-musician Brett Hudson is 70. Actor-director Kevin Costner is 68. Country singer-actor Mark Collie is 67. Actor Mark Rylance is 63. Actor Alison Arngrim (TV: "Little House on the Prairie") is 61. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is 60. Actor Jane Horrocks is 59. Comedian Dave Attell is 58. Actor Jesse L. Martin is 54. Rapper DJ Quik is 53. Rock singer Jonathan Davis (Korn) is 52. Former NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous is 50. Singer Christian Burns (BBMak) is 49. Actor Derek Richardson is 47. Actor Jason Segel is 43. Actor Samantha Mumba is 40. Country singer Kristy Lee Cook (TV: "American Idol") is 39. Actor Devin Kelley is 37. Actor Ashleigh Murray (TV: "Riverdale") is 35. Tennis player Angelique Kerber is 35. Actor Mateus Ward is 24.