"Today in history: On Jan. 16, 1996, Wayne Newton performed his 25,000th Las Vegas show. Newton had performed more shows as a headliner in Las Vegas than any other entertainer. Also on this date: In 1865, Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman decreed that 400,000 acres of confiscated land in the South would be divided into 40-acre lots and given to former enslaved people. (The order, later revoked by President Andrew Johnson, inspired the expression, 40 acres and a mule.)"
"In 1942, actor Carole Lombard, 33, her mother, Elizabeth Peters, and 20 other people were killed when their plane crashed near Las Vegas, Nevada, while returning to California from a war-bond promotion tour. In 1989, three days of rioting began in Miami when a police officer fatally shot a Black motorcyclist, causing a crash that also claimed the life of his passenger. (The officer was convicted of manslaughter, but later acquitted in a retrial.)"
"In 1991, in a televised address to the nation, U.S. President George H.W. Bush announced the start of Operation Desert Storm, a combat operation that drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. In 2001, Congolese President Laurent-Desire Kabila was fatally shot by one of his own bodyguards. In 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became the first elected female head of state in Africa when she was sworn in as president of Liberia. In 2018, authorities in Denmark charged inventor Peter Madsen with killing Swedish journalist Kim Wall onboard his private submarine. (Madsen would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison.)"
January 16 records a range of historical milestones across entertainment, politics, and global events. Wayne Newton reached his 25,000th Las Vegas performance in 1996 and held the record for most headliner shows there. In 1865 General William Tecumseh Sherman ordered 400,000 acres of confiscated Southern land divided into 40-acre plots for formerly enslaved people, an order later revoked. The date includes deadly incidents such as Carole Lombard's 1942 plane crash and the 1989 Miami riots after a police shooting. Major political events include the 1991 start of Operation Desert Storm, the 2001 assassination of Laurent-Desire Kabila, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s 2006 inauguration. Notable birthdays listed include Marilyn Horne, A.J. Foyt, Ronnie Milsap, John Carpenter, Debbie Allen, Sade, Roy Jones Jr., and Kate Moss.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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