Today marks Saturday, January 24, 2026, which is the 24th day of the year, leaving us with 341 days remaining.
Today in history:
On this day in 2011, a devastating suicide bombing struck Moscow’s busiest airport, claiming the lives of 37 individuals. The attack was later attributed to Chechen separatists.
Also on this date:
Back in 1835, Bahia, Brazil, witnessed a significant slave revolt that erupted in its provincial capital, Salvador. The rebellion led to the tragic loss of many enslaved individuals during fierce confrontations with military forces, police, and armed civilians. This crucial uprising is believed to have played a role in the eventual abolition of slavery in Brazil, decades later.
In 1848, James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget at Sutter’s Mill in northern California, an event that ignited the famed California Gold Rush.
During the closing days of World War II in 1945, Joseph Morton, a war correspondent for the Associated Press, was among those executed by German forces at the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria.
In 1965, Winston Churchill, the renowned British leader, passed away in London at the age of 90.
In 1978, a nuclear-powered Soviet satellite, Kosmos 954, plunged through Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated, scattering radioactive debris over parts of northern Canada.
In 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 1989, confessed serial killer Ted Bundy was executed in Florida’s electric chair.
In 2003, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge was sworn as the first secretary of the new Department of Homeland Security.
In 2013, President Barack Obama’s Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the lifting of a ban on women serving in direct ground combat roles.
In 2018, former sports doctor Larry Nassar, who had admitted to molesting some of the United States’ top gymnasts for years under the guise of medical treatment, was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison.
In 2023, a farmworker killed seven people in back-to-back shootings in a case of “workplace violence” at two Northern California mushroom farms. It marked the state’s third mass killing in just over a week.
Today’s birthdays:
- Cajun musician Doug Kershaw is 90.
- Singer-songwriter Ray Stevens is 87.
- Singer-songwriter Neil Diamond is 85.
- Singer Aaron Neville is 85.
- Physicist Michio Kaku is 79.
- Actor Daniel Auteuil is 76.
- Comedian Yakov Smirnoff is 75.
- Actor William Allen Young is 72.
- Musician Jools Holland is 68.
- Actor Nastassja Kinski is 65.
- Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Mary Lou Retton is 58.
- Actor Matthew Lillard is 56.
- Musician Beth Hart is 54.
- Actor Ed Helms is 52.
- Actor-comedian Kristen Schaal is 48.
- Actor Tatyana Ali is 47.
- Actor Carrie Coon is 45.
- Actor and rapper Daveed Diggs is 44.
- Actor Mischa Barton is 40.
- NFL coach Sean McVay is 40.
- Soccer player Luis Suárez is 39.
- Actor Callan McAuliffe is 31.
- Singer Johnny Orlando is 23.
