TODAY IN HISTORY

Thursday, January  03, 2013 AP Highlight in History:  On Jan. 3, 1959, Alaska became the 49th state.   AP Photo/Harvey Georges
On this date in: 1521 Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. 1777 Gen. George Washington's army routed the British in the Battle of Princeton, N.J. 1868 The Meiji Restoration re-established the authority of Japan's emperor and heralded the fall of the military rulers known as shoguns. 1892 J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. 1938 The March of Dimes campaign to fight polio was organized. 1961 The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba. 1967 Jack Ruby, the man who fatally shot accused presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, died in a Dallas hospital. 1990 Ousted Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces, 10 days after taking refuge in the Vatican's diplomatic mission in Panama City. President George H.W. Bush announces the surrender AP Photo 2000 The last new daily "Peanuts" comic strip by Charles Schulz ran in 2,600 newspapers. 2004 NASA's Mars rover, Spirit, touched down on the red planet. 2006 Lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion and agreed to cooperate in investigations of corruption in Congress. 2009 After seven days of pummeling the Gaza Strip from the air, Israel launched a ground offensive.		Video HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS DAY IN HISTORY Today's Birthdays: New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning turns 32 years old today. AP Photo/Seth Wenig Name Profession Age George Martin Record producer 87 Robert Loggia Actor 83 Dabney Coleman Actor 81 Bobby Hull Hockey Hall of Famer 74 John Paul Jones Rock musician (Led Zeppelin) 67 Victoria Principal Actress ("Dallas") 63 Mel Gibson Actor, director 57 Shannon Sturges Actress 45 Danica McKellar Actress ("The Wonder Years") 38 Rock musician Stephen Stills (Crosby, Stills and Nash) turns 68 years old today. AP Photo/Tony Avelar