Today is Friday, January 4th, the fourth day of the year. There are 361 days until the end of the year.
On this day:
In 1896, Utah became the 45th state of the United States.
In 1936, "Billboard" magazine published the first music chart based on record sales.
In 1965, poet T.S. Eliot died at the age of 76.
In 1980, President Carter announced the U.S. would boycott the Moscow Olympics.
In 1986, Thin Lizzy singer, guitarist Phil Lynott died at the age of 34.
In 1995, Newt Gingrich was formally elected Speaker of the House. He became the first Republican to hold the post in 40 years.
In 1996, Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula announced his retirement following 26 seasons with the team.
In 1999, former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura took the oath of office as Minnesota governor.
In 2010, the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, officially opened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Standing more than two-thousand-723 feet high, the project cost an estimated one-point-five-billion-dollars.
In 2016, country music singer Craig Strickland was found dead in Oklahoma. The body of the Backroad Anthem singer was found at a lake just northwest of Tulsa. Strickland had been missing since he left for a duck hunting trip on December 26th after his boat capsized during a winter storm.
In 2016, General Motors invested 500-million dollars in Lyft to develop a network of self-driving cars.