Today is the first day of 2013 and the 12th day of winter.
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TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation took effect, freeing slaves in Confederate states.
In 1892, the Ellis Island immigration station opened in New York City.
In 1962, the Republic of China was established.
In 1994, provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Paul Revere (1735-1818), American patriot; E.M. Forster (1879-1970), novelist; J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972), FBI director; J.D. Salinger (1919-2010), writer; Frank Langella (1938- ), actor; Grandmaster Flash (1958- ), musician.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1961, the Houston Oilers won the first American Football League championship, 24-16, against the Los Angeles Chargers.
TODAY'S FACT: Kathleen Casey Wilkins, considered the first of some 78 million postwar "baby boomers," was born in Philadelphia one second after midnight on Jan. 1, 1946.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free." -- Abraham Lincoln
TODAY'S NUMBER: 1.25 million -- people processed through the Ellis Island immigration station in 1907, the peak year for immigration to the United States.
TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Dec. 28) and last quarter moon (Jan. 4).