Today is the 365th day of 2015 and the 10th day of winter.

In 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed a bill admitting West Virginia into the United States.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1600, the British East India Company was chartered.

In 1879, Thomas Edison staged the first public demonstration of the electric lightbulb.

In 1999, the United States handed over complete control of the Panama Canal to Panama.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Henri Matisse (1869-1954), artist; George C. Marshall (1880-1959), U.S. military commander/diplomat; Anthony Hopkins (1937- ), actor; John Denver (1943-1997), singer-songwriter; Ben Kingsley (1943- ), actor; Diane von Furstenberg (1946- ), fashion designer; Donna Summer (1948-2012), singer; Bebe Neuwirth (1958- ), actress; Val Kilmer (1959- ), actor; Lance Reddick (1962- ), actor; Nicholas Sparks (1965- ), writer; Psy (1977- ), singer-songwriter; Gabrielle "Gabby" Douglas (1995- ), gymnast.

TODAY'S FACT: West Virginia, a new state created from Virginia counties that chose not to secede from the Union, was originally named Kanawha, after the Kanawha River.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1967, Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers defeated Tom Landry's Dallas Cowboys in the NFL Championship Game, 21-17, in subzero weather. The game became known as the "Ice Bowl." Green Bay went on to defeat the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted." -- Henri Matisse

TODAY'S NUMBER: 3,987 -- length in miles of the border between Canada and the lower 48 states.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Dec. 25) and last quarter moon (Jan. 1).

Today is the 364th day of 2015 and the ninth day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1853, the United States completed the Gadsden Purchase, establishing the border with Mexico.

In 1916, a group of Russian aristocrats carried out the murder of Rasputin, private adviser to the ruling Romanov family.

In 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was officially established.

In 2006, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was executed.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), writer; Bo Diddley (1928-2008), singer-songwriter; Sandy Koufax (1935- ), baseball player; Davy Jones (1945-2012), singer; Patti Smith (1946- ) singer-songwriter; Meredith Vieira (1953- ), TV journalist; Matt Lauer (1957- ), TV journalist; Tracey Ullman (1959- ), actress/comedian; Sean Hannity (1961- ), TV host; Tiger Woods (1975- ), pro golfer; Tyrese Gibson (1978- ), singer/actor; Eliza Dushku (1980- ), actress; LeBron James (1984- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S FACT: The geographic center of the United States lies 17 miles west of Castle Rock, South Dakota. The center of population is about 5.5 miles southwest of Plato in Wright County, Missouri.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1908, a special commission tasked with discovering the origins of baseball ruled that Abner Doubleday had invented the sport in Cooperstown, New York, in 1839. The finding has since been debunked.

TODAY'S QUOTE: " I keep six honest serving-men: / (They taught me all I knew); / Their names are What and Why and When / And How and Where and Who." -- Rudyard Kipling, "Just So Stories"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 28 -- record-setting number of tropical and subtropical storms in the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. This includes one unnamed storm in October that was identified after the season ended.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Dec. 25) and last quarter moon (Jan. 1).

Today is the 363rd day of 2015 and the eighth day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1170, Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered.

In 1890, U.S. Army troops massacred an estimated 300 Lakota Indian men, women and children near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota.

In 1940, Germany dropped hundreds of incendiary bombs on London.

In 1970, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was created.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Charles Goodyear (1800-1860), inventor; Andrew Johnson (1808-1875), 17th U.S. president; William Gladstone (1809-1898), British prime minister; Mary Tyler Moore (1936- ), actress; Jon Voight (1938- ), actor; Ted Danson (1947- ), actor; Patricia Clarkson (1959- ), actress; Sean Payton (1963- ), football coach; Jude Law (1972- ), actor; Theo Epstein (1973- ), baseball executive; Mekhi Phifer (1974- ), actor; Danny McBride (1976- ), actor/comedian; Alison Brie (1982- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: OSHA imposed the largest fine in agency history on Oct. 30, 2009, assessing $87 million in penalties against oil company BP. A 2005 explosion at the company's refinery in Texas killed 15 workers.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1978, Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes punched a Clemson player who had just intercepted a pass during the Gator Bowl. Ohio State went on to lose 17-15, and Hayes was fired the next day.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Legislation can neither be wise nor just which seeks the welfare of a single interest at the expense and to the injury of many and varied interests at least equally important and equally deserving the considerations of Congress." -- Andrew Johnson

TODAY'S NUMBER: 6 -- years that Thomas Becket spent in exile (1164-1170) for refusing to acquiesce to new laws set by Henry II.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Dec. 25) and last quarter moon (Jan. 1).