Today is the first day of 2017 and the 12th day of winter.

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 1908, the first Times Square "ball drop" triggered a fireworks show celebrating the New Year.

In 1912, 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; Betsy Ross (1752-1836), seamstress/U.S. flag designer; E.M. Forster (1879-1970), author; J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972), FBI director; J.D. Salinger (1919-2010), author; Charlie Munger (1924- ), businessman/philanthropist; Frank Langella (1938- ), actor; Gary Johnson (1953- ), businessman/politician; Grandmaster Flash (1958- ), musician; Derrick Thomas (1967-2000), football player; Morris Chestnut (1969- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, considered the first of some 78 million postwar "baby boomers," was born in Philadelphia one second after midnight on Jan. 1, 1946.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1902, the University of Michigan Wolverines defeated the Stanford University Cardinals, 49-0, in the first college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "For the faithful, the patient, the hermetically pure, all the important things in this world -- not life and death, perhaps, which are merely words, but the important things -- work out rather beautifully." -- J.D. Salinger, "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1 million -- people processed through the Ellis Island immigration station in 1907, the peak year for immigration to the United States.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Dec. 28) and first quarter moon (Jan. 5).

Today is the 366th day of 2016 and the 11th day of winter.

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

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

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: "It is not enough to fight. It is the spirit which we bring to the fight that decides the issue. It is morale that wins the victory." -- George C. Marshall

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

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Dec. 28) and first quarter moon (Jan. 5).

Today is the 365th day of 2016 and the 10th 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; Carson Wentz (1992- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: Though historically known as "The Mad Monk," infamous Russian mystic Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin had left Verkhoture Monastery and returned to his home village by age 19, well before completing his training.

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: "If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten." -- Rudyard Kipling

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 new moon (Dec. 28) and first quarter moon (Jan. 5).