Today is the third day of 2017 and the 14th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1777, Revolutionary forces under the command of George Washington defeated the British at Princeton, New Jersey.

In 1947, a session of Congress was televised for the first time to viewers in three East Coast cities.

In 1959, Alaska was admitted as the 49th state.

In 1993, President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Lucretia Mott (1793-1880), women's rights pioneer; J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), author; Victor Borge (1909-2000), comedian/pianist; Hank Stram (1923-2005), football coach; Sergio Leone (1929-1989), director; Robert Loggia (1930-2015), actor; Glen A. Larson (1937-2014), TV producer/writer; Victoria Principal (1950- ), actress; Mel Gibson (1956- ), actor/director; Michael Schumacher (1969- ), race car driver; Danica McKellar (1975- ), actress; Eli Manning (1981- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: C-SPAN was launched in 1979 to "provide live, gavel-to-gavel coverage of the U.S. House of Representatives." C-SPAN2, covering the Senate, was launched in 1986.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1983, Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett set an NFL record that still stands by running 99 yards from scrimmage for a touchdown.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "... The most improper job of any man, even saints (who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity." -- J.R.R. Tolkien

TODAY'S NUMBER: 738,432 -- estimated population of the state of Alaska in 2015 -- more than triple the population of the state at the time it attained statehood.

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

Today is the second day of 2017 and the 13th day of winter.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1492, the Moors were driven out of Spain as Granada fell to the forces of Ferdinand and Isabella.

In 1967, Ronald Reagan was sworn in as governor of California.

In 1974, President Richard Nixon signed legislation instituting a 55-mph highway speed limit in order to conserve gasoline during an OPEC embargo.

In 2006, a methane gas explosion in a Sago, West Virginia, coal mine trapped 13 miners. Only one survived.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Michael Tippett (1905-1998), composer; Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), author; Roger Miller (1936-1992), singer-songwriter; Jack Hanna (1947- ), zoologist; David Cone (1963- ), baseball player/sportscaster; Pernell Whitaker (1964- ), boxer; Tia Carrere (1967- ), actress; Cuba Gooding Jr. (1968- ), actor; Tommy Morrison (1969-2013), boxer; Christy Turlington (1969- ), model; Taye Diggs (1971- ), singer/actor; Dax Shepard (1975- ), actor; Kate Bosworth (1983- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Castilian Spanish is the official language of Spain, but Catalan, Galician and Basque are all official regional languages.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1984, Miami upset heavily favored Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, 31-30, as Nebraska failed on a two-point conversion at game's end.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I believe that only scientists can understand the universe. It is not so much that I have confidence in scientists being right, but that I have so much in nonscientists being wrong." -- Isaac Asimov, "Quasar, Quasar, Burning Bright"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 26,284 -- miles on the odometer of a rare, unrestored 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atlanta Coupe found in the garage of a British doctor and reported by media outlets on this day in 2009. One of only 17 ever made, the car sold at a Paris auction a month later for $4.4 million.

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

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).