Today is Thursday, Jan. 8, the eighth day of 2009. There are 357 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, Jan. 8, the eighth day of 2009. There are 357 days left in the year. On this date in 1935, rock-and-roll legend Elvis Presley is born in Tupelo, Miss.

In 1815, U.S. forces led by Gen. Andrew Jackson defeat the British in the Battle of New Orleans, the closing engagement of the War of 1812. In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson outlines his “Fourteen Points” for lasting peace after World War I. Mississippi becomes the first state to ratify the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which establishes Prohibition. In 1959, Charles de Gaulle is inaugurated as president of France’s Fifth Republic. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a “War on Poverty” in his State of the Union address. In 1973, the Paris peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam resume. In 1976, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai dies in Beijing. In 1987, for the first time, the Dow Jones industrial average closes above 2,000, ending the day at 2,002.25. In 2003, a US Airways Express commuter plane crashes at the Charlotte, N.C., airport, killing all 21 people on board.

January 8, 1984: The Ohio Department of Liquor Control warns that its agents are cracking down on beer drinkers who smuggle beer into Ohio from Pennsylvania.

The state of Ohio says it would provide technical support for Small Business Enterprise centers that would assist small business in such areas as licensing and worldwide export promotion and marketing.

January 8, 1969: Liberty Township insurance executive George F. McKenna, 44, dies in a fire that gutted his brick and frame home at 1411 Tomilu Drive. Police Chief James Pauley spotted the fire on routine patrol and summoned firefighters.

U.S. Rep. Michael J. Kirwan announces that he will step down as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, an important position he has held for 20 years.

WYTV (Channel 33) remains off the air for a fifth day while repairs are made to its 600-foot tower, which settled 15 inches after a large porcelain insulator shattered.

January 8, 1959: The Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority names Chester A. Amedia an assistant director of development to expedite its plans to build 500 additional low-rent housing units in Youngstown and Campbell.

Frank B. Warren, president of Bessemer Limestone & Cement Co., is re-elected president of the Youngstown Community Corp.

About 600 aged people in Mahoning County who receive both U.S. Social Security and Ohio Aid for the Aged pensions will get no increase in their monthly benefits, despite a seven percent increase in Social Security. That increase will be offset by a cut in their Aid for Aged pension.

January 8, 1934: John “Pinky” Walsh, 32, of Youngstown is shot just below the heart by a newly appointed Youngstown policeman, Officer Kenneth Risher, who caught him working on a safe at the Petrakos Confectionery, 131 W. Federal St.

A shoot-to-kill order is issued to police in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, who are on the lookout for an escaped desperado, Neal Bowman.