Ross Simpson

Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron is 82 today.

The Sporting News ranked the "Hammer" fifth on its "100 Greatest Baseball
Players" list. After learning to play by hitting bottle caps with sticks he found
in the street, Aaron led his high school team to the Mobile Negro High School
Championship two consecutive years.

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — The handlers of Pennsylvania’s
most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, say the furry rodent
has failed to see his shadow, meaning means he’s "predicted" an
early spring.

Members of the top hat-wearing Inner Circle announced the "forecast"
at sunrise, just before 7:30 a.m. (ET) Tuesday.

Groundhog Day is a traditional holiday celebrated on February
2. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges
from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early; if it is
sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat
back into its burrow, and the winter weather will persist for six
more weeks. The holiday was adopted in the U.S. in 1887. The
largest celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, with
Punxsutawney Phil, the official “Groundhog Day meteorologist.” 

 
The Groundhog Club of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Groundhog Club handler Ron Ploucha, center, holds Punxsutawney
Phil.

The 1993 fantasy comedy film directed by Harold Ramis was
added to the U.S. National File Registry as being deemed
”culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a federal holiday marking the birthday of Martin
Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which
is around King’s birthday, January 15. The holiday is similar to holidays set
under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968. President Ronald Reagan
signed the holiday into law in 1983, and it was first observed three years
later. At first, some states resisted observing the holiday as such, giving it
alternative names or combining it with other holidays. It was officially observed
in all 50 states for the first time in 2000. The idea of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
as a holiday was promoted by labor unions in contract negotiations.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the Civil
Rights Movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination
in federal and state law. The campaign for a federal holiday in King’s
honor began soon after his assassination.