Jason Van Dyke sentenced – Chicago Tribune

Today is Sunday, January 18, the 18th day of the year 2026. There are 347 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On January 18, 2019, Jason Van Dyke, the white Chicago police officer who fatally shot black teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014, was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison.

Former Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke released after serving 3 1/4 years for murder of Laquan McDonald

Also on this date:

In 1778, the English navigator Captain James Cook reached the present-day Hawaiian Islands, which he nicknamed the “Sandwich Islands”.

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson requested from Congress, in a confidential message, $2,500 in funding for the exploration of western lands as far as the Pacific, a first step in the eventual formation of the Lewis and Clark Expedition that would ultimately accelerate American expansion westward beyond the Mississippi River.

In 1911, the first landing of an airplane on a ship occurred when pilot Eugene B. Ely brought his Curtiss biplane for a safe landing on the deck of the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Harbor.

In 1958, Canadian Willie O’Ree became the first black player in the National Hockey League when he debuted with the Boston Bruins.

In 1977, scientists identified the bacteria responsible for the deadly form of atypical pneumonia known as Legionnaires’ disease.

In 1990, Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was arrested after FBI agents caught him smoking crack in a hotel room during an operation recorded on video. (Convicted of drug possession, Barry spent a few months in prison, returning to win a seat on the Washington Council in 1992 and his fourth and final mayoral victory in 1994. He died in 2014.)

In 1993, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was first celebrated in all 50 states.

In 1996, Lisa Marie Presley filed for divorce from Michael Jackson, citing “irreconcilable differences” after less than two years of marriage.

In 2013, former Democratic New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was indicted for using his office for personal gain, accepting payments, free trips and gratuities from contractors as the devastated city struggled to recover from Hurricane Katrina. (Nagin was later convicted, served time, and was released from prison in 2020.)