January 17, 2003 (Friday)
- Tom Ridge is unanimously recommended by a United States Senate subcommittee to be confirmed by the full Senate as head of the new United States Department of Homeland Security which is scheduled to begin operation on January 24.[1]
- A 1.3-mile tunnel, representing the latest major piece of Boston, Massachusetts' Big Dig, opened, connecting the Massachusetts Turnpike to Logan International Airport. The tunnel reduced the trip from downtown Boston from 45 minutes in traffic to 8 minutes. The next phase, taking the elevated Interstate 93 and putting it underground, should be finished by early 2004.
- Gertrude Janeway, the last widow of a Union veteran from the American Civil War, died at the age of 93, in Blaine, Tennessee. Gertrude married John Janeway in 1927, when she was 18 and he was 81. He died in 1937. Still alive is Confederate widow Alberta Martin, of Elba, Alabama.
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