Today is the ninth day of 2024 and the 20th day of winter. TODAY’S HISTORY: In 1788, Connecticut ratified the U.S. Constitution and became the fifth U.S. state. In 1861, Confederates fired upon the steamship Star of the West at the garrison of Fort Sumter, South Carolina, an incident many historians consider the first shots of the American Civil War. In 1945, Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the…