Today is Thursday, July 8, the 190th day of 2004. There are 176 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, July 8, the 190th day of 2004. There are 176 days left in the year. On this date in 1776, Col. John Nixon gives the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, in Philadelphia.
In 1663, King Charles II of England grants a charter to Rhode Island. In 1853, an expedition led by Commodore Matthew Perry arrives in Yedo Bay, Japan, on a mission to seek diplomatic and trade relations with the Japanese. In 1889, The Wall Street Journal is first published. In 1891, Warren G. Harding marries Florence K. DeWolfe in Marion, Ohio. In 1907, Florenz Ziegfeld stages his first "Follies," on the roof of the New York Theater. In 1919, President Wilson receives a tumultuous welcome in New York City after his return from the Versailles Peace Conference in France. In 1947, demolition work begins in New York City to make way for the new permanent headquarters of the United Nations. In 1950, Gen. Douglas MacArthur is named commander-in-chief of United Nations forces in Korea. In 1975, President Ford announces he would seek the Republican nomination for the presidency in 1976. In 1993, a jury in Boise, Idaho, acquits white separatist Randy Weaver and a co-defendant of slaying a federal marshal in a shootout at a remote mountain cabin.
July 8, 1979: Ohio Gov. James A. Rhodes and a delegation of Ohio businessmen arrive in Peking on a trade mission. Rhodes suggests that the Chinese permit Americans to build a 5,000-acre tourist center with hotels, an amusement park, a zoo "and anything else that will raise money."
The state Board of Tax Appeals will open hearings on Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co.'s request for an $8.7 million reduction in taxable property values for 1977.
More than 40 airplanes arrive at the Barber Airport in Alliance for the 7th annual Taylorcraft Owners' Club Fly-In. George Kirkendall Sr., the first test pilot for Taylorcraft, entertains guests with tales of his flying experiences.
July 8, 1964: The Robert E. Lee Hotel in Jackson, Miss., a 12-story landmark for more than 30 years, closes its doors rather than admit Negroes, as is required under the Civil Rights Act signed by President Johnson.
The Ohio Supreme Court upholds state anti-gambling laws, banning the printing and sale of numbers games slips. The 5-2 decision comes in the case of Lisbon Sales Book Co. A Columbiana County Common Pleas Court had found the law unconstitutional, but that ruling was overturned by the appellate court.
Lt. Cmdr. Eugene Winter of Warren takes over as commander of the Youngstown Naval Reserve Center, succeeding Lt. Cmdr. Adam Ostovich.
July 8, 1954: Lt. Martin J. Christian Jr., 35, veteran Youngstown Navy pilot who was recalled to active duty, is killed when the jet trainer he was testing explodes and crashes in a bay 10 miles south of Corpus Christi, Texas.
A strike by more than 500 members of Local 125 of the Hod Carriers, Building and Common Laborers Union threatens to tie up building construction in the Youngstown area.
The first two of a planned 74 right-hand drive mail delivery vehicles arrive in Youngstown and will be assigned to Boardman routes. The trucks will be painted red, white and blue and will allow mail carriers to ride rather than walk over most of their routes.
July 8, 1929: Youngstown Mayor Joseph Heffernan issues an ultimatum to Police Chief James J. McNicholas and Assistant Chief William J. Englehardt to "clean house" and weed out inefficient, trouble-making members of the police department, or they themselves would be ousted.
James Toby, a keeper at the Brookside Zoo in Cleveland, dies of blood poisoning from a tiger bite suffered a week earlier.
Youngstown City Council gives permission to the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District to lay waterlines on city streets, but specifies that only cast iron pipe may be used.