Today is Thursday, June 24, the 176th day of 2004. There are 190 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, June 24, the 176th day of 2004. There are 190 days left in the year. On this date in 1948, Communist forces cut off all land and water routes between West Germany and West Berlin, prompting the western allies to organize the massive Berlin Airlift.
In 1314, the forces of Scotland's King Robert I defeat the English in the Battle of Bannockburn. In 1509, Henry VIII is crowned King of England. In 1647, Margaret Brent, a niece of Lord Baltimore, is ejected from the Maryland Assembly after demanding a place and vote in that governing body. In 1793, the first republican constitution in France is adopted. In 1908, the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, Grover Cleveland, dies in Princeton, N.J., at age 71. In 1940, France signs an armistice with Italy during World War II. In 1968, "Resurrection City," a shantytown constructed as part of the Poor People's March on Washington, D.C., is closed down by authorities. In 1975, 113 people are killed when an Eastern Airlines Boeing 727 crashes while attempting to land during a thunderstorm at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger -- carrying America's first woman in space, Sally K. Ride -- coasts to a safe landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. In 1987, comedian-actor Jackie Gleason dies at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., at age 71.
June 24, 1979: Some of the top corporations in the country paid little or no federal taxes in 1977, according to figures released by Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation. Among them was Standard Oil of Ohio, which paid less than 1 percent on earnings of $235 million. The average for companies was 17 percent, but 38 corporations with combined earnings of $33 billion paid less than 10 percent.
Larry Kent, caretaker of Crandall Park, reports he has had to bury at least 20 ducklings this spring that had been stoned to death by children. A mallard hen and her mate were shot to death with a .22. Kent says the killings aren't just by neighborhood kids; he's seen students wearing jackets from suburban schools come to the park and he's seen fathers cheering their kids on as they try to hit a duck with a stone.
June 24, 1964: Liberty Township, already facing an acute shortage of funds, is now facing a disturbing and dangerous lack of water pressure in some sections of the township, trustees say. Fire Chief Martin Duffy says pressure is insufficient at the Belmont Avenue station to fill the department's pumper truck.
Former CIA Chief Allen Dulles flies to Philadelphia, Miss., on a presidential mission to investigate the disappearance of three young civil rights workers. Their burned out station wagon is found in a swampy area. They haven't been seen in three days.
Capt. Joseph Flynn, formerly of Youngstown, lands safely at West Berlin's Teget Airport after flying a Pan American World Airways jet through the Berlin Air Corridor in defiance of Soviet warnings that such flights are illegal. No MIG fighter planes were seen during the flight.
June 24, 1954: Airman 1st Class John L. Serwonski Jr., 22, of Youngstown is killed in an accident at Sioux City, Iowa, Air Force Base when he is sucked into the intake of an F86 jet fighter while servicing the plane on the ground.
The new personal loan department in the basement of Union National Bank downtown is visited by 350 guests during an open house for the $100,000 remodeling. Ansel E. Adams Jr., president of the bank, and other officers greeted the guests.
Col. William F. Rader, commanding officer of the Lordstown Ordnance Depot for two years, is being transferred to the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pa., to attend a course of study there. His success or will be Col. Keith T. O'Keefe, a native New Yorker.
June 24, 1929: Ten young men and women receive their diplomas from the YMCA business and secretarial training school. They are Belinda McCollum, Ethel and Edith Jackson (twins), Ann Kunder, Hugh Hasness, Katherine Mellinger, Margaret Reiss, Willard Squires, Donald Evans and Margaret Roth.
Truscon Steel Co.'s business is running more than 20 percent ahead of 1928, President Julius Kahn says.
Nine Mohammedan fanatics are sentenced to death in the Uzbekastan Socialist Soviet Republic for stoning to death a prominent Moslem poet, Chekimmade, who had turned Communist and began advocating the unveiling of women, co-operative marketing concerns and other deviations from ancient practices.