Today is Sunday, July 31, the 212th day of 2005. There are 153 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Sunday, July 31, the 212th day of 2005. There are 153 days left in the year. On this date in 1777, the Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, is made a major-general in the American Continental Army.
In 1556, St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus -- the Jesuit order of Catholic priests and brothers -- dies in Rome. In 1875, the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, dies in Carter Station, Tenn., at age 66. In 1945, Pierre Laval, premier of the pro-Nazi Vichy government, surrenders to U.S. authorities in Austria. In 1948, President Truman helps dedicate New York International Airport (later John F. Kennedy International Airport) at Idlewild Field. In 1953, Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio, known as "Mr. Republican," dies in New York at age 63. In 1964, the American space probe Ranger 7 transmits pictures of the moon's surface. In 1972, Democratic vice presidential candidate Thomas Eagleton withdraws from the ticket with George McGovern following disclosures Eagleton had once undergone psychiatric treatment. In 1981, a seven-week-old Major League Baseball strike ends. In 1995, Walt Disney Co. agrees to acquire Capital Cities-ABC Inc. in a $19 billion deal. In 2000, the Republican National Convention opens in Philadelphia, with George W. Bush's name put into nomination for president. In 2004, the Vatican issues a document denouncing feminism for trying to blur differences between men and women and threatening the institution of families based on a mother and a father.
July 31, 1980: The executive board of the United Steelworkers of America, meeting in Los Angeles, dissolves District 26, which covers Mahoning, Trumbull , Ashtabula and Columbiana counties. The 38,000 union members in the district will be transferred to districts 23, 27 and 28.
Congress gives President Carter the power to ration gasoline in the event that supplies drop by 20 percent over a 30-day period.
A special task force appointed by the Youngstown Area Chamber of Commerce will undertake a thorough study of Youngstown City government with the goal of developing a cost-reduction plan, Mayor George Vukovich says.
July 31, 1965: Five people, including four members of one family, are killed in a high speed crash on State Route 14 , four miles west of East Palestine. Dead are Mrs. Lorena Taylor, 29; her daughter, Kathy, 1, and son, David, 9, and father-in-law, Warren Taylor, all of Beaver Falls, Pa., and Sheila Witt, 16, of Rochester, Pa. All were passengers in a car returning home from a day at Idora Park, where Aliquippa Day was celebrated. The car left the road at high speed and struck a tree. The driver is hospitalized.
President Johnson travels to Independence, Mo., to sign a bill establishing health insurance for people over 65 years old in the presence of former President Harry Truman. Truman proposed such health insurance 20 years earlier.
At Idora Park: Maynard Ferguson and his orchestra, concert from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m.; dancing from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Admission $2.50.
July 31, 1955: No relief is in sight, at least in 1955, for occupants of almost 800 homes in Boardman Township who want for water in the midst of plenty solely because of low water pressure. On hot days, water flows at a trickle in Boardman Center homes. The Youngstown water department will install a new main line to the area, but work won't be completed until fall, 1956.
A tidal wave of college enrollment is fast approaching Youngstown College, which has already received 500 applications for this fall's freshman class. Dr. Howard Jones, college president, says that's a 20 percent increase over the previous year.
A high Navy official seeking to speed the adoption of nuclear power predicts that the Navy will fly the first atomic-powered planes within five years.
July 31, 1930: Testimony in Youngstown reveals that Charles M. Schwab, chairman of the Bethlehem Steel Corp., gets an annual salary of $150,000 and no bonus. Schwab approved bonuses totaling $3.5 million for other Bethlehem officers, including $1.2 million for President Eugene Grace.
Joseph Meehan of Ironton, entrant in the All-American Air Derby and son of Patrick Meehan, president of the Meehan Boiler Works at Lowellville, is missing on the leg of the race from Los Angeles to Ogden, Utah. A check of airports between those points has revealed no trace of pilot or plane.
Youngstown's assistant law director, H.H. Wickman, announces that all charges are being dropped against six alleged bookies and 22 alleged customers arrested in raids on suspected bookie joints. Wickman said the evidence against the men was no stronger than that against Joe Flannigan, who had the charges dismissed by Judge Harry Hoffman.
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