Today is Wednesday, May 18, the 138th day of 2005. There are 227 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Wednesday, May 18, the 138th day of 2005. There are 227 days left in the year. On this date in 1920, Pope John Paul II is born Karol Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland.
In 1804, the French Senate proclaims Napoleon Bonaparte emperor. In 1896, the Supreme Court endorses "separate but equal" racial segregation with its "Plessy v. Ferguson" decision, a ruling that is overturned 58 years later by "Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka." In 1926, evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson vanishes while visiting a beach in Venice, Calif.; she reappears a month later, claiming to have been kidnapped. In 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority is created. In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces finally occupy Monte Cassino in Italy after a four-month struggle that claims some 20,000 lives. In 1953, Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier as she pilots a North American F-86 Canadair over Rogers Dry Lake, Calif. In 1969, astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Thomas P. Stafford and John W. Young blast off aboard Apollo 10.
May 18, 1980: Forest S. Beckett, president of the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp., says Ohio and its sister states of Mid-America have a weapon in the battle to reverse the flight of industry and technology to the Sun Belt -- plentiful energy supplies.
A spark from a workman's torch touches off a fire that guts the basement of Caddick's Fabric Showcase Uptown and causes extensive smoke damage to four adjoining Market Street buildings.
Graduates of schools of education five years ago may find it hard to believe, but a critical shortage of teachers seems to be on the way. Connie Sallee, a recruiter for Cleveland schools, says during a visit to Youngstown State University that there has been a radical shift from surpluses to shortages in a number of fields, including English.
May 18, 1965: John Hake, 58-year-old Youngstown & amp; Northern Railroad brakeman, is instantly killed when hit by a Y & amp;N diesel-electric locomotive in U.S. Steel Corp.'s Ohio Works yards.
Boardman Township's fire chief, Wayne Ewing Jr., and the assistant police chief, Robert Rhinehart, submit surprise resignations at a meeting of trustees.
President Johnson announces plans to give a half million poor children an education "head start" this summer. Youngstown will get $117,000 under the program to operate 22 centers for 800 children over the summer.
May 18, 1955: Frances Leo Horr of Youngstown, who fled the city May 1 after the murder of Mrs. Rosemary Davis Hunter in an Oak Hill tavern, is captured by the FBI in Seattle, Wash.
Frost hits scattered areas of Youngstown, damaging flowering shrubs, and wheat, hay and fruit crops in low-lying places.
Sharon Mayor Myron W. Jones wins the Republican renomination by a margin of 79 votes over Gordon Ward in one of the closest races since Sharon became a third-class city 35 years ago.
Two important capital improvements projects, the Gibson Street Bridge and the Canal Street widening, are opened to traffic and ground is broken for the Division Street Bridge in ceremonies directed by Mayor Frank X. Kryzan.
May 18, 1930: A mammoth clock is erected on Central Square to keep track of progress in the drive to raise $400,000 for the 1930 Community Chest campaign that will run from May 19 to 26.
Gallant Fox gallops through the rain to win the 56th running of the Kentucky Derby. Youngstown jockey Robert "Buggies" O'Brien rides Longus to a sixth place finish.
Architect Charles Owsley says he and city officials have agreed that the Wick Ave. bridge that will be built in 1932 should combine beauty with utility. The bridge, they say, should be graceful and pleasing to the eye.