Today is Thursday, June 22, the 173rd day of 2006. There are 192 days left in the year. On this date in 1945, the World War II battle for Okinawa officially ends; 12,520 Americans and 110,000 Japanese

Today is Thursday, June 22, the 173rd day of 2006. There are 192 days left in the year. On this date in 1945, the World War II battle for Okinawa officially ends; 12,520 Americans and 110,000 Japanese are killed in the nearly three-month campaign.
In 1611, English explorer Henry Hudson, his son and several other people are set adrift in present-day Hudson Bay by mutineers. In 1870, Congress creates the Department of Justice. In 1906, writer-director-producer Billy Wilder is born. In 1911, Britain's King George V is crowned at Westminster Abbey. In 1938, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis knocks out Max Schmeling in the first round of their rematch at Yankee Stadium. In 1940, during World War II, Adolf Hitler gains a stunning victory as France is forced to sign an armistice eight days after German forces overrun Paris. In 1944, President Roosevelt signs the Readjustment Act of 1944, more popularly known as the GI Bill of Rights. In 1970, President Nixon signs a measure lowering the voting age to 18. In 1993, former first lady Pat Nixon dies in Park Ridge, N.J., at age 81. In 1996, at their first summit in six years, Arab leaders meeting in Cairo, Egypt, urge Israel to prove its commitment to peace by resuming negotiations without delay. In 2001, the British government announces that Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who were 10 years old when they kidnapped and killed toddler James Bulger, have been granted parole. Striking Comair pilots ratift a new contract, ending a three-month strike. In 2005, an American U-2 spy plane crashes while returning to its base in the United Arab Emirates, killing the pilot after a mission in support of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
June 22, 1981: Tornadic winds tear through the Youngstown area, damaging houses and injuring four people at Berlin Reservoir.
The board of trustees of Youngstown State University approves two possible tuitions for the new school year, depending on the amount of subsidies that is received from the state. The annual tuition for a full-time student will go from $915 a year to $990 or $1,065.
The large maple trees that have lined Euclid and Rush boulevards in Youngstown for decades are bare-limbed and critically ill as a result of a severe infestation of cottony maple scale, a sap-sucking insect.
June 22, 1966: The Syro Steel Co. of Girard purchases property in Salt Lake City to build a branch plant in a move to expand its production capacity and meet the competition of steel fabricators in the West.
Common Pleas Judge Lynn B. Griffith issues a temporary injunction banning enforcement of a new Warren ordinance requiring cyclists to wear crash helmets while riding in the city. The suit was filed by Alton Rogers, a Niles motorcycle dealer, who says the ordinance is unconstitutional.
An extensive power failure blacks out hundreds of homes in Boardman Township from Market Street east almost to Poland Township for about 45 minutes.
Summer arrives in Youngstown with temperatures four degrees above normal, drawing 9,868 to the city's six swimming pools.
June 22, 1956:A 37-year-old Leavittsburg man recently released from Trumbull County jail for beating his common law wife, kills two of his wife's sisters and a 16-year-old girl he kidnapped during a robbery attempt. Dead are Geraldine Brown, 30; Hazel Botts, 32, and Nancy Worthington, 16. Police have launched the biggest manhunt in county history for Alfred "Wilddog" Wilson.
Several U.S. senators express outrage after Defense Department agents and Capitol police conduct an unannounced search of a senator's office looking for bugging devices. Nothing is found, but the Senate will hire its own experts to conduct a sweep of the Capitol.
Approval by a House public works subcommittee of a $14 million dam and reservoir on the West Branch of the Mahoning River is hailed by committee members as "a great personal tribute" to Rep. Michael J. Kirwan of Youngstown.
June 22, 1931: Three gangsters kidnap Sigmund S. Solomon, manager of the Paramount-Publix Theaters in Youngstown, and force him to open the theater safe, which contained $1,300. When Solomon claimed he didn't know the combination, one of the men hit him in the head and warned, "We're from Chicago, and we intend to get that money."
Charles Lindbergh Jr. celebrates his first birth at the family's New Jersey home. Sen. and Mrs. Dwight W. Morrow, his grandparents, spent most of the day at the home, marking his first birthday and the 25th birthday of their daughter, the child's mother.
Salem Mayor John Davidson fines himself $2 for running a traffic light at Broadway and E. State St. The infraction was witnessed by Patrolman Ralph Stoffer.
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