Today is Thursday, May 18, the 138th day of 2006. There are 227 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, May 18, the 138th day of 2006. There are 227 days left in the year. On this date 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.
In 1642, the Canadian city of Montreal is founded. In 1804, the French Senate proclaims Napoleon Bonaparte emperor. 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.
May 18, 1981: Trumbull Common Pleas Judge David Griffith issues an order temporarily blocking the annexation of nearly 300 acres of rural land to Cortland for a proposed $30 million golf course and housing development.
Pope John Paul II is moved from an intensive care unit to a general care hospital room on his 61st birthday and five days after being wounded by a would-be assassin.
Packard Electric Division of General Motors will move its rear body electrical system assembly operations to Juarez, Mexico, for all 1982 cars, officials say.
May 18, 1966: Some of the 856 workers at the Rockwell Standard Corp.'s bumper plant in Newton Falls return to work after what the company described as a wildcat strike.
Youngstown banks have cashed $57,000 in food stamps since the federal program began at the beginning of May. The Mahoning County Welfare Advisory Board says response to the program has been excellent.
Atty. Elton W. Luckhart is elected to a fourth two-year term as chairman of the Mahoning County Republican Executive Committee.
May 18, 1956: The 20-mile stretch of Mahoning River from Warren to Lowellville is the most polluted stream in the state, Dr. Ralph E. Dwork, state health director, tells the Mahoning Valley Industrial Management Association.
The Mahoning County Jail and Office Building Commission discovers that it will have to cut some items from the new jail in order to stay within the $900,000 bond issue allowed by voters.
A 14-year-old Boardman boy damages 11 lawns before smashing into a tree and breaking his nose during a joy ride in his parents' car. A township constable was chasing the boy after he crashed a stop sign in Hudson Ave.
May 18, 1931: Elmer Darling, 31, a Trumbull County detective, drowns in Yankee Lake north of Brookfield after he was thrown from a motor boat he was testing. The unattended boat continued to speed in tight circles, leaving Darling no alternative but to try to swim to shore, but he was apparently overcome by the cold water before making shore.
Delos K. Moser, 69, a member of the Warren Fire Department for more than 50 years and its chief since 1898, dies of a heart attack four months after being stricken with acute indigestion and heart complications at the central fire station.
Youngstown Law Director Carl Armstrong is preparing legislation for City Council that would bar motorboats from Lake Milton. Waves created by motorboats are causing erosion on the shore and threatening to cause a dangerous situation adjacent to the spillway.