Today is Friday, Jan. 18, the 18th day of 2008. There are 348 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Friday, Jan. 18, the 18th day of 2008. There are 348 days left in the year. On this date in 1912, English explorer Robert F. Scott and his expedition reaches the South Pole, only to discover that Roald Amundsen had beaten them to it. (Scott and his party perish during the return trip.)

In 1778, English navigator Capt. James Cook reaches the Hawaiian Islands, which he dubs the “Sandwich Islands.” In 1871, William I of Prussia is proclaimed German Emperor in Versailles, France. In 1919, the Paris Peace Conference, held to negotiate peace treaties ending World War I, opens in Versailles, France. In 1936, author Rudyard Kipling dies in Burwash, England. In 1943, a wartime ban on the sale of pre-sliced bread in the U.S. — aimed at reducing bakeries’ demand for metal replacement parts — goes into effect. In 1943, during World War II, the Soviets announces they have broken through the long Nazi siege of Leningrad (it is another year before the siege is fully lifted). In 1957, a trio of B-52’s completes the first non-stop, round-the-world flight by jet planes, landing at March Air Force Base in California after more than 45 hours aloft. In 1967, Albert DeSalvo, who claims to be the “Boston Strangler,” is convicted in Cambridge, Mass., of armed robbery, assault and sex offenses. (Sentenced to life, DeSalvo is killed in prison in 1973.)

January 18, 1983: Robert B. Smith, chairman of the board of General Motors Corp., tours the Packard Electric Division plants in Warren, while outside a small band of protesters carries signs protesting General Motors seeking concessions from American workers and buying foreign steel.

Poland Township trustees cut the salary and reduce the power of Police Chief Lee Goodin. The action comes as a surprise during a meeting that was called ostensibly to select an architect for a township project.

The Youngstown Fire Department’s entire force is pressed into service in less than 30 minutes when flames break out in a church and two buildings on the city’s North and South sides.

January 18, 1968: The federal government is threatening to close the highly successful Mahoning Valley Vocational School, which has trained hundreds of previously unemployable young Ohioans on a campus at the Youngstown Air force Reserve Base.

City Council adopts an appropriation ordinance totaling $18.1 million, which excludes city employee wage increases.

A 27-year-old Glenaven Ave. man walks out of Youngstown Municipal Court during testimony against him on charges of breaking an entering then makes a run for it, but runs into the arms of Patrolman John Palermo and bailiff Robert Maro.

January 18, 1958: Atty. Elwyn Jenkins is named to the staff of County Prosecutor Thomas Beil’s staff.

As temperatures hover in the teens, all but one ice skating rinks and ponds in Youngstown are open and the last, Lake Newport, is expected to be ready for skating in a day.

January 18, 1933: U.S. Army engineers at Pittsburgh begin their re-survey of the canalization of the Beaver and Mahoning Rivers from the Ohio River to Struthers.

C.J. Strouss of the Strouss-Hirshberg Co. of Youngstown, is elected a national director of the National retail dry goods association in New York.