Today is Saturday, Oct. 18, the 292nd day of 2008. There are 74 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Saturday, Oct. 18, the 292nd day of 2008. There are 74 days left in the year. On this date in 1962, Dr. James D. Watson of the U.S. and Drs. Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins of Britain are named winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their work in determining the double-helix molecular structure of DNA.

In 1858, the play “Our American Cousin” by Tom Taylor premieres at Laura Keene’s theater in New York. In 1867, the United States takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia. In 1892, the first long-distance telephone line between New York and Chicago is officially opened. (It could handle only one call at a time). In 1898, the American flag is raised in Puerto Rico shortly before Spain formally relinquishes control of the island to the U.S. In 1931, inventor Thomas Alva Edison dies in West Orange, N.J., at age 84. In 1944, Soviet troops invade Czechoslovakia during World War II. In 1968, the U.S. Olympic Committee suspends Tommie Smith and John Carlos for giving a “black power” salute as a protest during a victory ceremony in Mexico City. In 1977, West German commandos storm a hijacked Lufthansa jetliner on the ground in Mogadishu, Somalia, freeing all 86 hostages and killing three of the four hijackers.

October 18, 1983: Youngstown detectives and the Police Department Internal Affairs Department are investigating why at least 30 hours passed before the escape of a prisoner from the jail was detected. A 28-year-old Montgomery Avenue man held on aggravated burglary charges escaped by soaping himself down and squeezing through a small window.

Trumbull County Schools Superintendent George Morar announces that he will retire after 35 years in education and 16 as county superintendent.

GF Corp. announces yet another dismal quarter in the office furniture business, reporting losses of $687,000 on sales of $32.8 million.

October 18, 1968: The executive board of Boy Scouts of America votes unanimously to admit girls into the Explorer program, which is for boys 14 to 18 years old.

Four divisions of the Youngstown Area United Appeal report early pledges of $562,584, boosting the campaign total to about 54 percent of the $1,7 million goal.

October 18, 1958: Campbell’s controversial zoning ordinance amendment of a year earlier is ruled illegal by Common Pleas Judge David G. Jenkins, who enjoins the city from enforcing a change from residential A to light industrial.

A 19-year-old Ohio Wesleyan sophomore from Bedford is shot to death after he and a companion stopped at a roadside fruit stand at night, apparently planning to take some apples. A farmer fired two shots into the air as they approached the stand and then fired at their car as they were fleeing.

October 18, 1933: Appointment of Col. Edward M. Markham as chief of the U.S. Army Engineers to succeed Maj. Gen Lytle Borwan, is well received in Youngstown by backers of a proposed Youngstown waterway.

The Salem Rubber Co. plant, idle for several years, is leased to the United Rubber Manufacturing Co. which plans to produce a variety of rubber goods, including boots. Tire production would come later.