Today is Monday, July 5, the 186th day of 2010. There are 179 days left in the year.

Today is Monday, July 5, the 186th day of 2010. There are 179 days left in the year.

Associated Press

On this date in:

1810: American showman and promoter (as well as author and politician) Phineas T. Barnum is born in Bethel, Conn.

1811: Venezuela becomes the first South American country to declare independence from Spain.

1830: France occupies Algiers in North Africa.

1865: William Booth founds the Salvation Army in London.

1935: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act.

1946: The bikini, designed by Louis Reard and worn by Micheline Bernardini, makes its public debut during a poolside fashion show in Paris.

1947: Larry Doby makes his debut with the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first black player in the American League.

1948: Britain’s National Health Service Act goes into effect, providing government-financed medical and dental care.

1975: Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win a Wimbledon singles title as he defeats Jimmy Connors.

2009: A bankruptcy judge rules that General Motors Corp. could sell the bulk of its assets to a new company, clearing the way for the automaker to emerge from bankruptcy protection.

Vindicator files

1985: Civilian unemployment is stuck at 7.3 percent for the fifth month.

Susan Yvette Beaver, 18, a graduate of Warren Western Reserve High School, is crowned Miss Trumbull County Fair for 1985.

1970: Many of the 110,000 industrial workers in the Youngstown area are getting a series of multimillion dollar increases in pay as new contracts for steelworkers and autoworkers go into effect.

Members of Leather Local 29 at the Ohio Leather Co. In Girard ratify a new three-year contract that will provide wage increases of 70 cents an hour over three years. The union is engaged in a strenuous effort to persuade Congress to impose quotas against shoe and leather importation, especially from Japan.

1960: Some 13,000 new unemployment compensation claims are anticipated in the Mahoning Valley as district steel plants continue to slow down operations.

Mahoning Valley Council, Boy Scouts of America, registers its 200th unit, Troop 18 at the McGuffey Community Center, as part of the 50th anniversary of scouting.

Five Warren youths are arrested for vandalism after they dumped soap in the Idora Park Rapids ride, causing the park to shut the ride down. The park estimates its loss at $1,000.

1935: Congressman John Cooper of Youngstown remains confident that construction will begin on the Mahoning-Beaver rivers canal.

Hall China Co. of East Liverpool awards a $200,000 construction contract to the Heller Bros. Co. of Youngstown for expansion of a pottery plant.