Years Ago

Today is Friday, June 24, the 175th day of 2011. There are 190 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1807: A grand jury in Richmond, Va., indicts former Vice President Aaron Burr on charges of treason and high misdemeanor (he is later acquitted).

1910: Italian automaker Alfa Romeo is founded in Milan.

1940: France signs an armistice with Italy during World War II.

1948: Communist forces cut off all land and water routes between West Germany and West Berlin, prompting the western allies to organize the Berlin Airlift.

1968: Resurrection City, a shantytown constructed as part of the Poor People’s March on Washington, D.C., is closed down by authorities.

1983: The space shuttle Challenger — carrying America’s first woman in space, Sally K. Ride — coasts to a safe landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Warren schools Superintendent Robert Pegues tells department heads to look for ways of trimming their budgets because the district is going to lose $443,000 in federal revenue sharing funds it received the year before.

Atty. John Weed Powers is named president of the Youngstown Symphony Society.

1971: Four factories in Salem are left without power after a Cessna private plane clips a 69,000 volt line during a forced descent after the plane ran out of fuel. The Wadsworth pilot and his passenger escaped injury.

Firebombers toss a lighted railroad fuse and three Molotov cocktails on the roof of the Golden Gate Market at 748 Park Ave. and then stone responding Youngstown firefighters.

1961: Ground is broken by the Heller-Murray Co. on the new $3 million oxygen-producing plant for the Linde Co. on Poland Avenue.

The Youngstown Board of Control approves a lease for operation of the Lansdowne Airport by Midtown Aviation Inc., which was the only bidder and will make tax payments on the property, which are about $1,100 a year.

TV’s Hugh O’Brian stars in the rowdy Broadway musical, “Destry Rides Again” at the Kenley Players in Warren.

1936: Youngstown employees of United Engineering & Foundry Co. will get additional work as a result of a rolling mill machinery contract for several million dollars from the International Harvester Co.

The Ohio PWA approves a $675,000 grant for construction of a $1.5 million municipal power plant at East Liverpool.