Years Ago

Today is Sunday, July 8, the 190th day of 2012. There are 176 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1776: Col. John Nixon gives the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, in Philadelphia.

1853: An expedition led by Commodore Matthew Perry arrives in Yedo Bay, Japan, on a mission to seek diplomatic and trade relations with the Japanese.

1889: The Wall Street Journal is first published.

1950: President Harry S. Truman names Gen. Douglas MacArthur commander-in-chief of United Nations forces in Korea. (Truman ends up sacking MacArthur for insubordination nine months later.)

1962: The United States conducts Starfish Prime, a nuclear test in which a 1.44 megaton warhead is detonated 250 miles above the Pacific Ocean; the resulting electromagnetic pulse causes limited electrical disruptions in parts of Hawaii.

1972: Actress Jane Fonda begins a two-week visit to Hanoi, where she denounces the Vietnam War in radio broadcasts, visits American POWs and is photographed sitting behind a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun, an image that sparks outrage in the U.S.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: LTV Steel Corp. announces that it will spend $14 million to repair the blast furnace at its Warren Works.

The director of the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corp. says her agency will attempt to block a plan under which LTV Corp. would restore most of the benefit reductions suffered by LTV Corp. retirees.

1972: Gov. John J. Gilligan presents the Outstanding Teen of Ohio trophy to Linda Anne Motosko of Youngstown, who will compete for a $1,000 scholarship against 50 other teenagers from around the nation.

Advertisement: Arthur Treacher announces its fish and shrimp special: two shrimp, one piece of fish, crispy chips and cole slaw, 89 cents at its shops in Niles, Liberty, Austintown and Boardman.

1962: CFM Inc., formerly Century Food Markets in Youngstown, is negotiating to buy two large discount chains, even while it is disposing of Star Discount City in the Garland Shopping Plaza.

Three Boy Scout troops were able to camp at the Stambaugh Reservation on money earned picking strawberries on Mahoning County farms in the spring. Troop 94 was honored by the Ohio State Employment Service office in Youngstown as the best of the participants in the farm work program, having picked 2,000 quarts of berries.

The Dana School of Music at Youngstown University completes its first Musical Festival for high school students with two free concerts on the YU campus.

1937: Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. and Republic Steel Corp. say about 20,000 workers have returned to their jobs in the Youngstown district, leaving only about 5,000 out.

An exploration trip down the Mahoning River by three Warren boys on a homemade raft ends with the drowning of one of the boys, Donald Botts, 9, just 300 feet from where they launched their ship.