Today in history

Today is Thursday, Oct. 18, the 292nd day of 2012. There are 74 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1867: The United States takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia.

1892: The first long-distance telephone line between New York and Chicago is officially opened (it could only handle one call at a time).

1931: Inventor Thomas Alva Edison dies in West Orange, N.J., at age 84.

1944: Soviet troops invade Czechoslovakia during World War II.

1961: The movie musical “West Side Story,” starring Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer, premieres in New York, the film’s setting.

1969: The federal government bans artificial sweeteners known as cyclamates because of evidence they cause cancer in laboratory rats.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Auto buyers are responding enthusiastically to the new restyled Chevrolet Cavalier that is built at the Lordstown plant of General Motors.

Wilbur, a great horned owl nursed back to health at the Animal Charity Center after having a broken wing treated by Dr. Donald Allen, is released in the wooded area of Boardman Park.

1972: An explosion damages a 1972 Dodge in the driveway of the home of the Rev. Lonnie Simon at 21 S. Jackson Street. He had received a number of threats.

The Mahoning County Welfare Department will add 4,680 square feet to the 8,600 square feet it has in McKelvey’s Parkade downtown to meet the rising case load.

1962:Dr. Sidney M. Berkowitz, rabbi of Rodef Sholom congregation, is re-elected chairman of Mahoning Chapter, American Red Cross.

A special citizens committee appointed by City Council recommends a city bond issue to finance paid parking for 400 cars, hangars and a 40-room motel at the Youngstown Municipal Airport.

While dedication ceremonies mark the opening of a 1.4 mile link in the future Lake-to-River highway, state officials say they hope the entire 97-mile route can be open within three years.

1937: Brooks Bowman, 23, nationally known song writer from Salem, is killed instantly in an automobile accident near Garrison, N.Y. Among the popular songs he wrote while a student at Yale were “Love on a dime” and “East of the Sun.”

Nineteen people are believed dead in the crash of a United Airlines plane near Salt Lake City, including W.J. Hart of Sharon, Pa., a Westinghouse engineer.