Today is Saturday, July 26, the 207th day of 2014. There are 158 days left in the year.

July 26, 2014 at 12:00a.m.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1775: Benjamin Franklin becomes America’s first postmaster-general.

1788: New York becomes the 11th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1882: The Richard Wagner opera “Parsifal” premieres in Bayreuth, Germany.

1908: U.S. Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte orders creation of a force of special agents that is a forerunner of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

1912: The Edison Studios production “What Happened to Mary,” one of the first, if not very first, movie serials, is released with Mary Fuller in the title role.

1947: President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act, which establishes the National Military Establishment (later renamed the Department of Defense).

1952: Argentina’s first lady, Eva Peron, dies in Buenos Aires at age 33.

King Farouk I of Egypt abdicates in the wake of a coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.

1953: Fidel Castro begins his revolt against Fulgencio Batista with an unsuccessful attack on an army barracks in eastern Cuba. (Castro ousted Batista in 1959.)

1956: The Italian liner Andrea Doria sinks off New England, some 11 hours after colliding with the Swedish liner Stockholm; at least 51 people die.

1971: Apollo 15 is launched from Cape Kennedy on America’s fourth manned mission to the moon.

1989: Mark Wellman, a 29-year-old paraplegic, reaches the summit of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park after hauling himself up the granite cliff six inches at a time over nine days.

1990: President George H.W. Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act.

2004: The Democratic Party’s 44th national convention opens in Boston under extraordinarily tight security; a parade of speakers that includes former President Bill Clinton castigate George W. Bush as a president who had mishandled the economy and bungled the war on terror.

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: Backers of a charter form of government for Columbiana County gather 3,169 valid signatures on petitions to put an issue on the November ballot, about 60 more than were needed.

Mahoning County prosecutors may file vehicular homicide charges against a boater who was driving at high speed on Berlin Reservoir when Ronald Nutter, 28, of Canton was thrown overboard. Nutter’s body was recovered two days later.

1974: Sharon Steel Corp., the nation’s 14th largest steel producer, announces new highs were achieved in sales and earnings in the first half of 1974, with net earnings of $14 million on sales of $213 million.

Youngstown State University will have to come up with more than $40,000 that was not budgeted to meet pay increases for state university workers that were mandated by the Ohio General Assembly.

The Youngstown Board of Zoning Appeals votes to authorize issuance of a building permit to the Latin Culture Foundation for a clubhouse at Canfield Road and S. Schenley Avenue.

1964: Youngstown University receives 2,399 freshman applications for fall admittance, more than 11/2 times the number received in July 1963.

The Columbiana County Sheriff’s office is investigating the wounding of Ira Baird, 30, who was found in a field off Route 30 near Lisbon after being shot 10 times. He is in serious condition at South Side Hospital.

Atty. Arseny Melnick of 212 E. Midlothian Blvd., is promoted from captain to major and is assigned to the 2084-2 Army Reserve School Unit at the Miller Street Armory.

1939: Cleveland-area clergyman Gerould R. Goldner is released after being held for six days by Arabs in Palestine, much to the relief of his wife, the former Ruth Ann Drake of Niles.

Mahoning County Commissioners instruct Isadore L. Feuer, relief director, to enforce an order that the 90 employees in the relief department be barred from discussing politics of any kind during working hours.