YEARS AGO FOR JULY 18

Today is Tuesday, July 18, the 199th day of 2017. There are 166 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

A.D. 64: The Great Fire of Rome begins, consuming most of the city for about a week. (Some blamed the fire on Emperor Nero, who in turn blamed Christians.)

1536: The English Parliament passes an act declaring the authority of the pope void in England.

1792: American naval hero John Paul Jones dies in Paris at age 45.

1817: English novelist Jane Austen dies in Winchester at age 41.

1927: Ty Cobb hits safely for the 4,000th time in his career during a game between the Philadelphia Athletics (his new team) and the Detroit Tigers (his old one) at Navin Field.

1932: The United States and Canada sign a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.

1947: President Harry S. Truman signs a Presidential Succession Act that places the speaker of the House and the Senate president pro tempore next in the line of succession after the vice president.

1969: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., leaves a party on Chappaquiddick Island near Martha’s Vineyard with Mary Jo Kopechne, 28; some time later, Kennedy’s car goes off a bridge into the water. Kennedy is able to escape, but Kopechne drowns.

2007: Senate Republicans torpedo legislation to force withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq.

2016: Republicans open their national convention in Cleveland as they prepare to nominate Donald Trump for president.

VINDICATOR FILES

1992: The Edward J. DeBartolo Corp. agrees to sell its interest in the Higbee Co., a Cleveland-based department store chain, to Dillard Department Stores Inc.

The Ohio Ballet performs at Warren’s Celebration on the Square.

Joseph Rottenborn, assistant superintendent of Canfield Schools, tells parents that students who are learning reading through the “whole language” curriculum do not use workbooks because they are encouraged to read library books.

1977: Rudolph G. Klein Sr., 30, a disabled veteran of the Vietnam War, is electrocuted while trying to move a low-hanging wire downed during a storm at his East Delason Avenue home.

After 70 years of barbering and just a few months short of his 85th birthday, George Rock is closing his shop at 1365 Oak St. A haircut was 15 cents when he started; the union rate in 1977 is $4.50.

Dr. Thomas A. Shipka, president of the Western Reserve Transit Authority, says the WRTA doesn’t have the manpower or buses to handle any additional public school transportation in Youngstown.

1967: Ohio Attorney General William Saxbe rules that “multimillion-dollar” promotions and giveaways by oil companies and groceries are illegal under Ohio law and orders them to be halted immediately.

Members of the Youngstown Board of Education votes unanimously to thank Dr. J.H. Wanamaker, superintendent of schools who is retiring, Lewis Lenkaitis and Miss Irene Ward for their service.

Reflecting lower sales and a wildcat strike at the Indiana Harbor Works, Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co.’s second quarter earnings dropped $4 million to $8.2 million.

1942: On American Heroes Day, Youngstown merchants are honoring war heroes by selling corsages with proceeds going to war stamps.

Youngstown City Council authorizes an $85,000 bond issue for a swimming pool in the northeast section of the city and an $8,000 issue for the city’s share of the cost of repairing the Division Street Bridge.

Youngstown’s giant steel plants can be blacked out so no enemy air raider would find easy targets on a dark night.