YEARS AGO FOR JULY 20

Today is Thursday, July 20, the 201st day of 2017. There are 164 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1861: The Congress of the Confederate States convenes in Richmond, Va.

1942: The first detachment of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps – later known as WACs – begins basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa.

1954: The Geneva Accords divide Vietnam into northern and southern countries.

1969: Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin become the first men to walk on the moon after reaching the surface in their Apollo 11 lunar module.

1976: America’s Viking 1 robot spacecraft makes a successful, first landing on Mars.

1977: A flash flood hits Johnstown, Pa., killing more than 80 people and causing $350 million worth of damage.

2007: Tammy Faye Messner, who as Tammy Faye Bakker helped her husband, Jim, build a multimillion-dollar evangelism empire, dies at age 65.

2012: Gunman James Holmes opens fire inside a crowded movie theater in Aurora, Colo., during a midnight showing of “The Dark Knight Rises,” killing 12 people and wounding 70 others.

VINDICATOR FILES

1992: Browning Ferris Industries Inc. is studying two proposed rail routes that would allow trains to arrive at the Carbon Limestone Landfill in Poland Township, which would reduce truck traffic carrying out-of-state trash.

A 38-year-old Warren music store owner and music teacher pleads guilty to 20 charges involving child sexual abuse and is sentenced to 12 to 40 years in prison, but could be eligible for parole in eight years.

Marie Osmond sings a mixture of country hits and Broadway tunes during a Youngstown Symphony Pops Concert on the lawn of Southwoods Executive Centre in Boardman.

1977: Warren Mayor Arthur J. Richards says he won’t ask Police Chief Jack Gardner to resign as requested by the Warren Area Clergy Task Force on Violent Crime. Gardner says he will resign in 1978.

John P. Drummond, 51, is appointed county administrator by Mahoning County commissioners.

Playing at the Kenley Players in Warren: “Wonderful Town,” the story of two Columbus girls trying to make it in New York City, starring Cloris Leachman, with Linda Kay Henning and David Holliday.

1967: Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. will install new quench and temper facilities at its Campbell Works to increase its capacity to produce high-strength oil country tubular goods.

Youngstown City Council adopts a 1968 budget of $18.7 million.

Sharon, Pa.’s, 30 Street and Sanitation Department workers walk off their jobs after City Council fails to grant pay increases and paid holidays.

4- and 5-year-old children attending First Step classes at Madison School come dressed as circus animals in costumes designed by their teacher, Patricia Pavone.

1942: Speaking to a crowd of 200 at Youngs-town’s Central Auditorium, William Z. Foster, national chairman of the Communist Party, calls for the opening of a second front in Western Europe.

Power service in widely scattered areas is disrupted by heavy rain and wind storms, bringing some relief from the sweltering heat wave.

Capt. John Grindlay of Milwaukee, son of Mr. and Mrs. L.B. Grindlay of Youngstown, is awarded the Purple Heart for meritorious service in Burma.