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Local history
50 years ago: 1974
The Altoona Vo-Tech Operating Committee, Dr. Hugh Hayford Jr. member, gave permission for 96 cosmetology students and 25 chaperones to travel to New York City the following month for a cosmetology seminar.
25 years ago: 1999
Baltimore Life Insurance in Hollidaysburg, Doreen Berggren representative, presented $500 grants to the Lakemont Volunteer Fire Company, The ARC of Blair County, Child Advocates of Blair County and the Hollidaysburg Area YMCA in ceremonies at the Nittany Lion Inn, State College.
10 years ago: 2014
The Blair County branch of the NAACP, Donald Witherspoon president, held a TV show on the public access channel called "Who Wants to be a Millionaire of Black History Education?" with ten students from Altoona Area High School participating for Black History Month.
-- Compiled by Tim Doyle
World history
Today is Monday, Feb. 19, the 50th day of 2024. There are 316 days left in the year.
Today's highlight in history:
On Feb. 19, 1942, during World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which paved the way for the relocation and internment of people of Japanese ancestry, including U.S.-born citizens.
On this date:
-- In 1473, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born in Torun, Poland.
-- In 1807, former Vice President Aaron Burr, accused of treason, was arrested in the Mississippi Territory, in present-day Alabama. (Burr was acquitted at trial.)
-- In 1878, Thomas Edison received a U.S. patent for "an improvement in phonograph or speaking machines."
-- In 1945, Operation Detachment began during World War II as some 30,000 U.S. Marines began landing on Iwo Jima, where they commenced a successful month-long battle to seize control of the island from Japanese forces.
-- In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford, calling the issuing of the internment order for people of Japanese ancestry in 1942 "a sad day in American history," signed a proclamation formally confirming its termination.
-- In 2019, President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to develop plans for a new Space Force within the Air Force, accepting less than the full-fledged department he had wanted.
-- The Associated Press