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On this date

50 YEARS AGO:

Dec. 20, 1969

The first audit in 27 years of the Altoona Delinquent Tax Board by CPA Bernard C. Dembert found that $72,500 had not been distributed to the taxing bodies but no mishandling of funds was found. Altoona, Blair County and the Altoona School District were closing the board.

25 YEARS AGO:

Dec. 20, 1994

Altoona’s Main Street Manager Sam Loth resigned to take a job in Pottstown. He had been manager for a year and a half and before that Main Street Manager in Tyrone for two and one half years. City Council was also phasing out the Main Street program.

10 YEARS AGO:

Dec. 20, 2009

Penn State Altoona, Lori Bechtel-Wherry chancellor, announced that it planned to acquire the former Meyer Jonasson store building on 11th St. in downtown Altoona as a home for its entrepreneurial program. The campus had already announced it was purchasing the next door former Kaufman’s Wedding World lot..

–Compiled by Tim Doyle

Today is Friday, Dec. 20, the 354th day of 2019. There are 11 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Dec. 20, 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was completed as ownership of the territory was formally transferred from France to the United States.

On this date:

– In 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union as all 169 delegates to a special convention in Charleston voted in favor of separation.

– In 1924, Adolf Hitler was released from prison after serving nine months for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch.

– In 1961, playwright-director Moss Hart, 57, died in Palm Springs, Calif.

– In 1963, the Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners, who were allowed one-day visits to relatives in the Eastern sector for the holidays.

– In 1968, author John Steinbeck died in New York at age 66.

– In 1978, former White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman was released from prison after serving 18 months for his role in the Watergate cover-up.

– In 1987, more than 4,300 people were killed when the Dona Paz, a Philippine passenger ship, collided with the tanker Vector off Mindoro island.

– In 1995, an American Airlines Boeing 757 en route to Cali, Colombia, slammed into a mountain, killing all but four of the 163 people aboard. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, NATO began its peacekeeping mission, taking over from the United Nations.

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