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In the news on this date: May 9

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Local history

50 years ago: 1973

An ad hoc committee on one-way streets was formed with Mayor William C. Stouffer president. The group recommended certain streets to be one-way with the approval of the Altoona Traffic Planning Commission.

25 years ago: 1998

About 15 members of a group called the Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs occupied Rep. Bud Shuster's office for his supposed lack of support for over-the-road buses to have wheelchair lifts.

10 years ago: 2013

Teacher-coach-principal-athletic director-doctorate degree holder Robert Gildea was hired as Hollidaysburg Area School District superintendent.

World history

Today's highlight in history:

On May 9, 1994, South Africa's newly elected parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country's first Black president.

On this date:

– In 1860, writer J.M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, was born in Kirriemuir, Scotland.

– In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson, acting on a joint congressional resolution, signed a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.

– In 1951, the U.S. conducted its first thermonuclear experiment as part of Operation Greenhouse by detonating a 225-kiloton device on Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific nicknamed "George."

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