Local history

50 years ago: 1975

The Rev. Robert J. McCoy, pastor of Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Juniata, was re-elected state chaplain of the Veterans of Foreign Wars at the 56th annual convention held in Harrisburg. In the past 15 years, Rev. McCoy had served nine years as national chaplain.

25 years ago: 2000

Bell Atlantic workers for Verizon in both Altoona and Hollidaysburg went on strike when their contract expired, joining 67,200 workers in 12 states representing two unions, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

10 years ago: 2015

The Pennsylvania State Singing Convention was being held for the 40th year at Morrisons Cove Park in Martinsburg, with mostly gospel groups like the Vicksburg Quartet performing.

— Compiled by Tim Doyle

World history

Today is Thursday, Aug. 7, the 219th day of 2025. There are 146 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight in history:

On Aug. 7, 1974, French highwire artist Philippe Petit performed an unapproved tightrope walk between the two towers of the World Trade Center in New York, over 1,300 feet above the ground; the event was chronicled in the Academy Award-winning documentary “Man on Wire.”

On this date:

— In 1789, the U.S. Department of War was established by Congress.

— In 1942, U.S. and other allied forces landed at Guadalcanal, marking the start of the first major allied offensive in the Pacific during World War II.

— In 1960, Cote d’Ivoire gained independence from France.

— In 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson broad powers in dealing with reported North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.

— In 1971, the Apollo 15 moon mission ended successfully as its command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.

— In 1978, President Jimmy Carter declared the Love Canal environmental disaster in Niagara Falls, N.Y., a federal health emergency; it would later top the initial list of Superfund cleanup sites.

— In 1989, a plane carrying U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland, D-Texas, and 15 others disappeared over Ethiopia. (The wreckage of the plane was found six days later; there were no survivors.)

— In 1990, President George H.W. Bush ordered U.S. troops and warplanes to Saudi Arabia to guard the oil-rich desert kingdom against a possible invasion by Iraq.

— In 1998, terrorist bombs at U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.

— In 2007, San Francisco’s Barry Bonds hit home run No. 756 to break Hank Aaron’s storied record with one out in the fifth inning of a game against the Washington Nationals, who won, 8-6.

— In 2012, to avoid a possible death penalty, Jared Lee Loughner agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison, accepting that he went on a deadly shooting rampage at an Arizona political gathering in 2011 that left six people dead and 13 injured, including U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords.

— In 2015, Colorado theater shooter James Holmes was spared the death penalty in favor of life in prison after a jury in Centennial failed to agree on whether he should be executed for his attack on a packed movie premiere that left 12 people dead.