Local history

50 years ago: May 7, 1976

The Friends of the Altoona Library, Hilda Lenson president, held a Help Save Our Library event in which Altoona High and Altoona Junior High students sold tags at the Logan Valley Mall, Pleasant Valley Shopping Center and downtown Altoona.

25 years ago: May 7, 2001

The local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Judy Coutts tour leader, took about 70 Roosevelt Junior High students on a tour of downtown Altoona to appreciate the buildings where 2,000 people lived and 2,500 worked.

10 years ago: May 7, 2016

Don and Nancy Devorris were presented with the 2016 Central Pennsylvania Philanthropy Award by the Central Pennsylvania Community Foundation in ceremonies at the Blair County Convention Center.

— Compiled by Tim Doyle

World history

Today is Thursday, May 7, the 127th day of 2026. There are 238 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat torpedoed and sank the British liner RMS Lusitania off the southern coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans, out of the nearly 2,000 on board.

Also on this date:

– In 1945, Nazi Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France, ending its role in World War II.

– In 1954, the 55-day Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam ended with Vietnamese insurgents overrunning French forces; it would be the last major battle of the First Indochina War.

– In 1975, President Gerald R. Ford formally declared an end to the “Vietnam era.” In Ho Chi Minh City — formerly Saigon — the Viet Cong celebrated its takeover.

– In 1977, Seattle Slew won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown victories.

– In 1984, Monsanto and six other chemical companies agreed to pay a $180 million settlement to Vietnam veterans who were exposed to the chemical herbicide Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.