Local history

50 years ago: The Altoona Bible Institute, in its 42nd year, Pastor John Rabenstein dean, graduated four students from its three-year course: Arthur Miller, Linda Thompson, Cheryl McNeal and Fred Ebersole Jr. Eight other students received teacher training certificates.

25 years ago: Recently retired U.S. Rep. Bud Shuster sent a letter to his replacement on the House Transportation Committee, Rep. Don Young of Alaska, declining to have Lake Raystown in Huntingdon renamed after him, citing the “furor” it had caused with local residents and thanking Young.

10 years ago: More than 800 Altoona school students under 96 teachers worked at 30 sites in Altoona in the fourth annual ‘Toona Tune-up, cleaning up the city while a team of adults like city police and Office of the Attorney General employees painted and cleaned under the Keep Altoona Beautiful program.

World history

Today is Monday, June 1, the 152nd day of 2026. There are 213 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On June 1, 2008, a fire at Universal Studios Hollywood destroyed 3 acres of the studio’s property, including a vault holding as many as 175,000 irreplaceable master audio recordings from hundreds of musicians including Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin, Elton John and Nirvana.

On this date:

– In 1813, the mortally wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, Capt. James Lawrence, gave the order, “Don’t give up the ship,” during a losing battle with the British frigate HMS Shannon during the War of 1812.

– In 1916, the Senate voted 47-22 to confirm Louis Brandeis as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the first Jewish American to serve on the nation’s highest bench.

– In 1943, a civilian flight from Portugal to England was shot down by German bombers during World War II, killing all 17 people aboard, including actor Leslie Howard.

– In 1962, former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was executed after being found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his actions during World War II.

– In 1990, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed an agreement to stop producing and reduce existing stockpiles of chemical weapons held by the two Cold War superpowers.