Local history

50 years ago: June 24, 1976

Ground was broken today for the new Station Mall shopping complex on a 26-acre site from 17th to 14th Streets, 8th to 10th Avenues. It was to have an A&P Grocery Store on one end and a Hills Department Store on the other.

25 years ago: June 24, 2001

The state Department of Environmental Protection reported that Pennsylvania had imported 12.2 million tons of trash to its landfills last year, the most of any state in the United States, almost a ton per resident.

10 years ago: June 24, 2016

Wagner’s Greenhouse in Logan Township was applying to be one of 25 applicants to obtain a growers processor license to grow medical marijuana. Logan Township Supervisor Ed Frontino said that the state Department of Health was still writing regulations on the issue.

— Compiled by Tim Doyle

World history

Today is Wednesday, June 24, the 175th day of 2026. There are 190 days left in the year.

Today’s highlight in history:

On June 24, 1983, the space shuttle Challenger — carrying America’s first woman in space, Sally Ride — coasted to a safe landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

On this date:

– In 1812, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte’s Grande Armee began crossing the Niemen River, embarking on a campaign to invade Russia. (Napoleon’s forces would enter Moscow in early September, but failing to decisively defeat the Russians, would retreat with staggering losses to disease and desertion as winter set in.)

– In 1939, the Southeast Asian country of Siam changed its name to Thailand. (It reverted to Siam in 1945, then became Thailand once again in 1949.)

– In 1948, Communist forces cut off all land and water routes between West Germany and West Berlin, prompting the Western allies to organize the Berlin Airlift.

– In 1957, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Roth v. United States, ruled 6-3 that obscene materials were not protected by the First Amendment.

– The Associated Press