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Local history
50 years ago: The Altoona Media Center at the Altoona Vo-Tech School was preparing a van so they could record news items in different locations. Martie Connell was video coordinator, Dave Taylor, program director, and Randy Geiner, video technician.
25 years ago: The Altoona Hospital emergency helicopter was using the Fairview Field on 25th Avenue to land when another emergency helicopter needed to land at the hospital, hospital CEO Jim Barner explained. The hospital had two helipads, but one was being renovated.
10 years ago: Cresson native Josh Gallagher won a round on the TV show "The Voice" by singing a hit song written by Altoona native Mike Reid called "Stranger in My House."
-- Compiled by Tim Doyle
World history
Today is Sunday, Oct. 19, the 292nd day of 2025. There are 73 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On Oct. 19, 1987, the stock market crashed as the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or 22.6% in value (its largest daily percentage loss ever), to close at 1,738.74 on what came to be known as "Black Monday."
On this date:
– In 1781, British forces under Gen. Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, as the American Revolution neared its end.
– In 1914, the First Battle of Ypres began in World War I.
– In 1960, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested during a sit-down protest at a segregated lunch counter in Atlanta, one of the early demonstrations of the nonviolent civil rights movement that he helped lead.
– In 1977, the supersonic airliner Concorde made its first landing in New York City, flying from Paris, France, in three hours and 44 minutes. The flight marked the start of regular commercial Concorde service between Paris and New York.
– In 2003, Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa during a ceremony in St. Peter's Square. Mother Teresa, who founded the Missionaries of Charity religious order that helps society's outcasts, was elevated to sainthood in 2016 by Pope Francis. She died in 1997.
– In 2025, thieves broke into the world-famous Louvre museum in Paris, smashed display cases and fled with more than $102 million worth of crown jewels.
-- The Associated Press