The north
10 years ago
July 19, 1998:Sithe Energies Inc. plants in Massena and Ogdensburg changed this month from round-the-clock electric power generators to on-demand producers. Those natural gas-fired plants, along with Sithe plants in Batavia and Sterling, are part of a 15-month electricity marketing deal with Southern Co., one of the largest sellers of electricity in the country.
25 years ago
July 19, 1983:Carrying banners and wearing sneakers, about a dozen anti-nuclear weapons marchers began a 105-mile "peace walk" this morning near the Canadian border. The marchers, who are sponsored by scores of nuclear freeze groups in New York and Canada, will pass through the north country en route to Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, where a demonstration against the cruise missiles based there is planned next week.
50 years ago
July 19, 1958:The Army plans to rehabilitate substandard housing at Camp Drum in the current fiscal year. How extensive a project and how much it will cost was not disclosed. The Army told Congress that rehabilitation of substandard housing was planned for eight major Army installations, including Camp Drum. Otherwise, it was indicated, the housing would fall apart.
75 years ago
July 19, 1933:Employees of the local stores of the F.W. Woolworth and the W.T. Grant companies will receive salary increases starting this week in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Industrial Recovery Act. A minimum wage of $10 for a 48-hour week has been established at the two stores. Between 75 and 80 employees will be affected by the raise.
100 years ago
July 19, 1908:The government ordered the blowing up of the old sunken hulks at Sackets Harbor. An extra charge of dynamite was put in where there was a heavy piece of the hulk to be removed, and it went off with a deafening reverberation. A heavy stick of timber about 6 feet long was dislodged and sent high in the air. As it descended it struck the coal house of George M. Read, 300 feet away, making a large opening in the roof.
125 years ago
July 19, 1883:Scobell's brewery, Cape Vincent, which was burned to the ground yesterday morning, will be rebuilt at once, on the old site. The firm's customers will be supplied with lager by them while the building is being erected.
The world
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Today is Saturday, July 19,the 201st day of 2008. There are 165 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On July 19, 1848, a pioneer women's rights convention convened in Seneca Falls.
On this date:
In 1553, 15-year-old Lady Jane Grey was deposed as Queen of England after claiming the crown for nine days. King Henry VIII's daughter Mary was proclaimed Queen.
In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war began.
In 1943, allied air forces raided Rome during World War II.
In 1944, the Democratic National Convention convened in Chicago with the renomination of President Franklin D. Roosevelt considered a foregone certainty.
In 1969, Apollo 11 and its astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins, went into orbit around the moon.
In 1975, the Apollo and Soyuz space capsules that were linked in orbit for two days separated.
In 1979, the Nicaraguan capital of Managua fell to Sandinista guerrillas, two days after President Anastasio Somoza had fled the country.
In 1984, U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro, D-N.Y., won the Democratic nomination for vice president by acclamation at the party's convention in San Francisco.
In 1989, 111 people were killed when a United Air Lines DC-10 crashed while making an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa; 185 other people survived.
In 1993, President Clinton announced a policy allowing homosexuals to serve in the military under a compromise dubbed "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue."
Ten years ago:Seeking to break a 16-month deadlock, Israel and the Palestinians held their first high-level talks in months. Hundreds of Serb police battled secessionist guerrillas for control of the central Kosovo town of Orahovac.
Five years ago:A chartered aircraft carrying three families to a game reserve plowed into Mount Kenya, killing all 12 American tourists and the two South African pilots on board.
One year ago:A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by former CIA operative Valerie Plame, who was demanding money from Bush administration officials she blamed for leaking her agency identity. Taliban gunmen abducted 23 South Koreans who worked at an aid organization in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Two hostages were fatally shot; the rest were later freed.)
Today's Birthdays:Former Sen. George McGovern is 86. Actor Pat Hingle is 84. Actress Helen Gallagher is 82. Country singer Sue Thompson is 82. Country singer George Hamilton IV is 71. Actor Dennis Cole is 68. Singer Vikki Carr is 67. Country singer-musician Commander Cody is 64. Actor George Dzundza is 63. Rock singer-musician Alan Gorrie (Average White Band) is 62. Rock musician Brian May is 61. Rock musician Bernie Leadon is 61. Actress Beverly Archer is 60. Movie director Abel Ferrara is 57. Actor Peter Barton is 52. Rock musician Kevin Haskins (Love and Rockets; Bauhaus) is 48. Movie director Atom Egoyan is 48. Actor Campbell Scott is 47. Actor Anthony Edwards is 46. Country singer Kelly Shiver is 45. Actress Clea Lewis is 43. Country musician Jeremy Patterson (Flynnville Train) is 38. Classical singer Urs Buhler (Il Divo) is 37. Actor Andrew Kavovit is 37. Rock musician Jason McGerr (Death Cab for Cutie) is 34. Actress Rachel Miner is 28. Actor Jared Padalecki is 26. Actor Steven Anthony Lawrence is 18.
Thought for Today:"I always turn to the sports page first. The sports page records people's accomplishments; the front page nothing but man's failure." — Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the United States (1891-1974).
