1990 – 25 years ago
• The city of Stewartville is planning a $3.8 million refurbishment that will dramatically change the face of its downtown over the next three years.
• County star Kathy Mattea will take the stage at the Mower County Fair in Austin. Tickets are $7 the day of the show.
• The Dodge Center Airport will be expanded and get paved runways and lighting with a $2 million grant from the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration.
1965 – 50 years ago
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• Thirty-five members of the Eyota High School Class of 1945 and their spouses met for a reunion dinner in the Eyota Legion Hall. A picnic was held at Silver Lake in Rochester the following day.
• Erdman Supermarkets are now constructing a new store in the Hillcrest Shopping Center in northwest Rochester. The family-owned business has its headquarters in Kasson.
• Unidentified flying objects blinking multicolored lights were reported by several city residents, including sheriff's deputies and a U.S. Weather Bureau meteorologist. One of the UFOs was tracked by radar in the Twin Cities. At least five separate incidents were reported overnight. There were several UFO sightings in Minneapolis and the Dakotas earlier this week.
1940 – 75 years ago
• Rollicking comedy and graceful motion combined in the "This Summer on Ice" show, delighting a crowd of 1,000 at the Mayo Civic Auditorium. Skaters from Minneapolis and Rochester charmed the audience with many graceful skating numbers, as well as some uproarious comedy skits. Presentation of ice shows at the auditorium will continue through August.
• Rochester police will start cracking down on motorcyclists. Police Chief Harry Thompkins said that there have been numerous complaints of motorcyclists cutting in and out of traffic, speeding and 'gunning' their motors.
• Approximately 4,000 civilian observers throughout Minnesota, Dakotas and Iowa will participate in a series of aircraft warning tests being made in connection with army maneuvers in Minnesota.
1915 – 100 years ago
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• A fire completely destroyed the Phelps school building and all its contents. Phelps was a ward school in the northern part of Rochester. It was a four room wood frame structure built in 1877. Its loss comes at a time when there is a very serious overcrowding condition in the city schools.
From news services
Ten years ago: Fourteen Marines from a Reserve unit in Ohio were killed in a roadside bombing in Iraq. Spacewalking astronaut Stephen Robinson removed two worrisome pieces of filler material from the shuttle Discovery's belly in an unprecedented space repair job. The journal Nature reported that a South Korean researcher had created the world's first cloned dog, an Afghan hound named "Snuppy." (Although the scientist, Hwang Woo-suk, was later disgraced over faked research, the cloning of Snuppy was independently confirmed.)
Five years ago: Engineers began pumping heavy drilling mud into the blown-out Gulf of Mexico oil well in an attempt to permanently plug the leak. A warehouse driver killed eight co-workers and himself in a shooting rampage at a Manchester, Connecticut, beer distributorship.
One year ago: Israel withdrew most of its ground troops from the Gaza Strip in an apparent winding down of a nearly monthlong operation against Hamas that had left more than 1,800 Palestinians and more than 60 Israelis dead. A strong earthquake in China's southern Yunnan province toppled thousands of homes, killing more than 600 people. Mystery writer Dorothy Salisbury Davis, 98, died in Palisades, N.Y.
Today's birthdays: Football Hall-of-Fame coach Marv Levy is 90. Singer Tony Bennett is 89. Actor Martin Sheen is 75. College and Pro Football Hall of Famer Lance Alworth is 75. Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart is 74. Singer Beverly Lee (The Shirelles) is 74. Rock musician B.B. Dickerson is 66. Movie director John Landis is 65. Actress JoMarie Payton is 65. Actor Jay North (TV: "Dennis the Menace") is 64. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Marcel Dionne is 64. Country musician Randy Scruggs is 62. Actor Philip Casnoff is 61. Actor John C. McGinley is 56. Rock singer-musician Lee Rocker (The Stray Cats) is 54. Actress Lisa Ann Walter is 54. Rock singer James Hetfield (Metallica) is 52. Rock singer-musician Ed Roland (Collective Soul) is 52. Actor Isaiah Washington is 52. Country musician Dean Sams (Lonestar) is 49. Rock musician Stephen Carpenter (Deftones) is 45. Hip-hop artist Spinderella (Salt-N-Pepa) is 44. Actress Brigid Brannagh is 43. Actor Michael Ealy is 42. Country musician Jimmy De Martini (Zac Brown Band) is 39. NFL quarterback Tom Brady is 38. Actress Evangeline Lilly is 36. Actress Mamie Gummer is 32. Country singer Whitney Duncan is 31. Actor Jon Foster is 31. Actress Georgina Haig is 30. Singer Holly Arnstein (Dream) is 30. Actress Tanya Fischer is 30. Pop-rock musician Brent Kutzle (OneRepublic) is 30.
