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In Alaska, in the Nation and the World

In Alaska

• In 1824, the U.S. and Russia signed the Treaty of St. Petersburg.

• In 1878, Sheldon Jackson College opened its doors in Sitka.

• In 1912, William A. Beltz, member of the territorial and state legislatures, was born in Bear Creek.

• In 1915, Leonhard Seppala won the All-Alaska Sweepstakes Race at Nome.

• In 1924, the Douglas Women's Council decided to open a public library.

• In 1959, John Rader was appointed as the state's first attorney general. The Arctic Circle Chamber of Commerce endorsed the Atomic Energy Commission's plan to blast a harbor at Cape Thompson using nuclear explosives.

• In 1975, for the first time, Alaska residents were able to watch live national TV news when NBC began sending its nightly news program via satellite to Juneau, Fairbanks and Anchorage.

In the nation

• In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazano reached present-day New York Harbor.

• In 1861, the Virginia State Convention voted to secede from the Union.

• In 1969, a jury in Los Angeles convicted Sirhan Sirhan of assassinating Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

• In 2003, the U.S. government awarded Bechtel Corp. a major contract for helping rebuild Iraq's power, water and sewage systems.

• In 2007, a day after the Virginia Tech massacre, President Bush visited the campus, where he told students and teachers at a somber convocation that the nation was praying for them and "there's a power in these prayers."