“Pages of history” features excerpts from The News Journal archives including the Wilmington Morning News, The Morning News, the Journal – Every Evening and the Evening Journal.
Jan. 10, 2007, The News Journal
Huge Christiana retail plan OK’d
New Castle County officials approved a plan Tuesday that will allow a developer to build about 1 million square feet of retail space near Christiana Mall, ending a 10-year legal battle by Frank Acierno to launch the project.
The Christiana Fashion Center would be built along the southeastern entrance road to the mall off Del. 1. The multi-story building – which will rival the mall in square footage – would be situated across from Pier 1 Imports and Dick’s Sporting Goods….
Acierno filed an application with the county in 1997 to build the shopping center. He encountered setbacks in 2002 when former state Department of Transportation Secretary Nathan Hayward III chose not to fulfill agreements to make road improvements around the mall, saying the department did not have the money and further development would worsen traffic.
Without promised road improvements from the state, the county refused to give the green light to the development. Acierno eventually filed lawsuits against the county and state, alleging in part that the governments did not act in good faith.
County and state officials said Tuesday the lawsuits have been settled. DelDOT will upgrade the interchange, and Acierno has received documents necessary to move forward on the shopping center….
LATEST MALL NEWS:More stores, restaurants coming to the Christiana Mall around the holiday shopping season
iPhone introduction sets Apple on new course
Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs made the company’s long-awaited jump into the mobile phone business on Tuesday and renamed the company “Apple Inc.” to reflect its increasing focus on consumer electronics.
The iPhone, which starts at $499, is controlled by a flat touch screen, plays music, surfs the Internet and runs the Macintosh computer operating system.
Jobs said it will “reinvent” the telecommunications sector and “leapfrog” the current generation of smart phones.
“Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything,” he said at the Macworld Conference and Expo….
The iPhone automatically syncs movies, music and photos through the iTunes Music Store. The device also syncs e-mail content, Web bookmarks and nearly any type of digital content on your computer….
Jan. 12, 1935, Journal – Every Evening
Amelia Earhart flies over California after Pacific crossing
The Mackay Radio reported today that Amelia Earhart was flying over Santa Cruz, Calif., at 10:49 a.m. on her flight from Hawaii to Oakland which she started at 10:15 last night.
Rapidly nearing her goal, Earhart, the first woman to attempt a trans-Pacific solo flight, sped toward the Oakland Airport today. The man who plotted her dangerous 2,408 mile course estimated she would arrive about 11:18 a.m. from Honolulu….
“Everything OK,” came a cheerful message from the red and gold monoplane, piloted by the same intrepid flier who twice crossed the Atlantic, once in a daring solo flight…
Crowds have begun gathering at the airport and extra attendants are on duty to keep the spectators back from the landing field….
Jan. 13, 1964, Wilmington Morning News
Battle drawn in smoking report wake
Do-something-now forces and the more-research-is-needed camp were drawing battle lines yesterday in the wake of Saturday’s report calling heavy cigarette smoking a grave menace to life and health.
Which side will prevail – and how decisively – almost certainly depends on still uncrystallized public reaction to a blue-ribbon science panel’s call for “appropriate remedial action.”
The 10-man jury held heavy cigarette smoking is the principal cause of lung cancer and a significant cause of larynx cancer. It found some association between smoking and heart and blood vessel diseases and many other ailments but did not claim any causal relationships there….
No one called for any general prohibition against smoking, but many antismoking spokesmen said the government, by law or by executive edict, should require that cigarette packages carry warnings of health dangers and that advertising should be altered in the light of the panel’s report….
CATCH UP ON HISTORY:The News Journal archives, week of Aug. 29
Jan. 14, 1999, The News Journal
Michael Jordan, the most famous athlete in the world, calls it quits
Michael Jordan thought about reducing the whole affair to just two words: “I’m gone.”
That would have worked. After all, he marked his return with a two-word fax: “I’m back.”
But this occasion called for more – and Jordan knew it.
So, with his wife at his side and in the arena where he worked his magic, he almost cried and almost sounded content in pronouncing himself retired from the Chicago Bulls – leaving himself the tiniest of outs.
“Mentally, I’m exhausted. I don’t feel I have a challenge. Physically, I feel great,” the 35-year-old Jordan told a packed news conference at the United Center. “This is a perfect time for me to walk away from the game.”
In doing so for the second time in five years, the NBA’s greatest player ended his 13-year career with six championships, five MVP awards, 10 scoring titles and unsurpassed worldwide fame….
Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.
