iPhone introduced, Earhart flies solo across Pacific: News Journal archives, week of Jan. 7

"Pages of history" features excerpts from The News Journal archives including the Wilmington Morning News and The Evening Journal.

Jan. 10, 2007, The News Journal

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 touch, 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….

Also from 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….

Recent Christiana mall news: Delaware's only Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn are closing soon at the Christiana Mall

Jan. 11, 1983, The Morning News

State, county juggle Limestone Hills housing proposal

Neither the state nor New Castle County is accepting responsibility for a recommendation that could nearly triple the number of houses than can be built in Limestone Hills and aggravate the already serious traffic problems in the area.

No one wants credit for the recommendation that the number of homes that could be built immediately be increased from 250 to 704. One reason is that the only recent traffic study predicts that increased construction on the 800-acre site in Mill Creek Hundred could cause traffic conditions to deteriorate below the level the county zoning policy defines as acceptable.

Kermit H. Justice, secretary of the state Department of Transportation, minimized his department’s role in the recommendation to lift the restrictions. He places responsibility on the county.

“It’s the most desired place to live and the pressure to develop out there is immense. We’re not the ones who assess quality of life. We’re the ones who assess traffic problems. We are very willing to take our responsibility. But we aren’t willing to usurp the county’s prerogative to plan the quality of life for the county,” Justice said.

But Richard M. Bauer, the county’s director of planning, says he would be against lifting the restrictions if it weren’t for the recommendation by the Division of Highways….

Jan. 12, 1935, Journal – Every Evening

Amelia Earhart flies over California after Pacific hop

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….

Catch up on history: School desegregation, indoor smoking ban: News Journal archives, week of Nov. 26

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….

Reach reporter Ben Mace at rmace@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: iPhone introduced, Earhart's solo flight: News Journal archives, Jan. 7