Today is Sunday, April 18, the 109th day of 2004. There are 257 days left in the year. On this date



Today is Sunday, April 18, the 109th day of 2004. There are 257 days left in the year. On this date in 1775, Paul Revere begins his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Mass., warning American colonists that the British were coming.
In 1906, a devastating earthquake strikes San Francisco, followed by raging fires. About 700 people die. In 1921, Junior Achievement, created to encourage business skills in young people, is incorporated.
In 1923, the first game is played in Yankee Stadium. The Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox, 4-1. In 1942, an air squadron from the USS Hornet led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle raids Tokyo and other Japanese cities. In 1944, the ballet "Fancy Free," with music by Leonard Bernstein premieres.
In 1945, famed American war correspondent Ernie Pyle, 44, is killed by Japanese gunfire on the Pacific island of Ie Shima, off Okinawa. In 1946, the League of Nations goes out of business. In 1978, the U.S. Senate votes 68-32 to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on Dec. 31, 1999. In 1983, 62 people, including 17 Americans, are killed at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, by a suicide bomber.
In 1994, former President Richard Nixon suffers a stroke at his home in Park Ridge, N.J., and is taken to New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center; he dies four days later.
In 1999, NATO launches its most active day of airstrikes in its assault on Yugoslavia, pummeling refineries, bridges and dozens of other targets in the 25th straight day of attacks; Wayne Gretzky plays his last National Hockey League game as his New York Rangers lose to Pittsburgh 2-1 in overtime at Madison Square Garden.
In 2002, four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan are killed when they were mistakenly bombed by an American F-16 pilot.
One year ago, Iraqi police arrest Saddam Hussein's former finance minister (Hikmat Mizban Ibrahim al-Azzawi) and turn him over to the U.S. Marines; Scott Peterson is arrested in San Diego in the death of his wife, Laci, who was eight months pregnant when she vanished on Christmas Eve.
April 18, 1979: Youngstown district steel plants face cutbacks in production if the strike by steel-hauling truckers continues.
Boardman school teachers vote to strike the troubled school district over what Dan Dailey, Boardman Education Association president, said was the "unreasonableness" of the Boardman board's failure to rehire 25 teachers.
The Warren Board of Education presents five diverse proposals for desegregation of the school district during a public hearing attended by 150 residents and asks Superintendent Anthony Berarducci to evaluate the plans and make a recommendation.
April 18, 1964: Charles Carabbia's motion for a new trial on his conviction of assaulting his girlfriend is overruled by Common Pleas Judge Erskine Maiden Jr. Carabbia, who was sentenced to one to five years in prison, says he'll appeal.
An alert clerk at the Greyhound Bus Lines calls police to report a man and woman who paid for tickets to Pittsburgh with rolls of coins. Police discover that the coins were stolen from the Christ Mission Thrift Shop about 90 minutes earlier.
A wind-whipped fire guts the George Thomas Ice Cream Cone plant on S. Irvine Street in Sharon. The loss is estimated at $100,000.
April 18, 1954: A new multimillion dollar four-lane highway is being planned by the Ohio Highway Department between Sharon and Warren. The new Route 82 highway will be south of the present Warren-Sharon road.
The Ravenna Arsenal Inc. had a $17 million payroll in 1953 and turned out nearly 7 million finished rounds of ammunition.
Bids for construction of a new St. Elizabeth Slovak Catholic Church in Haselton will be sought soon, the Rev. Joseph Kostik tells the congregation. The church will seat 450 and will cost an estimated $250,000.
April 18, 1929: Hundreds of additional men will be employed by Republic Iron & amp; Steel Co. when a complete electric welding pipe mill is completed by the company as part of a $10 million improvement program announced by President E.T. McCleary.
The McKinley Savings & amp; Loan Co. remains open and the president, Frank J. Thomas, says depositors will be paid to the penny. Meanwhile, the hunt for Carter McConnell, the company's missing secretary, expands to Canada.
D.W. Swan of Stout Air Lines, Cleveland, issues an apology for his criticism of the Lansdowne Airport delivered at a Youngstown Rotary Club luncheon. Swan said he had been misinformed about the condition of the airport when he declared it unsafe, even for air mail planes.
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