Today is Monday, April 19, the 110th day of 2004. There are 256 days left in the year. On this date in 1775, the American Revolutionary War begins with the battles of Lexington and Concord.



Today is Monday, April 19, the 110th day of 2004. There are 256 days left in the year. On this date in 1775, the American Revolutionary War begins with the battles of Lexington and Concord.
In 1782, the Netherlands recognizes American independence. In 1893, the Oscar Wilde play "A Woman of No Importance" opens at the Haymarket Theatre in London. In 1933, the United States goes off the gold standard. In 1943, during World War II, tens of thousands of Jews living in the Warsaw Ghetto begin a valiant but futile battle against Nazi forces. In 1945, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "Carousel" opens on Broadway. In 1951, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, relieved of his Far East command by President Truman, bids farewell to Congress, quoting a line from a ballad: "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away." In 1982, astronauts Sally K. Ride and Guion S. Bluford Jr. become the first woman and first black to be tapped for U.S. space missions. In 1989, 47 sailors are killed when a gun turret explodes aboard the USS Iowa. In 1993, the 51-day siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ends as fire destroys the structure after federal agents begin smashing their way in; dozens of people, including David Koresh, are killed. In 1995, a truck bomb destroys the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds. Timothy McVeigh is later convicted of federal murder charges and executed. In 1994, a Los Angeles jury awards $3.8 million to beaten motorist Rodney King; the Supreme Court outlaws the practice of excluding people from juries because of their gender.
April 19, 1979: The Ohio Edison Co. wants its customers to pay an extra $9 million to cover the cost of the Beaver Valley nuclear plant shutdown in Western Pennsylvania.
The Ohio Senate Education Committee votes 7-2 to give local school districts the option of imposing a 1 percent income tax to repay any loans needed to keep financially troubled school districts open.
Construction of a $1 million office building for the Republic Steel Corp. will begin within a few months, the company announces.
Annexation of portions of Poland Township proposed by Lowellville Village and a study by EDATA recommending it come under heavy fire at a township trustees meeting.
April 19, 1964: Paul Arvin Jr., formerly of Youngstown, and his bride of less than two weeks, the former Cheryl Cooke of Bay Village, are among the 49 people who died when a Middle East Airlines jet got lost in a sandstorm and crashed into Persian Gulf. The Arvins were returning from a honeymoon in Europe to Dhahran, where Arvin, a graduate of Youngstown University, was employed as a teacher.
Two major events loom to threaten, at least temporarily, the Youngstown district's economic renaissance -- one is the threat of a nationwide rail strike, the other a possibility that the United Auto Workers may shut down the booming automobile industry.
The Kenley Players have lined up a 14-show schedule a month earlier than usual and will open the season May 30 with "My Fair Lady," starring Ray Milland and Marilyn Savage. Also booked are two husband and wife teams, Allen Ludden and Betty White in "Critic's Choice" and Gordon and Sheila MacRae in "Guys and Dolls."
April 19, 1954: Youngstown Mayor Frank X. Kryzan and 3rd Ward Councilman Anthony B. Flask clash in a heated argument of the city's program of selling bonds to finance capital improvements.
A persistent rain and temperatures in the 50s put a damper on the Easter fashion parade in Youngstown, but church services are jammed with thousands of Christians celebrating the Resurrection. The Rev. Russell J. Humbert, president of DePauw University, leads sunrise services for 2,500 in the Warner Theater.
Pittsburgh Consolidation Coal Co. indicates construction will begin soon on a 110-mile coal pipeline that will run from mines near Cadiz, Ohio, to Cleveland. The pipe would carry a slurry of pulverized coal and water.
April 19, 1929: William I. Cregan, Youngstown water works commissioner, says $100,000 will be spent to extend 15-inch and 20-inch feeder mains to provide better water service to both the North and South sides.
The Stambaugh Park golf course is due to open as soon as the weather permits. The fee for nine holes will be 50 cents, or $1 for the day. The fee in 1928 was 35 cents for nine holes.
Two recent discoveries, one that death may be due to loss of minute quantities of electricity from the body, and the other that cancer cells grow no more rapidly than normal cells, are explained at a meeting of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia.
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