Today is Saturday, April 24, the 115th day of 2004. There are 251 days left in the year. On this date in 1800, Congress approves a bill establishing the Library of Congress.



Today is Saturday, April 24, the 115th day of 2004. There are 251 days left in the year. On this date in 1800, Congress approves a bill establishing the Library of Congress.
In 1792, the national anthem of France, "La Marseillaise," is composed by Captain Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle. In 1877, federal troops are ordered out of New Orleans, ending the North's post-Civil War rule in the South. In 1898, Spain declares war on the United States after rejecting America's ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba. In 1915, the Ottoman Turkish Empire begins the brutal mass deportation of Armenians during World War I. In 1916, some 1,600 Irish nationalists launch the Easter Rising by seizing several key sites in Dublin. (The rising is put down by British forces several days later.) In 1953, British statesman Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. In 1962, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieves the first satellite relay of a television signal, between Camp Parks, Calif., and Westford, Mass. In 1968, leftist students at Columbia University in New York begin a weeklong occupation of several campus buildings. In 1970, the People's Republic of China launches its first satellite, which keeps transmitting a song, "The East is Red." In 1980, the United States launches an abortive attempt to free the American hostages in Iran, a mission that results in the deaths of eight U.S. servicemen.
April 24, 1979: The RMI Co. will spend in excess of $2 million to expand its Niles plant to accommodate the increased amount of titanium sponge being produced at the company's Ashtabula plant.
The Hubbard Board of Education will not rehire 12 teachers for the coming school year because of projected lower enrollment. The board also votes against permitting the Gideons International to distribute Bibles in the fifth grade.
The Standard Oil Co. of Ohio announces its third price increase of the month, bringing the price of regular gasoline to 76.9 cents per gallon at full-service pumps.
April 24, 1964: The economic outlook for the Mahoning Valley is brighter than ever, Harry L. Allen, vice president for customer relations at Republic Steel Corp., tells the annual executive night dinner meeting of Youngstown Purchasing Agents.
Alfred B. Lewis, national treasurer of the NAACP, speaking at a meeting of the Youngstown chapter at Third Baptist Church, attacks what he called insinuations by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover that Communists are influencing NAACP support of civil rights demonstrations.
Mary Ann Loncar, Youngstown University's 1963 Homecoming Queen, will represent the university in the fourth annual Armed Forces Day Queen contest sponsored by the 910th Troop Carrier Group, Air Force Reserves, at Youngstown Municipal Airport.
April 24, 1954: The Youngstown Municipal Railway Co. will introduce express bus service between Central Square and the Newport Theater on May 17 when the Market Street bridge is closed for repairs.
A 33-year-old World War II veteran and amputee shoots himself at the main entrance to the G.M. McKelvey Store. The body was spotted by two passers-by at about 1 a.m., apparently shortly after the man, a resident of the Lincoln Hotel, fired one shot from a pistol into his head.
Atty. Robert A. Manchester resigns after seven years as president of the Mahoning Valley Boy Scout Council. He is replaced by G. Taylor Evans. Manchester has been active in Scouting since 1917 and will remain on the board.
April 24, 1929: Charged with juggling accounts of the Union Savings Bank, which closed April 13, are President Philip F. Carosella and Eugene M. Rudy, secretary and treasurer. State auditors report $66,000 is gone.
Attempts to "destroy" Youngstown's big steel mills and factories in air raids will be made in May by a fleet of "enemy" bombers in one of the fiercest mimic air battles ever staged in the United States.
Frank E. Hughes, superintendent of Mill Creek Park, announces that the Mill Creek golf course is open for play. The 18-hole course is in splendid condition, Hughes reports, and work on the new clubhouse is progressing rapidly.
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