Today is Friday, April 30, the 121st day of 2004. There are 245 days left in the year. On this date in 1904, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition opens in St. Louis as President Theodore Roosevelt

Today is Friday, April 30, the 121st day of 2004. There are 245 days left in the year. On this date in 1904, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition opens in St. Louis as President Theodore Roosevelt presses a telegraph key at the White House to signal the official start of the world's fair commemorating the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase, albeit a year late. (The fair draws some 20 million visitors before it closes the following December.)
In 1789, George Washington takes office in New York as the first president of the United States. In 1803, the United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for 60 million francs, the equivalent of about $15 million. In 1812, Louisiana becomes the 18th state of the Union. In 1900, engineer John Luther "Casey" Jones of the Illinois Central Railroad dies in a wreck near Vaughan, Miss., after staying at the controls in an effort to save the passengers. In 1900, Hawaii is organized as a U.S. territory. In 1939, the New York World's Fair officially opens. In 1945, as Russian troops approach his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler commits suicide along with his wife of one day, Eva Braun. In 1970, President Nixon announces the U.S. is sending troops into Cambodia, an action that sparks widespread protest.
April 30, 1979: General Motors Corp.'s Packard Electric Division buys a 217,000 square foot plant near Ravenna to "help meet the division's need for additional manufacturing space," Packard General Manager James R. Rinehart announces.
The 11th District Court of Appeals orders Mahoning County Sheriff Michael Yarosh to reinstate two former sheriff's deputies he fired when he took office in 1977.
It's more than a year until the 1980 elections, but the name-dropping has already begun, and one being dropped as a possible opponent to Sen. John Glenn is former OSU Coach Woody Hayes.
April 30, 1964: National and local awards for excellence in the Reserve Officers Training Corps at Youngstown University are presented to 16 cadets after the annual general inspection at Fort Hayes in Columbus.
Youngstown, with one traffic fatality in 1964, is tied for first place in its population class in the United States for traffic safety, the National Safety Council reports.
Booming automobile sales boost General Moors Corp.'s profits in the first three months of the year to the highest level of any corporation in history. GM reported earnings of $536 million of $1.87 a share.
A fire in the North Side Auto Wash, 587 W. Madison Ave., destroys a 1964 Cadillac valued at $6,100 and a 1953 Packard valued at $150. The Cadillac is owned by McCullough Williams Jr., funeral home operator.
April 30, 1954: The advantages of a union of the Presbyterian Church , North and South, and the United Presbyterian Church into a denomination with more than 2.5 million members are presented to more than 2,000 people in the Scottish Rite Cathedral in New Castle.
Mahoning County Engineer Samuel Gould Jr. recommends that the county commissioners initiate plans, estimates and assessment rates to extend a 12-inch water line in Austintown Water District No. 5 to relieve low pressure that has plagued the area for years.
Mahoning Common Pleas Judge Harold B. Doyle clears the way for the Ohio Bell Telephone Co. to carry out a request by Police Chief Paul Cress for removal of a telephone from the Center Restaurant on Wilson Avenue to deter gambling.
April 30, 1929: A trimotored all metal Ford monoplane flies to Lansdowne Field from Bettis Field, McKeesport, to carry sightseers over Youngstown for two days. The plane seats 14 passengers and two pilots.
Youngstown's eight infant welfare stations will conduct special health clinics in May to promote the health of children in Youngstown.
An ordinance before council to prohibit "astrology, phrenology, palmistry, fortune telling, chiromancy and chirognomy" in Youngstown sparks a sharp clash between Law Director Carol Armstrong and Atty. William E. Lewis, former law director. Atty. Lewis represented the Second Spiritualist Church, which opposes the law. The ordinance was referred to council's legislative committee.
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