Today is Wednesday, April 9, the 100th day of 2008. There are 266 days left in the year. On this

Today is Wednesday, April 9, the 100th day of 2008. There are 266 days left in the year. On this date in 1865, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrenders his army to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

In 1939, singer Marian Anderson performs a concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington after she was denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution. In 1942, American and Philippine defenders on Bataan capitulate to Japanese forces; the surrender was followed by the notorious Bataan Death March which claimed thousands of lives. In 1959, NASA announces the selection of America’s first seven astronauts: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Donald Slayton. In 1965, the first baseball game in the newly built Astrodome in Houston is played, an exhibition between the Astros and the New York Yankees. (The Astros win, 2-1, in 12 innings.) In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger ends its first mission with a safe landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. In 2003, Jubilant Iraqis celebrate the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime, beheading a toppled statue of their longtime ruler in downtown Baghdad and embracing American troops as liberators.

April 9, 1983: While accepting the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp.’s Businessman of the Year Award, mall developer Edward J. DeBartolo offers the city help in drawing up a revitalization strategy for Downtown Youngstown. DeBartolo says the area’s other big mall developer, Cafaro Corp.. has also volunteered to help.

A series of recommendations, some of which would drastically change the direction of the Youngstown city schools is proposed in a Facilities Master Plan. One recommendation would create “magnet” high schools.

A group of parishioners from Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church ask the superior of the Vincentian Sisters of Charity to reconsider her decision to withdraw three teaching nuns from the parish school.

April 9, 1968: Relative quiet is restored in Youngstown after the shooting of two city policemen and a Negro triggered six hours of fire-bombing, window-breaking and some looting that was stopped by police and about 500 National Guardsmen.

The Junior League of Youngstown is establishing a library at Jefferson School, one of Youngstown’s inner city schools, as one of its philanthropic projects.

April 9, 1958: A return of winter follows a gentle Easter, with temperatures falling to 19 degrees at the Youngstown Municipal Airport.

A 15-year-old boy tells Youngs–town police he used his dog as a lookout when he broke into 18 business establishments on the North Side over a period of two months.

The Mill Creek Park Board notifies county commissioners that court action will be pursued unless the county begins a specified program to stop pollution of Lake Newport.

Reports are received throughout northeast Ohio of a blue-green ball of fire in the night sky. Weather observers and control tower operators at the Youngstown Municipal Airport say the light was probably a meteorite, not an exploding earth satellite.

April 9, 1933: O.E. Hawk, former real estate and mortgage operator, in jail on charges of forgery and embezzlement, says all he wants is a chance to mount a comeback and reimburse investors who lost money. Hawk was returned to Youngstown after serving a prison term in Texas.

Beer by the glass and in individual bottles sold out quickly at several restaurants in downtown Salem.