Today is Saturday, April 12, the 103rd day of 2008. There are 263 days left in the year. On this

Today is Saturday, April 12, the 103rd day of 2008. There are 263 days left in the year. On this date in 1861, the American Civil War begins as Confederate forces bombard Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

In 1606, England’s King James I decrees the design of the original Union Flag, which combines the flags of England and Scotland. In 1776, North Carolina’s Fourth Provincial Congress authorizes the colony’s delegates to the Continental Congress to support independence from Britain. In 1877, the catcher’s mask is first used in a baseball game, by James Tyng of Harvard in a game against the Lynn Live Oaks. In 1908, fire devastates the city of Chelsea, Mass. In 1934, “Tender Is the Night” by F. Scott Fitzgerald is first published in book form by Charles Scribner’s Sons after being serialized in Scribner’s Magazine. In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga., at age 63; he is succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman. In 1955, the Salk vaccine against polio is declared safe and effective. In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly in space, orbiting the earth once before making a safe landing. In 1981, the space shuttle Columbia blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on its first test flight. In 1983, Chicagoans go to the polls to elect Harold Washington the city’s first black mayor.

April 12, 1983: The Office of Budget and Management releases $549,000 in start-up funds to Youngstown State University for a $12 million high-technology research center, the Institute for Advanced Applied Science and Technology.

The State Controlling Board authorizes $3.3 million for construction of a facility to house the Trumbull County juvenile and domestic courts and a detention center.

East Ohio Gas Co. residential customers will pay about $1.50 more a month for gas service beginning in May.

April 12, 1968: The Job Committee of the Youngstown Area Employers Job Council takes on the task of finding jobs for six youths from the East Side poverty center who need jobs.

Three days of civil disorder at the peak of the Easter shopping season caused heavy losses to Youngstown business, large and small. Downtown sales were about 20 percent lower than expected.

The Rev. William A. Miller of 906 Indianola Ave., marks his 103rd birthday. He notes that he was two days old when Lincoln was assassinated.

April 12, 1958: Plans to relocate Centenary Methodist Church from Wilson Avenue and Jackson Street to a more central location are made at a meeting of the Youngstown District of the Methodist Church.

A brown leather bag containing jewelry valued at more than $5,000 is found by a construction crew near the Jacobs Road bridge at McKelvey Lake. The jewelry was taken from the home of Harris R. Loomis of Ravenna by three armed bandits who robbed Loomis and his wife.

Police Chief Paul Cress puts two of the oldest men on the force on night turn, reversing his policy of “day turn for senior policemen” that he put into effect when he became chief in 1954. Frank Parker has been on the force for 46 years; Regis Bord for 29.

April 12, 1933: There is testimony at a naval hearing on the loss of the airship U.S.S. Akron that plans were made to strengthen two girders when the ship returned from what turned out to be its last flight. Two survivors of the Akron’s crash into the Atlantic said two longitudinal girders snapped, causing the ship to break in half during a storm.

The clue to lower costs of electrical service is more use by the consumer, T.C. Dee, Ohio Edison Co. distribution manager, tells a meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers meeting at the Youngstown Ohio Edison Building.

The Mahoning County Board of Elections begins checking petitions bearing 6,936 signatures seeking a vote on a state constitution amendment that would permit consolidation of the functions of city and county governments.