Today is Monday, April 21, the 112th day of 2008. There are 254 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Monday, April 21, the 112th day of 2008. There are 254 days left in the year. On this date in 1918, Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the German ace known as the “Red Baron,” is killed in action during World War I.

In 1649, the Maryland Toleration Act, which provides for freedom of worship for all Christians, is passed by the Maryland assembly. In 1789, John Adams is sworn in as the first vice president of the United States. In 1836, an army of Texans led by Sam Houston defeats the Mexicans at San Jacinto, assuring Texas independence. In 1910, author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, dies in Redding, Conn., at age 74. In 1940, the quiz show that asks the “$64 question,” “Take It or Leave It,” premieres on CBS Radio. In 1972, Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charles Duke explore the surface of the moon. In 1975, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu resigns after 10 years in office. In 1977, the musical play “Annie,” based on the “Little Orphan Annie” comic strip, opens on Broadway.

April 21, 1983: Only 35 people attend the third public meeting on a proposed Mahoning County Charter, the smallest turnout yet, but the criticism is the most vociferous, from speakers who claim the proposal would take away citizens’ voting rights and concentrate too much power in a county executive.

In a speech at John Glenn High School in his hometown of New Concord, Ohio, U.S. Sen. John Glenn announces that he will seek the 1984 Democratic nomination for president. Glenn says the policies of the Reagan administration “aren’t expanding opportunity, they’re diminishing it.”

April 21, 1968: U.S. Rep. Frank T. Bow of Canton, ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, tells the Young Republicans at Youngstown State University that, “the integrity of the dollar demands No. 1 priority and politics must be put aside in this fiscal consideration.”

Chester Grey, regional director of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, tells a group of government, labor and construction officials at the Youngstown Carpenters Hall that the doors to jobs in the building trade unions are open to minority group members if they qualify to do the work.

April 21, 1958: Two New Castle men, Frank Acquaviva and Edward Tucker, are fined $200 and sentenced to nine months in the Allegheny County Workhouse for their parts in distributing what were described as libelous political pamphlets shortly before the 1957 primary election.

Mahoning County Probate Judge and Mrs. Clifford M. Woodside are celebrating the birth of their first grandchild, a boy born to Mrs. Paul Hood at North Side Hospital.

Special police squads under orders from Steubenville Mayor Michael Cody to clean up the city are conducting 24-hour-a-day patrols looking for vice violations – gambling, prostitution and narcotics sales. No arrests were made.

April 21, 1933: Senate Repub–licans say they’ll block President Roosevelt’s proposal to control inflation and issue up to $3 billion in new currency. The dollar continues to drop abroad, ending a $3.85 to the pound on the London markets.

The U.S.S. Macon, sister ship of the ill-fated dirigible Akron, takes off on its maiden flight after being walked from its huge dock near the city of Akron.