Today is Wednesday, April 30, the 121st day of 2008. There are 245 days left in the year. On this

Today is Wednesday, April 30, the 121st day of 2008. There are 245 days left in the year. On this date in 1945, as Russian troops approach his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler commits suicide along with his wife of one day, Eva Braun.

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 1948, the charter of the Organization of American States is signed in Bogota, Colombia. In 1958, the American Association of Retired Persons (later simply AARP) is founded in Washington, D.C., by Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus. In 1958, Britain’s Life Peerages Act 1958 allows women to become members of the House of Lords. In 1968, New York City police forcibly remove student demonstrators occupying five buildings at Columbia University.

April 30, 1983: Youngstown Schools Superintendent Emanuel Catsoules says public high schools will not be playing football in YSU’s Stambaugh Stadium in the fall if the university sticks by its plan to increase the rent for the stadium from $1,600 per game to $3,000.

Chantail Greggs, a 7th grader at St. Patrick School in Youngstown, wins the 50th annual Vindicator Spelling Bee at South High Field House, by correctly spelling “vassalage.”

Laid-off workers at Jones Laughlin Steel Corp.’s Campbell Works are told by the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services that any federal Trade Readjustment Act payments they receive will be reduced by the amount of state unemployment they have received. The workers had been expecting an additional 52 weeks of benefits but if, for instance, they had received 39 weeks of state benefits, they would be eligible for only 13 weeks of TRA.

April 30, 1968: Teachers of the Struthers Education Association threaten to stay out of class unless the Board of Education reverses its decision to drop two teachers for unsatisfactory performance.

Cpl. William Rauber, 19, of Wheatland, is reported killed in Vietnam, the 16th Mercer County serviceman to die in the war.

Youngstown Mayor Anthony B. Flask expresses concern for the city’s public schools as he announces his “hearty” endorsement of a 12-mill levy on the May ballot.

April 30, 1958: The Ohio Supreme Court upholds “blue laws” in the state by a 7-0 decision, affirming the convictions of merchants in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Hamilton County who sold merchandise on the Sabbath.

Temperatures in the Youngstown area drop to a low of 27 degrees, representing a danger to peach and cherry blossoms, according to William B. Phillips, county extension agent at Canfield.

Eight acres of land on Canfield Road adjacent to Sunset Knolls housing development is donated to the City Park and Recreation Commission by the Board of Education for the city’s 38th playground.

April 30, 1933: Representatives of Youngstown steel plants return to the city from a meeting in Washington, D.C., where they opposed a bill that would set a maximum work week of 30 hours. The proposal is designed to keep more men at work, but would create unacceptably high costs for the companies, steel men say.

Faced with the need to raise at least $40 million to carry the state’s relief costs, Ohio Gov. George White is considering legislation to enact a 2 percent general sales tax.

The Wheeling Steel Corp. announces that its Yorkville, Ohio, tin plant will go on 100 percent operation, with 24 mills operating and several hundred men given employment.