Today is Wednesday, Aug. 20, the 233rd day of 2008. There are 133 days left in the year. On this

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 20, the 233rd day of 2008. There are 133 days left in the year. On this date in 1968, the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations begin invading Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring” liberalization drive led by Alexander Dubcek.

In 1833, Benjamin Harrison, 23rd president of the United States, is born in North Bend, Ohio. In 1866, President Andrew Johnson formally declares the Civil War over, months after fighting had stopped. In 1914, German forces occupy Brussels, Belgium, during World War I. In 1920, pioneering American radio station 8MK in Detroit (later WWJ) begins daily broadcasting. In 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill pays tribute to the Royal Air Force, saying, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” In 1948, the United States orders the expulsion of the Soviet Consul General in New York, Jacob Lomakin, accusing him of attempting to return two consular employees to the Soviet Union against their will. In 1955, hundreds of people are killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria. In 1964, President Johnson signs the Economic Opportunity Act, a nearly $1 billion anti-poverty measure. In 1977, the U.S. launches Voyager 2, an unmanned spacecraft carrying a 12-inch copper phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature. In 1986, postal employee Patrick Henry Sherrill goes on a deadly rampage at a post office in Edmond, Okla., shooting 14 fellow workers to death before killing himself. In 1988, eight British soldiers are killed by an Irish Republican Army land mine that destroys a military bus near Omagh, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland.

August 20, 1983: Area and state consumer advocates react with dismay and anger at the Public Utility Commission’s approval of a $46 million a year rate increase for East Ohio Gas Co. that will add an estimated $3 per month to the average bill.

Ohio Secretary of State Sherrod Brown will be asked to break a tie vote on whether Mahoning County, which used electronic scanners in the June primary, should return to the use of voting machines. Democratic members Russell Saadey and Don L. Hanni Jr. favor the scanners; Republicans Ruth Lindesmith and William Binning favor going back to voting machines.

The Rev. James E. Ray, a Pittsburgh native who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma, Ala., is named director of the Cooperative Campus Ministry at Youngstown State University.

August 20, 1968: About 225 people from Girard and Liberty attend a meeting at W.S. Guy Elementary School to discuss a plan to separate Liberty Township from the city of Girard.

The Youngstown Board of Education needs to hire 17 secondary teachers for the new school year, including language, science and math teachers, which are in short supply.

The Youngstown Board of Education approves Michael Lyden as principal of North High at a salary of $14,966 and Stephen Sedlacko as principal of Hillman Junior High at $14,261.

August 20, 1958: The $100 milion, 80-mile Lake Erie-to-Ohio River highway “will be constructed as soon as possible,” State Highway Director Charles M. Noble tells 400 people in Youngstown.

Youngstown independent garage owners are up in arms over what they say is the unfair practice of insurance companies in dictating the cost of auto repairs and demanding discounts.

Despite its classification as a substantial labor surplus area, Youngstown won’t qualify for any help under the provisions of a new federal redevelopment act.

August 20, 1933: Ohio Gov. George White’s $24 million tax program for unemployment relief is nearing passage in Columbus.

The aeronautical committee of the South Side Merchants and Civic Association is preparing to make its recommendation on sites for the proposed city airport to the city board of control.

The Federation of Polish Societies of Youngstown and vicinity holds its annual Polish Day at Idora Park.