Today is Thursday, July 17, the 199th day of 2008. There are 167 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, July 17, the 199th day of 2008. There are 167 days left in the year. On this date in 1996, TWA Flight 800, a Paris-bound Boeing 747, explodes and crashes off Long Island, N.Y., shortly after leaving John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 230 people aboard.

In 1821, Spain cedes Florida to the United States. In 1841, the British humor magazine Punch is first published. In 1918, Russia’s Czar Nicholas II and his family are executed by the Bolsheviks. In 1938, aviator Douglas Corrigan takes off from New York, saying he is headed for California; he ends up in Ireland, supposedly by accident, earning the nickname “Wrong Way Corrigan.” In 1944, 322 people are killed when a pair of ammunition ships explodes in Port Chicago, Calif. In 1948, Southern Democrats opposed to the nomination of President Truman meet in Birmingham, Ala., to endorse South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond. In 1955, Disneyland opens to the public in Anaheim, Calif. In 1968, a coup in Iraq returns the Baath Party to power, five years after it was ousted.

July 17, 1983: Business is booming in the Mahoning County recorder’s office, a sign that the county’s sagging housing industry is recovering, says Recorder William Repasky.

Area educators, coaches and community leaders are supporting a plan by former Youngstown Mayor Jack C. Hunter, the 17th congressional district’s representative on the Ohio Board of Education, to require students to maintain a C average with no failing marks to participate in sports and other extracurricular activities.

The Old Stone Tavern in Lisbon, home of the Lisbon Historical Society, is believed to be the oldest stone house in the state. It was built in either 1803 or 1805 by the Rev. Lewis Kinney or Christian Smith.

July 17, 1968: Austintown Township trustees agree to add 12 full-time policemen to the force of Chief James Hazlett, which has seven full-time and eight part-time patrolmen, and consider a request by Fire Chief Roy Ricker that 18 full-time firemen be hired for the all-volunteer department.

Atty. Charles Owsley is re-elected president of the Youngstown Players. Other officers are Jerry Knight, vice president; Mrs. William Flynn, second vice president; Mrs. Sidney Moyer, secretary, and Atty. Edward Freidlob, treasurer.

The Youngstown Board of Education hires 16 new teachers and accepts the resignations of 20 others. John Maluso is named principal of Chaney High School and Joseph Check Jr. is named principal of South High School.

July 17, 1958: The Fleet Home-town News Center at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center says six Youngstowners and 28 others from the district are with the U.S. Marines in Lebanon.

Some 1,900 Youngstown district unemployed workers have filed claims for extended unemployment benefits with the state office so far, says A.E. McCully, manager of the Bureau of Unemployment Compensation, says.

Youngstown’s newest television station, WXTV, the Community Telecasting Co., is assigned Channel 33 instead of 73 by the FCC. Channel 73 will be assigned to Pittsburgh.

July 17, 1933: Thousands of steel mill employees go to work in the Mahoning Valley as capacity reaches 67 percent and wages are increased 15 percent.

Mrs. John S. Orr, life-long resident of Youngstown and one of the city’s most widely known and loved women, dies in the North Side unit of Youngstown Hospital on the eve of her 91st birthday.

C.A. Peck, general merchandise manager of the G.M. McKelvey Co., is elected a member of the executive committee of the retail merchants board to fill the unexpired term of the late E.L. McKelvey.