Today is Wednesday, July 23, the 205th day of 2008. There are 161 days left in the year. On this

Today is Wednesday, July 23, the 205th day of 2008. There are 161 days left in the year. On this date in 1967, a week of deadly race-related rioting that claims 43 lives erupts in Detroit.

In 1885, Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States, dies in Mount McGregor, N.Y., at age 63. In 1892, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is born. In 1914, Austria-Hungary issues an ultimatum to Serbia following the killing of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serb assassin; the dispute leads to World War I. In 1945, French Marshal Henri Petain, who had headed the Vichy government during World War II, goes on trial, charged with treason. (He is condemned to death, but his sentence is commuted; Petain dies in prison on this date in 1951.) In 1948, American pioneer filmmaker D.W. Griffith dies in Los Angeles at age 73. In 1952, Egyptian military officers led by Gamal Abdel Nasser launch a successful coup against King Farouk I. In 1958, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II names the first four women to peerage in the House of Lords. In 1977, a jury in Washington convicts 12 Hanafi Muslims of charges stemming from the hostage siege at three buildings the previous March. In 1986, Britain’s Prince Andrew marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey in London. (The couple divorces in 1996.)

July 23, 1983: A broken water valve at Champion and Boardman streets develops into a nightmare for the city water and police departments when underground electric and telephone lines are flooded and short out.

Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr. tells Herb Kamm, moderator of the “Cleveland Caucus” TV show that his department is investigating threats on the Mahoning County sheriff’s life.

Mayor George Vukovich, bowing to the opinions of the city’s judges and city and county prosecutors, vetoes an ordinance designed to include Youngstown in the state public defender program.

July 23, 1968: An investigation is underway to determine what killed some 30,000 fish in the West Branch of the Mahoning River within a quarter-mile of the West Branch Reservoir.

Howard S. Lamb, a close associate of L.A. Beeghly, A.P. Steckel and others in developing the four-high rolling mill that revolutionized the sheet metal industry, dies in North Side Hospital at 81.

The Fraternal Association of Steel Haulers offers a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who hurled a dynamite charge at the Boardman home of Michael Boano, president of the Youngstown chapter of the steel haulers.

July 23, 1958: Dr. Howard Jones, president of Youngstown University, outlines for the Rotary Club plans for a graduate studies program, a student union building, a physical education building and revision of faculty salaries.

The Girard Civil Service Commission approves a 30-day suspension for Police Chief Wallace G. Flory, overturning Mayor Joseph Catone’s firing of the chief for allegedly ignoring the operation of a gambling joint in the city.

City Asphalt Co., bidding on a city contract for the first time since 1940, undercuts Gennaro of Hillsville, Pa., by a half-cent per gallon on materials to patch and seal Youngstown streets.

July 23, 1933: William Strauss, 22, of Girard dies in St. Elizabeth Hospital of complications from a gunshot wound of the leg suffered in November when he was shot by two robbers at the Texaco service station at Broadway and State streets. One of two robbers shot Strauss without provocation after taking $40.

Mike Kubish, 17, a caddy on the New Castle Hills links, is struck and killed by lightning. He was caddying for Professor Rankin, recently elected dean of Westminster College.

Forty-two employees, from sales manager down to grease monkey, are given 50 percent wage increases at the Tri-Valley Motor Co., 317 Wick Ave. The agency distributes Studebaker and Pierce-Arrow cars and White and Indiana trucks. The announcement came the same day that owner Arthur Meyers personally closed a $30,000 deal for seven 23-passenger Indiana buses with the Warren Transportation Co.