Today is Thursday, March 27, the 87th day of 2008. There are 279 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, March 27, the 87th day of 2008. There are 279 days left in the year. On this date in 1977, 583 people are killed when a KLM Boeing 747, attempting to take off, crashes into a Pan Am 747 on the Canary Island of Tenerife.

In 1625, Charles I accedes to the English throne upon the death of James I. In 1794, Congress approves “An Act to provide a Naval Armament” of six armed ships. In 1836, the first Mormon temple is dedicated, in Kirtland, Ohio. In 1945, during World War II, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower tells reporters in Paris that German defenses on the Western Front have been broken.

March 27, 1983: A committee that would coordinate economic development plans in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties could be operating within three months after it is approved by the federal government. The group is being organized by the Eastgate Development and Transportation Agency.

A little-known state law requiring separate distribution of county-owned real estate and personal property delays the proposed sale of the Mahoning County nursing home.

Ursuline High School’s annual High School Education Day is attended by 534 sixth graders from 15 Youngstown Diocese elementary schools.

March 27, 1968: Mahoning County Juvenile Court Judge Harold S. Rickert Sr. tells the new Citizens Discipline Practices Committee that increased rapport between teacher and parent is needed to alleviate the problem of school dropouts and expulsions, which are taking a heavy toll.

The Youngstown Board of Education will ask city voters to approve a 12-mill levy that would provide $6 million a year and would allow restoration of 13 cutbacks and upgrading of the entire program.

Education costs per pupil in Youngstown are $579.13 a year, which places Youngstown fourth among large cities in the state. It is not the highest in Mahoning County, however, that is Campbell, at $589.63.

March 27, 1958: Youngstown City Council appropriates an additional $5,000 for improvements to the administration building at Youngstown Municipal Airport.

Youngstown area banks warn their subscribers against being taken in by a new variation of the old chain letter, a “U.S. Bond Club.” Bankers say new subscribers in the chain are more likely to lose their $75 investment in the lottery than to make the fortune that the letter promises.

Joanne Woodward, who attends Hollywood’s fanciest party of the year in a dress she sewed herself, wins an Oscar for her role in “The Three Faces of Eve.” Best picture is “The Bridge over the River Kwai.”

March 27, 1933: Pete Myers Jr., 15, is returned safely to Masury after his father, tavern owner and bootlegger Pete Myers Sr., meets secretly with the boy’s kidnappers and pays them, Myers says he gave the kidnappers $300, much less than they asked. Some sources suggest Myers actually paid $10,000.

A proposal to include the Beaver-Mahoning waterway in the work relief public improvement program is referred to officials in charge of that program by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Youngstown Mayor Mark Moore telegraphs an appeal for the project to the president.

Trumbull County Treasurer T.D. Harklerode and Auditor David H. Wick will keep their offices open from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. through the last week of tax collection to accommodate thousands of residents who have not yet paid their personal property taxes.