Today is Wednesday, May 7, the 128th day of 2008. There are 238 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Wednesday, May 7, the 128th day of 2008. There are 238 days left in the year. On this date in 1915, nearly 1,200 people die when a German torpedo sinks the British liner RMS Lusitania off the Irish coast.

In 1789, the first inaugural ball is held in New York in honor of President and Mrs. Washington. In 1812, poet Robert Browning is born in London. In 1833, composer Johannes Brahms is born in Hamburg, Germany. In 1840, composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky is born in Votkinsk, Russia. In 1945, Germany signs an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France. In 1954, the 55-day Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam ends with Vietnamese insurgents overrunning French forces.

May 7, 1983: Accountant John Napolitano testifies during Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr.’s bribery and tax evasion trial that Traficant had undergone an IRS audit earlier, when government auditors disallowed deductions Traficant took for his farm in Green Township, which they said was a hobby, not a business.

A federal bankruptcy judge in Pittsburgh approves the sale of the Mesta Machine Co.’s New Castle and West Homestead plants to Ray Park Corp. of Charleston, W. Va., for $9 million.

The East Ohio Gas Co. gives 5,000 pounds of food to organizations such as the Salvation Army to distribute to the needy in the company’s service area.

May 7, 1968: Melissa, Melony and Melinda, identical triplet daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Howard Holes of 2773 Hammaker Ave., Youngstown, go home from St. Elizabeth Hospital, where they were born March 14.

Dominic Papania, manager of the Salem Fruit Growers Cooperative, says two consecutive days of heavy frost appears to have done heavy damage to area fruit crops, especially strawberries and peaches.

May 7, 1958: Youngstown’s Clingan Jackson, a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, piles up a 4-to-1 margin in Mahoning County over his nearest opponent, but is easily defeated on the statewide ballot by Michael V. DiSalle, who will challenge Republican incumbent C. William O’Neill.

Charles M. White, board chairman of Republic Steel Corp., tells the 11th annual spring meeting of the Industrial Information Institute at Youngstown Country Club that Americans should “stop squawking about how bad things are and get to work” to end the business recession.

Hubbard police and Trumbull County sheriff’s deputies say they hope to land a suspect within days in the $15,000 armed robbery of the Crest Jewelers on W. Liberty Street.

May 7, 1933: Michael J. Kirwan, Youngstown city council finance committee chairman, says tax collections may reach no more than 56 percent, and wage cuts will be necessary, perhaps as high as 20 or 30 percent for salaried employees, if city operations are to be maintained.

Ursuline Academy of Youngs–town captures first place among private schools while Hubbard takes first place among exempted village schools, in the Northeastern Ohio scholarship contest at Kent. Youngstown East High took eighth place and Chaney tenth among city schools.