Today is Friday, Oct. 17, the 291st day of 2008. There are 75 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Friday, Oct. 17, the 291st day of 2008. There are 75 days left in the year. On this date in 1777, British forces under Gen. John Burgoyne surrender to American troops in Saratoga, N.Y., in a turning point of the Revolutionary War.

In 1807, Britain declares it will continue to reclaim British-born sailors from American ships and ports regardless of whether they hold U.S. citizenship. In 1907, Guglielmo Marconi begins offering limited commercial wireless telegraph service between Nova Scotia and Ireland. In 1919, the Radio Corporation of America is chartered. In 1931, mobster Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion. (Sentenced to 11 years in prison, Capone is released in 1939.) In 1933, Albert Einstein arrives in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany. In 1941, the U.S. destroyer Kearny is torpedoed by a German submarine off the coast of Iceland; 11 people die. In 1958, the special “An Evening with Fred Astaire,” the first major TV program produced on color videotape, airs on NBC. In 1973, Arab oil-producing nations announce they would begin cutting back oil exports to Western nations and Japan; the result is a total embargo that lasts until March 1974. In 1989, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale strikes Northern California, killing 63 people and causing $6 billion in damage.

October 17, 1983: A minor scuffle sparks the shotgun slaying of two men at the Brothers Regime motorcycle club headquarters on Pacific Street in Brookfield. Dead are Stanley McClimans, 26, of Girard and Delbert Miller, 25, of Cortland.

A federal grand jury in Cleveland is investigating the June 7 Democratic primary election in Youngstown, apparently an outgrowth of allegations made by Robert Spencer, who lost the Democratic nomination in a close race to Patrick Ungaro.

October 17, 1968: Youngstown Police Chief John Terlesky calls for citizens to help in tamping down police problems in the Hillman Street area.

“A Nixon-Agnew administration would put a stop to such things as pouring $714,000 into a totally nonproductive Office of Economic Opportunity in Chicago,” Gov. Spiro T. Agnew of Maryland tells more than 1,000 people in the Paramount Theater in downtown Youngstown.

Youngstown City Council gives first reading to legislation authorizing a contract for redevelopment of Central Square.

October 17, 1958: Republic Steel Corp. will relight its No. 3 blast furnace, a 1,300 ton unit, bringing the recall of 100 furloughed steelworkers.

Speaking to a Boardman Democrats at Sheban Hall, Michael V. DiSalle, Democratic candidate for governor, says the Ohio Highway Department has never been so “completely political” as it has become under Gov. C. William O’Neill.

October 17, 1933: The Mahoning County Board of Elections hires six temporary clerks to handle a rush of registrants and those who wish to transfer.

Dr. Samuel R. Craver, 65, well known Youngstown veterinarian for over 40 years, dies at his home at 220 Fifth Avenue.

Youngstown Municipal Judge Harry Hoffman predicts a big increase in the number of bootleggers if Ohio votes to repeal the 18th Amendment.