Today is Tuesday, April 7, the 97th day of 2009. There are 268 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Tuesday, April 7, the 97th day of 2009. There are 268 days left in the year. On this date in 1862, Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeat the Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh.

In 1199, King Richard I of England (also known as The Lion-Heart) dies in the Limousin region of France at age 41 after being mortally wounded by an arrow. In 1859, Walter Camp, the “Father of American Football,” is born in New Britain, Conn. In 1927, an audience in New York watches as the image as well as voice of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover were transmitted live from Washington in the first successful long-distance demonstration of television. In 1949, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific” opens on Broadway. In 1953, the U.N. General Assembly elects Dag Hammarskjold of Sweden to be secretary-general. In 1959, a referendum in Oklahoma repeals the state’s ban on alcoholic beverages. In 1969, the Supreme Court, in Stanley v. Georgia, unanimously strikes down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter announces he is deferring development of the neutron bomb, a high-radiation weapon. In 1983, space shuttle astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson take the first U.S. space walk in almost a decade as they work in the open cargo bay of Challenger for nearly four hours.

April 7, 1984: The Youngstown Civil Service Commission says the city did not supply the required documentation that it is short of money before laying off 21 employees. Three employees are appealing their layoffs.

Some 200 people, about half of them youngsters, show up on the steps of Stambaugh Auditorium to appear in a “Rally Round the Valley” TV commercial.

Youngstown State University should provide major academic assistance to the area’s black population as it struggles with social problems, say leaders of the Black Leadership Summit Council.

April 7, 1969: Youngstown high school students are wearing bright read arm bands each day to remind residents to vote for the 12-mill school operating levy that will be on the May ballot.

David B. Carson, 78, retired executive vice president of Sharon Steel Corp., dies of complications of a stroke. He was a national figure in the development of stainless steel and titanium products in the Unite States.

About 80 men, women and children walk in a “Black Easter Parade” on the South Side, in observance of a national event initiated in Chicago to urge black power and solidarity.

April 7, 1959: The drive to rid Youngstown streets of stray dogs gains momentum when Mahoning County commissioners say they’ll consider buying vehicles that would be manned by city employees to round up dangerous animals.

Alfred S. Glossbrenner, president of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. and Alfred M. Tredwell, president of Sharon Steel Corp., are among six who will receive honorary degrees at Westminster College commencement.

A wildcat strike by about 30 clerical employees at U.S. Steel Corp.’s Ohio Works is shutting down the Youngstown district’s biggest steel works, idling 4,500 employees and costing the company an estimated $125,000 a day.

The Youngstown Planned Parenthood Association reports meeting its campaign goal by raising $5,607 from 53 new and 141 former contributors.

April 7, 1934: Youngstown Mayor Mark Moore asks Gov. George White to punish Mahoning County’s three commissioners for not supporting local relief efforts, but not to punish the needy by closing the relief office in the county.

Youngstown Police Chief Leroy Goodwin demotes Detective Chief William F. Lally to patrolman. Neither Goodwin nor Mayor Moore would say what was behind the demotion.

Mayor Moore walks into state liquor store No. 105 at 324 W. Federal Street at 10 a.m. and becomes the first cash customer of the state liquor store in Youngstown. In Campbell, James Masi, a businessman, was the first customer of the store there, buying a bottle of imported gin.