Today in history

Today is Saturday, April 11, the 101st day of 2009. There are 264 days left in the year. On this date in 1970, Apollo 13 blasts off on its ill-fated mission to the moon. (The astronauts manage to return safely).

In 1689, William III and Mary II are crowned as joint sovereigns of Britain. In 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates as Emperor of the French and is banished to the island of Elba. In 1898, as tensions with Spain continue to rise, President William McKinley asks Congress to authorize military intervention in Cuba. In 1899, the treaty ending the Spanish-American War is declared in effect. In 1945, during World War II, American soldiers liberate the notorious Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald in Germany. In 1951, President Harry S. Truman relieves Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his commands in the Far East. In 1979, Idi Amin is deposed as president of Uganda as rebels and exiles backed by Tanzanian forces seize control. In 1988, the hijackers of a Kuwait Airways jetliner kill a second hostage, dumping his body onto the ground in Larnaca, Cyprus. In 1989, Mexican officials begin unearthing the remains of victims of a drug-trafficking cult near Matamoros; one of the dead is University of Texas student Mark Kilroy, who had disappeared while on spring break. (Several cult members are later convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to 50 years in prison.) In 1999, the Justice Department reports that more than a third of the women in state prisons and jails say they were physically or sexually abused as children. Jose Maria Olazabal wins the Masters by two shots over Davis Love III. In 2001, ending a tense 11-day standoff, China agrees to free the 24 crew members of an American spy plane.

April 11, 1984: A state fire marshal rules that arson was the cause of a fire that resulted in $425,000 damage to the Macali’s Valu-King Market in Niles.

A grim Howland Board of Education cuts l58 positions from its 1984-85 staff amid pleas by school officials for community support of a 4-mill additional operating levy on the May ballot.

Police in Niles are searching for a masked robber who vaulted over the counter at the McKinley Federal Savings and Loan in the Eastwood Mall and fled with an undetermined amount of cash.

April 11, 1969: John Ostrowski, a junior at Austintown Fitch High School, is the first place district winner in the annual oratorical contest held by the Nathan Hale Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution at Raver’s Restaurant.

Atty. John H. Oesch, outstanding church and community leader, and Roosevelt Thompson, a member of Church of Hope, are honored at the 18th annual spring banquet of the Organization of Protestant Men.

Mahoning County commissioners are exploring the possibility of imposing permissive countywide taxes to bring welfare payments up to standards.

April 11, 1959: Nearly 650 boys from 105 Ohio high schools are urged by schools Superintendent Dr. J. Fred Essig to prepare themselves as America’s leaders of tomorrow at the opening of the 10th annual Ohio Key Club convention at Austintown Fitch High School.

Contracts for a comprehensive economic survey of the Youngstown area are signed by the newly formed Youngstown Metropolitan Area Development Citizens Committee.

Vandals run wild in three areas of Boardman Township, slashing 39 tires on 16 cars.

April 11, 1934: Steel operations in Youngstown advance to 58 percent of output with 51 of 83 furnaces in operation, the highest of the year.

Youngstown employees are receiving two months in back pay, much of it in scrip.

Two Mahoning County representatives, Frank Agnew and Earl Haefner, did not vote when the Ohio House defeated an amendment that would have extended state aid to parochial schools.