Today in history

Today is Saturday, April 25, the 115th day of 2009. There are 250 days left in the year. On this date in 1945, during World War II, U.S. and Soviet forces link up on the Elbe River, a meeting that dramatizes the collapse of Nazi Germany’s defenses.

In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller names a huge land mass in the Western Hemisphere “America,” in honor of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci. In 1792, highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier becomes the first person under French law to be executed by the guillotine. In 1859, ground is broken for the Suez Canal. In 1898, the United States formally declares war on Spain. In 1901, New York Gov. Benjamin Barker Odell Junior signs an automobile registration bill which imposes a 15 mph speed limit on highways. In 1945, delegates from some 50 countries meet in San Francisco to organize the United Nations. In 1959, the St. Lawrence Seaway opens to shipping. In 1983, Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov invites Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter in which the Manchester, Maine, schoolgirl expresses fears about nuclear war. In 1990, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro is inaugurated as president of Nicaragua, ending 11 years of leftist Sandinista rule.

April 25, 1984: A Youngstown partnership is seeking a $500,000 federal loan to help renovate the 62-year-old Erie Terminal downtown.

The Warren Board of Education accepts a $50,000 state grant to provide specialized vocational education to multihandicapped students.

The Boardman Board of Education approves a new teachers contract that includes a one-year pay freeze. Administrators will also take a freeze.

April 25, 1969: Rear Adm. Harry J. P. Folley, presents to Mrs. Carolyn A. Powell of Youngstown the Navy Cross that was awarded posthumously to Navy Hospitalman Richard Lee Powell, a Chaney High graduate who was killed by enemy rifle fire in Vietnam while treating wounded men.

State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Martin Essex announces an $80,000 federal and state grant for the development of a program to teach severely emotionally disturbed students in Youngstown’s public and parochial schools. Two classes of eight students each will be established at Butler School in a pilot program.

Atty. Elton W. Luckhart, chairman of the Mahoning County Republican Party, declares that the GOP fully endorses the 12-mill Youngstown school levy.

April 25, 1959: The final play for the Youngstown Civic Children’s Theater season will be “Puss in Boots,” which will be presented at Princeton School and the Rayen School. Among the stars are David Mastran, Richard Saul, Larry Cadman, Delbert Holdash, Walter McKelvey and Charlene Marino.

Democratic mayoral candidate Frank R. Franko accuses the city water department of charging the steel mills lower rates for their water and sewer rental than homeowners pay.

Students at Lloyd Elementary School in Austintown plant two trees during Arbor Day ceremonies in honor of two district employees who died recently, secretary Gladys Byers and custodian George Lynn.

Fires of undetermined origin gut a warehouse behind the Arbaugh furniture store in Salem and destroys a warehouse behind Goldstein Furniture Co. In Sharon, Pa.

April 25, 1934: Greater Cleveland’s 250,000 motorists find themselves face to face with a gasoline famine as various groups of the oil industry began battling among themselves in the wake of strike by filling station attendants.

An Ohio Senate committee will investigate the liquor control commission to determine the circumstances under which some liquor licenses were granted in Mahoning County over the objections of Sheriff W.J. Engelhardt.

A report by state examiner Joyce Ross questions some of the property acquisitions made by the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District and notes that state Sen. George H. Roberts was paid $1,275 by the district for making property appraisals while he was a member of the legislature. Roberts committed suicide in 1933.