Years Ago

Today is Monday, Aug. 8, the 220th day of 2011. There are 145 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1815: Napoleon Bonaparte sets sail for St. Helena to spend the remainder of his days in exile.

1911: President William Howard Taft signs a measure raising the number of members in the U.S. House of Representatives from 391 to 433, effective with the next Congress, with a proviso to add two more members when New Mexico and Arizona became states.

1942: Six convicted Nazi saboteurs who’d landed in the U.S. are executed in Washington, D.C.; two others are spared.

1968: The Republican national convention in Miami Beach nominates Richard Nixon for president on the first ballot.

1973: Vice President Spiro T. Agnew brands as “damned lies” reports he had taken kickbacks from government contracts in Maryland, and vowed not to resign — which he ends up doing.

1974: President Richard Nixon announces his resignation, effective the next day, following damaging new revelations in the Watergate scandal.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Developer Richard Mills says his plan for a luxury hotel in downtown Youngstown, unveiled two years ago, is on the verge of becoming a reality.

The Mahoning County Children Service board abandons its plan for a 24-bed group home for neglected and abused children on Schenley Avenue.

1971: Youngstown’s steel industry begins counting up the costs of the new steel wage contracts and apparently the cost will be high. But the Youngstown area economy will benefit from pay increases for 70,000 steel and fabricating workers and supervisors.

The Mahoning County Board of Elections will hold two days of voter registration at 16 branch centers Sept. 9 and 10.

1961: Duke, a collie from Niles, is named Dog Hero of Heroes by the Ken-L-Ration dog food company for his action in tearing a flaming skirt from his mistress, Penny Grantz, 10, who was burning newspapers in the backyard of her Arthur Street home.

Four teenagers suspected of vandalism at the Poland Swimming Club are in custody and a fifth is being sought after they tried to outrun a State Highway Patrolman on a wild and winding chase from Poland to Lowellvile.

1936: Employees at the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corp., Youngstown District, demand a flat rate of $5 a day for common labor and an increase of $1.25 per day for all other employees.

Fourteen local amateurs compete in New York in the semi-final auditions for the honor of representing Youngstown on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour, which is heard locally over WTAM.

Youngstown Steel Door Co. will expand its Wickliffe plant with a $175,000 project approved by the board of directors. About 80 men will be added to the workforce of 465.