Today in history

Today is Saturday, May 21, the 141st day of 2011. There are 224 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1542: Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto dies while searching for gold along the Mississippi River.

1881: Clara Barton founds the American Red Cross.

1927: Charles A. Lindbergh lands his Spirit of St. Louis near Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 33 Ω hours.

1932: Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

1991: Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated during national elections.

Vindicator files

1986: Judges Charles Bannon and David F. McLain, functioning as the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District’s Court of Jurisdiction, overrule the MVSD Board’s decision to increase wholesale water rates for Youngstown and Niles. The judges said the MVSD has a projected budget surplus of $723,000 without a proposed 4.8 percent increase.

Farrell voters reject a ballot measure that would have eliminated the city’s home-rule charter and city manager-council form of government.

Hubbard Township trustees announce a crackdown on loose dogs.

1971: A 25-year-old Girard man is arrested at the Youngstown Playhouse where he showed up to protest the World Affairs Forum.

Youngstown Mayor Jack C. Hunter calls on city council to give the mayor extensive power to impose curfews in times of civil unrest.

Dr. Elias T. Saadi, director of the cardiovascular laboratory at St. Elizabeth Hospital, is elected president of the Eastern Ohio Chapter of the American Heart Association.

1961: Area carpenters end a five-day strike against the Home Builders Association of the Mahoning Valley, agreeing to a contract that gives them a 37-cent per hour increase.

Col. Michael E. Zupko, science and math teacher at East High School, is appointed parade marshal for the annual Memorial Day parade May 30.

1936: The highest officials of U.S. Steel Corp. and Carnegie-Illinois Steel Co. visit the McDonald Mills and voice a consensus that the outlook for the steel industry is promising and steel prices are headed upward.

A bomb shatters nine windows in the Niles home of John “Peck” Woodcock at 49 Washington St., an alleged “bug” operator, signaling what police believe may be a war over gambling rackets.

Sam Stites, chairman of a civic league formed to aid promotion of a municipal airport for Youngstown, gives his support to a 1,000-acre tract in Vienna. Township in Trumbull County.

The Chambers of Commerce of Youngstown and Warren vigorouly push plans for the airport in Vienna and seek an initial appropriation of $300,000 from the WPA.