Years ago

Today is Wednesday, June 5, the 156th day of 2013. There are 209 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1884: Civil War hero Gen. William T. Sherman refuses the Republican presidential nomination, saying, “I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected.”

1933: The United States goes off the gold standard.

1947: Secretary of State George C. Marshall gives a speech at Harvard University in which he outlines an aid program for Europe that comes to be known as The Marshall Plan.

1950: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Henderson v. United States, strikes down racially segregated railroad dining cars.

1967: War erupts in the Mideast as Israel raids military aircraft parked on the ground in Egypt; Syria, Jordan and Iraq enter the conflict.

1968: Sen. Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles’ Ambassador Hotel after claiming victory in California’s Democratic presidential primary. Gunman Sirhan Bishara Sirhan is immediately arrested.

1993: Country star Conway Twitty dies in Springfield, Mo., at age 59.

2003: Speaking to American soldiers in Qatar, President George W. Bush argues the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq is justified and pledges that “we’ll reveal the truth” on Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.

2004: Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, dies in Los Angeles at age 93 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

VINDICATOR FILES

1988: Ursuline High School wins the Class AA State baseball championship, defeating Cincinnati McNicholas, 9-5, in Columbus.

Efforts by state and local health officials to contain the spread of nine-day measles in Western Pennsylvania appear to have worked, says Robert Longenecker, program coordinator for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, who was responsible for Lawrence and Mercer counties.

The Columbiana County Sheriff’s Department is receiving reports and inquiries about cults that allegedly prey on blond, blue-eyed children. Experts on human behavior say the rumors are nothing more than strange tales arising from strange times.

1973: A single shot fired from ambush in his own yard kills Toby Gibson, 39, of 158 Niles-Canfield Road as he was leaving the house to keep an appointment following a mysterious phone call.

Two men who allegedly threatened to blow up the Sutter Dam or Summersville Dam in West Virginia unless they were paid a large sum of money are arrested by the FBI at a drop site near Charleston.

1963: Citizens Association of Metropolitan Youngstown, designed to combat crime and corruption and promote good government, is organized during a meeting at the Central YMCA attended by 200 people.

Municipal Judge Don L. Hanni Jr. says he will issue bench warrants for 45 motorists who failed to answer traffic violations as part of a crackdown to discourage “no shows” at traffic court.

A Liberty High School teacher charged with striking a student who he believed had stolen examination answers pleads innocent in Trumbull County Court.

1938: Youngstown motorists whose cars are insured are still paying liability insurance rates based on losses suffered in the days when the “fake accident claim” ring and ambulance chasers preyed on them.

The Greyhounds ran at the Craig Beach dog track but there was no betting under fear of a raid by Sheriff Ralph E. Elser.