Years Ago

Today is Friday, April 25, the 115th day of 2014. There are 250 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1507: A world map produced by German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller contains the first recorded use of the term “America,” in honor of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.

1792: Highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier becomes the first person under French law to be executed by the guillotine.

1859: Ground is broken for the Suez Canal.

1862: During the Civil War, a Union fleet commanded by Flag Officer David G. Farragut captures the city of New Orleans.

1898: The United States formally declares war on Spain.

1915: During World War I, Allied soldiers invade the Gallipoli Peninsula in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war.

1944: The United Negro College Fund is founded.

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.

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency cites Multi-Tech Industries for three waste disposal violations at its medical-waste incinerator in North Jackson.

Warren police say that during their 11-month investigation into crack- cocaine sales in the city they witnessed students from Warren Western Reserve, Warren G. Harding and Howland high schools going into crack houses in the projects.

Federal authorities unearth 54 barrels believed to contain hazardous waste from around the Sentco Paint Manufacturing Co. on North Meridian Road in Youngstown.

1974: The Peoples Bank begins a major expansion program at its main downtown facilities in the Stambaugh Building. John McClure, president, says the bank’s assets have grown from $13 million in 1960 when the last remodeling was done to $60 million, and the bank now has 111 employees.

Niles Service Director Leonard Holloway says construction on the city’s new municipal building will begin in June.

Clear overnight skies bring below freezing temperatures and frost to the Youngstown area. A low of 37 at the airport was two degrees above the record low of 1956.

1964: A revised report on the proposed Lake Erie-Ohio River Waterway by the Army Engineers in Pittsburgh will be issued in a few weeks, says Kenneth Lloyd, secretary of the Mahoning Valley Industrial Council.

More than 800 Jehovah’s Witnesses from 18 area congregations attend the opening program of a three-day circuit convention at the Salem Senior High School auditorium.

Frank Husic, a senior majoring in engineering at Youngstown University, is elected president of the YU Newman Club.

1939: Dr. Ralph Sockman, pastor of Christ Church, New York City, urges pursuit of a higher quality of living to 1,122 workers at the kick off of Youngstown’s $225,000 Community Chest Drive at the YMCA.

Marion June Long, a 12-year-old girl who has been a patient in South Side Hospital for several months, wins a miniature pinscher puppy by writing an essay, “Why I Would Like to Own a Thoroughbred Puppy” in The Vindicator and Mahoning-Shenango Kennel Club’s contest. She is looking forward to being released from the hospital and says “Teddy” will be her pal on the walks she must take daily.