Years Ago

Today is Saturday, April 26, the 116th day of 2014. There are 249 days left in the year.

Associated Press

On this date in:

1564: William Shakespeare is baptized at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.

1865: John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, is surrounded by federal troops near Port Royal, Va., and killed.

1937: German and Italian warplanes raid the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War; estimates of the number of people killed vary from the hundreds to the thousands.

1984: Bandleader Count Basie, 79, dies in Hollywood, Fla.

1986: A major nuclear accident occurs at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union).

1989: Actress-comedian Lucille Ball dies at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at age 77.

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: William Eadington, a professor of economics at the University of Nevada-Reno and a nationally recognized expert on gambling, tells an Ohio Senate committee that a proposal for a casino in Lorain is nearly ideal, but he would be reluctant to endorse a casino in Youngstown because of the area’s past ties to organized crime.

Youngstown mayoral candidate Michael Crogan calls for a federal grand jury investigation into Youngstown’s economic development loan program, which is financed with federal funds.

Four area high school seniors are among 1,800 winners of National Merit Scholarships: Jeremy R. Henry of Canfield High School, Anthony P. Morocco of Poland Seminary High School, Saleem Ahmed of Howland High School and Jennifer Haytock of Meadville Area Senior High School.

1974: Warren police are questioning a 15-year-old Aris Street Northwest boy in the accidental shooting death of Allan S. Jenkins, 15, a student at Western Reserve High School.

Officials of the Mahoning Valley Council, Boy Scouts of America, break ground for a new council headquarters on Lee Harps Road, adjacent to the Sheraton Inn-Youngstown West.

The Rev. Francis Snock, pastor of St. Joseph Church in Mantua, is named pastor of St. Matthias Church, Youngstown.

1964: About 5,000 people, some of them described as “cheaters” and others as hardship cases, will be dropped from the Lawrence County surplus food rolls.

The Rev. Jay R. Bishop, pastor of Niles First United Presbyterian Church, will preside at the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the church’s founding.

Sharp cuts in downtown Youngstown mail and parcel post service are coming, James H. Rademacher, vice president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, reveals.

1939: Three reputed members of the Youngstown “Big House” lottery, George and Sam Rigas and Louis Metro, tell Police Chief Carl Olson that they’re “through forever” with the syndicate.

A bomb damages the rear porch of the Penn-Ohio Tavern on Youngstown Road, Brookfield Township. The tavern was the site of a fatal shooting a year ago and the recent beating of Francis Ferrick, who is in Buhl Hospital with a fractured skull.

The Ohio Water Service Co. applies with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio for an increase that would nearly double what Struthers residents pay for water and would increase the charge to the city for each of its 160 fire hydrants from $35 a year to $100.