YEARS AGO FOR MARCH 8

Today is Wednesday, March 8, the 67th day of 2017. There are 298 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1817: The New York Stock & Exchange Board, which had its beginnings in 1792, is formally organized; it later would become known as the New York Stock Exchange.

1917: Russia’s “February Revolution” begins in Petrograd; the result is the the abdication of the Russian monarchy in favor of a provisional government that was overthrown later the same year by the Bolsheviks.

1930: The 27th president of the United States, William Howard Taft, dies in Washington at age 72.

1965: The United States lands its first combat troops in South Vietnam as 3,500 Marines arrive to defend the U.S. air base at Da Nang.

1983: In a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals convention in Orlando, Fla., President Ronald Reagan refers to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.”

2014: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, vanishes during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, setting off a massive search. (To date, the fate of the jetliner and its occupants has yet to be determined.)

VINDICATOR FILES

1992: Sno-Top Mushroom Farm in Lawrence County, Pa., has 40 employees producing 1.25 million pounds of mushrooms a year on 13 underground acres.

Trumbull County 911 Technical Advisory Committee is planning to implement a 911 service by July 1993, but some Trumbull County police departments and their employees are opposed to centralized dispatching.

Youngstown State University’s Lady Penguins end the season with a 19-9 record, defeating Marshall 65-57 in the final game of the season. Seniors Donna Wertz, Jeanna Rex and Dianne Rappach are honored before the game.

1977: Volkswagen’s New Stanton, Pa., plant, which will begin assembling Rabbits in 1978, may buy Youngstown district steel, giving the district industry a boost.

The Ohio Public Interest Campaign launches a drive to bring public pressure to bear on GF Business Equipment Inc. to keep its facilities in the Mahoning Valley.

The Hi-Y, Tri-Hi-Y Civics Day gets underway at Youngstown City Hall with William Price of Ursuline serving as mayor.

1967: A retired Lowellville businessman, George Schraum, 81, is killed when he is struck by a westbound Pittsburgh & Lake Erie freight train at the Second Street crossing in Lowellville.

Youngstown University sophomore Sandra Bair is crowned Miss Youngstown of 1967 and will compete for the Miss Ohio crown in Lima on April 22.

Marine First Lt. William A. Berry, 25, is killed while flying as an aerial observer over Quang Tri province, Vietnam.

1942: Bandleader Ben Bernie opens Youngstown’s third annual Home Show to a capacity crowd of nearly 3,500 at Stambaugh Auditorium.

Trumbull County commissioners will buy 160 voting machines, which they say will allow the budget of the Board of Elections to be reduced from $57,000 to $42,000 a year.

Youngstown area women who volunteer for civilian-defense work at learning what they need to know, including how to wear the all-important gas mask. One volunteer, Gertrude Greer, models a mask for a Vindicator photographer.

The St. Louis Browns drop their Youngstown team from the Middle Atlantic League, citing a shortage of players. The New York Yankees decline an offer to pick up the Youngstown franchise.