YEARS AGO FOR MAY 4

Today is Thursday, May 4, the 124th day of 2017. There are 241 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1776: Rhode Island declares its freedom from England, two months before the Declaration of Independence is adopted.

1932: Mobster Al Capone, convicted of income-tax evasion, enters the federal penitentiary in Atlanta.

1942: The Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval clash fought entirely with carrier aircraft, begins in the Pacific during World War II.

1959: The first Grammy Awards ceremony takes place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Domenico Modugno wins Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu [Volare].”

1961: The first group of “Freedom Riders” leaves Washington, D.C., to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses.

1970: Ohio National Guardsmen open fire during an anti-war demonstration at Kent State University, killing four students, including a Boardman woman, and wounding nine others.

2016: The last man standing in Donald Trump’s path to the Republican nomination, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, ends his campaign, making Trump the party’s presumptive nominee.

VINDICATOR FILES

1992: Gunfire in Youngstown leaves two dead and three injured, bringing the city’s homicide death toll for the year so far to 17. Dead are Donald Wilson, 46, of Youngstown and Vernon P. Brown, 37, of Columbus.

The Western Reserve Transit Authority wants to institute new routes that would provide direct service from Youngstown to Liberty Plaza and Southern Park Mall.

Youngstown City Schools receive a $100,000 state grant to improve programs for gifted students.

1977: Burglars cut a hole in a safe at South High School and fish out a bag containing $500, proceeds from a student play at the school.

Kent State University has public and private ceremonies remembering the four students killed by Ohio National Guardsmen on May 4, 1970. Killed were Sandy Scheuer of Boardman, Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller and William Schroeder.

John Vakasy, 26, who may have entered a neighbor’s home on North Truesdale Avenue by mistake, is fatally wounded after the owner of the home, William Liberato, fires a shot through the bathroom door.

1967: Grateful students at Princeton Junior High shine the shoes of teachers and wash their cars as part of Teacher Appreciation Week.

A 41-year-old Coitsville Township woman is arrested on charges of making 1,200 harassing phone calls to her estranged husband over a year.

The Salem Parks and Recreation Department and the Memorial Building management announce the hiring of Roy Swartz to be assistant superintendent of the building and parks and recreation.

Youngstown Cartage Co. is honored for “significant improvement in highway safety performance” by the Steel Carriers Conference of the American Trucking Association.

1942: Police Chief John Turnbull re-creates the city’s special vice squad with new personnel and names Traffic Commissioner Clarence Coppersmith its chief. The four members of the squad are Kenneth Risher, Frank Brogley, John McLaughlin and Joseph Lepo.

Donald Reagan, an Ursuline graduate who is a freshman at Fordham University, will appear on Fred Allen’s “Star Theater” radio program after being chosen Fordham’s most musically talented undergraduate.

Ray Davis, former Hubbard golfer, at Mill Creek wins the open sweepstakes with a 76.

Many theatergoers at the new Schenley Theater on Mahoning Avenue on the West Side are interviewed by WFMJ at the opening ceremonies. (The movie theater closed in 1967.)