YEARS AGO FOR NOV. 13

Today is Monday, Nov. 13, the 317th day of 2017. There are 48 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

1789: Benjamin Franklin writes in a letter to a friend, Jean-Baptiste Leroy: “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

1849: Voters in California ratify the state’s original constitution.

1937: The NBC Symphony Orchestra, formed exclusively for radio broadcasting, makes its debut.

1942: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a measure lowering the minimum draft age from 21 to 18.

1969: Speaking in Des Moines, Iowa, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew accuses network television news departments of bias and distortion and urges viewers to lodge complaints.

1974: Karen Silkwood, a 28-year-old technician and union activist at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron plutonium plant near Crescent, Okla., dies in a car crash while on her way to meet a reporter.

2015: Islamic State militants carry out a set of coordinated attacks in Paris on the national stadium, restaurants, streets and a crowded concert hall, killing 130 people in the worst attack on French soil since World War II.

VINDICATOR FILES

1992: Jack Smith, General Motors new chief executive, says $2 billion in cost cutting will bring the company into the black in 1993. GM lost about $3 billion before taxes in the first nine months of 1992.

Ohio Gov. George Voinovich may ask voters to approve a 1-cent increase in the state sales tax, to 6 percent, in order to provide $800 million a year for education.

Youngstown State University President Leslie Cochran has a 30-member committee – 17 from YSU and 13 from the community – to develop ways to improve the campus and the surrounding neighborhoods.

1977: Night robberies are plaguing Warren, with 42 reported in August, September and October, at bars, motels, gas stations and, most often, convenience stores.

More than 1,100 runners participate in the 25-kilometer Peace Race that began at Vindicator Square and proceeded through Mill Creek Park and back to Federal Plaza. Bill Rodgers of Boston, Mass., crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 17 minutes and 37 seconds. Austintown’s Allan Scharsu was 5 minutes, 42 seconds off the winning time.

Ronald A. Marian is named executive director of the Mahoning County Mental Health and Retardation Board, succeeding Dr. Joseph Edwards.

1967: Two leaders of Youngstown’s black community – Ron Daniels and Ron Pittman – present opposing viewpoints on the “Black Power” movement during a debate at St. John’s Episcopal Church.

Four hundred daffodil bulbs are planted at Buhl farm, Sharon, by Sharon women’s clubs.

The Westinghouse Electric Crop. announces that it has agreed to acquire Aeroquip Corp., which owns the Republic Rubber Division in Youngstown, in a stock swap.

1942: Atty. Dominic Rendinell, who is defending Albino Ruocchio against first-degree murder charges in the shooting of tavern owner Frank Canonico, tells Judge David G. Jenkins, “In the 32 years I have been practicing, I have never been abused as I have been by this court.”

Thousands of tons of iron and steel production is lost when an electric power failure and two explosions temporarily knock out the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corp’s Ohio Works.

The War Production Board limits the production of umbrellas to 30 percent of 1941 levels and restricts size, shape and weight.