YEARS AGO FOR DEC. 5

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 5, the 339th day of 2018. There are 26 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1776: The first scholastic fraternity in America, Phi Beta Kappa, is organized at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

1791: Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart dies in Vienna, Austria, at 35.

1848: President James K. Polk triggers the Gold Rush of ’49 by confirming that gold had been discovered in California.

1901: Movie producer Walt Disney is born in Chicago.

1988: A federal grand jury in North Carolina indicts PTL founder Jim Bakker and former aide Richard Dortch on fraud and conspiracy charges.

1994: Republicans choose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades.

2008: The Labor Department reports that an alarming half-million jobs have vanished in the past month as unemployment hits a 15-year high of 6.7 percent.

2013: Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa’s first black president, dies at age 95.

VINDICATOR FILES

1993: Nineteen fire departments respond to an explosion and fire at Neomet Corp., 4 miles south of New Castle, Pa. The factory stored highly flammable magnesium used to make flares.

Daniel D. Brown of New Waterford is one of a growing number of Desert Storm veterans who say their undiagnosed health problems are attributable to chemical exposure or inoculations given to soldiers assigned to Saudi Arabia.

The Youngstown State University Penguins dominate Georgia Southern in a 34-14 victory in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I-AA quarterfinals.

1978: The Ohio Division of Reclamation will investigate the recent problems of wells going dry and water supply changes for residents in Northwest New Middletown Village. Residents suspect nearby mining operations.

Stockholders meeting in Dallas approve the merger of LTV and Lykes Corp., the parents of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. and Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.

A coordinated home health care system ought to be among the top priorities in the 1979 Health Systems Plan for Eastern Ohio, says John Gillespie, a partner in Patient Care Inc. He estimates that 10 to 25 percent of the area’s hospitalized patients could be cared for at home or through hospice care.

1968: The Lordstown General Motors plant is given a strike notice by UAW Local 1112, which says it will pull workers off jobs if overwork grievances are not settled.

Alert action by employees of an area pharmacy helped police net four known drug offenders, including one sought since his escape from Woodside Receiving Hospital.

Second Ward Councilman Herman Starks declares the relocation of many families in wide sections of the city because of various public works programs would make it unwise to reapportion Youngstown’s seven wards at this time.

1943: First Lt. Fred W. Edwards of Youngstown is awarded the first bronze oak leaf cluster to the Air Medal for meritorious achievement while taking part in antisubmarine patrol flights.

Tech. Sgt. Robert Newcomb, 35, and Staff Sgt. Rudolph Kubish, 25, two Warren men serving on the same bomber, are reported killed in action in England.

Youngstown’s All-City Scholastic Football Team for 1943: Marty Joyce, Don Zangara, Bill Halter, Ernie Szalma, Robert Remedio, Henry Schaffer, Bill Leonard, Henry Beckenbach, John Siciliano, Frank Davanzo and Howard Friend.