Today is Monday, Oct. 8, the 281st day of 2018. There are 84 days left in the year. Today is

Today is Monday, Oct. 8, the 281st day of 2018. There are 84 days left in the year. Today is Columbus Day in the U.S. and Thanksgiving in Canada.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1871: The Great Chicago Fire erupts.

1918: U.S. Army Cpl. Alvin C. York leads an attack that kills 25 German soldiers and results in the capture of 132 others in the Argonne Forest in France.

1956: Don Larsen pitches the only perfect game in a World Series to date as the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5, 2-0.

1981: At the White House, President Reagan greets former Presidents Carter, Ford and Nixon, who are preparing to travel to Egypt for the funeral of Anwar Sadat.

1998: The House triggers an open-ended impeachment inquiry against President Bill Clinton in a momentous 258-176 vote; 31 Democrats joined majority Republicans in opening the way for nationally televised impeachment hearings.

2001: The U.S. pounds terrorist targets in Afghanistan from the air for a second night.

2005: A magnitude 7.6 earthquake flattens villages on the Pakistan-India border, killing an estimated 86,000 people.

2008: The Dow Jones industrial average loses another 189 points to close at 9,258 – the sixth straight day of losses for the Dow.

VINDICATOR FILES

1993: Antonio C. Alvarez, CEO of Phar-Mor Inc., says the company is trying to sell its unfinished store in the Shops at Boardman Park, but he is unlikely to sell to Wal-Mart or any other company that would compete against Phar-Mor’s existing store in the Tiffany Plaza.

State Reps. Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown and Ronald Gerberry of Austintown are working on legislation that would change the way members of metropolitan park boards such as the Mill Creek board are named. Instead of three members being appointed by the probate court, six members would be nominated by various elected officials and chosen by a three-member board.

Forty percent of the $50,000 salary of John Senzarin, president of the Youngstown Education Association, will be paid under a new contract agreed to by the YEA and the Youngstown Board of Education. Atty. Marc Dann says a client has asked him to investigate whether it is legal for a union president to be paid with tax dollars.

1978: The first-half Vindicator straw poll shows that if the election were today, Republican challenger Lyle Williams would defeat Democrat Charles Carney with 55 percent of the vote in the 19th Congressional District.

Hillside Hospital asks Trumbull County commissioners to increase funding for the county-owned rehabilitation hospital or it could lose its accreditation.

1968: A horseman on a white charger releases some 300 helium-filled balloons and the Ursuline and Salvation Army bands provide excitement for opening-day ceremonies of the Youngstown Area United Appeal’s $1.8 million campaign in front of the Hotel Ohio.

Thirty-eight of 71 Youngstown men who took a civil-service exam for the police department attained passing grades. Of the original 123 applicants, 35 failed the medical exam, and 17 didn’t show up for the test.

George Shehy, a 79-year-old retiree, is in fair condition in South Side Hospital, recovering from a 37-hour ordeal in which he was bound and gagged by two robbers and tied to his bed at his home over the weekend.

1943: Sgt. Nelson J. Huston, 33, of Warren is reported killed in action in the European Area. He was a letter carrier before joining the air corps in June 1942.

A young couple, William Morrell and Janice Graham, wanted for questioning in the murders of three people near Mercer, Pa., apparently wrecked their car a short time later and may have stolen another car at Sandy Lake.