Today is Sunday, Oct. 21, the 294th day of 2018. There are 71 days left in the year.

Today is Sunday, Oct. 21, the 294th day of 2018. There are 71 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1797: The U.S. Navy frigate Constitution, also known as “Old Ironsides,” is christened in Boston’s harbor.

1879: Thomas Edison perfects a workable electric light at his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J.

1892: Schoolchildren in the United States observe Columbus Day by reciting, for the first time, the original version of “The Pledge of Allegiance,” written by Francis Bellamy.

1917: Members of the 1st Division of the U.S. Army training in Luneville, France, become the first Americans to see action on the front lines of World War I.

1941: Superheroine Wonder Woman made her debut in All-Star Comics.

1962: The Seattle World’s Fair closes after six months and nearly 10 million visitors.

1967: The Israeli destroyer INS Eilat is sunk by Egyptian missile boats near Port Said; 47 Israeli crew members are lost.

Tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters begin two days of demonstrations in Washington, D.C.

1971: President Richard Nixon nominates Lewis F. Powell and William H. Rehnquist to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Both were confirmed.)

1996: President Bill Clinton’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military survives its first Supreme Court test.

2001: Washington, D.C., postal worker Thomas L. Morris Jr. dies of inhalation of anthrax as officials begin testing thousands of postal employees.

2008: Dozens of members of the Mongol motorcycle gang are arrested by federal agents in six states on a variety of charges after a three-year investigation in which undercover agents infiltrated the group.

2013: A seventh-grader at Sparks Middle School in Sparks, Nev., shoots and kills a teacher and wounds two before taking his own life.

2017: The five living former presidents appear together for the first time since 2013 at a concert in Texas to raise money for victims of devastating hurricanes.

VINDICATOR FILES

1993: Austintown and Weathersfield police arrest three 17-year-old Austintown youths in the beating death of a 72-year-old Austintown businesswoman, Rose Bertolini, during a burglary at her home, 110 S. Beverly Ave.

A $2.8 million expansion of Youngstown’s main public library on Wick Avenue will begin with construction of a 23,000-square-foot addition, says Theresa A. Trucksis, library director.

Deputy Finance Director David Bozanich’s refusal to move into the city is compelling Youngstown Mayor Patrick Ungaro to start a job search for a new finance director.

1978: St. Francis Hospital in New Castle, Pa., will build a new hospital and a 100-unit housing complex for the elderly and will convert the present 70-year-old hospital into a nursing home. The cost is estimated at $13 million.

During the dedication of the west extension of Federal Plaza, U.S. Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, says the project is the latest proof that “Youngstown is alive and well and kicking.

Youngstown State University holds its Alumni Dinner at the Youngstown Country Club. Among the 300 people attending was Dr. David H. Levy, who graduated in 1929 as one of the first 100 students to receive a diploma.

1968: The Mahoning County Democratic Central Committee will choose a successor for John L. Palermo, 68, a commissioner for almost 12 years, who died of Hodgkin’s disease.

Lester Livingston, 76, former Youngstown merchant, dies at his home in Honolulu following a heart attack. From boyhood, Livingston was in the women’s wear business in Youngstown.

Two thugs invade the Liberty Township home of Dr. H.F. Mathay, bind and gag the physician and his wife, and make off with money, old coins and jewelry.

1943: Temple Anshe Emeth purchases $50,325 in war bonds in memory of Lt. Albert Feigelson of 2023 Elm St., a navigator on a Flying Fortress, who was killed in action in the European Theater.

“Frank Budak is the real mayor of Campbell and Andrew Hamrock only a puppet,” Joseph Julius, former mayor of Campbell, said as he announced his withdrawal in favor of T. Roy Gordon, Republican nominee for mayor of that city.

The 11th infantile paralysis patient to be admitted to South Side Hospital since the outbreak began is 16-year-old Donald DeJane of Salem.