Today is Saturday, Sept. 8, the 251st day of 2018. There are 114 days left in the year.

Today is Saturday, Sept. 8, the 251st day of 2018. There are 114 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1504: Michelangelo’s towering marble statue of David is unveiled to the public in Florence, Italy.

1565: A Spanish expedition establishes the first permanent European settlement in North America at present-day St. Augustine, Fla.

1664: The Dutch surrender New Amsterdam to the British, who rename it New York.

1892: An early version of “The Pledge of Allegiance,” written by Francis Bellamy, appears in “The Youth’s Companion.” Its words: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

1900: Galveston, Texas, is struck by a hurricane that kills an estimated 8,000 people.

1974: President Gerald R. Ford grants a “full, free, and absolute pardon” to former President Richard Nixon covering his entire term in office.

1985: Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds ties Ty Cobb’s career record for hits.

1994: USAir Flight 427, a Boeing 737, crashes into a ravine as it approaches Pittsburgh International Airport, killing all 132 people on board.

VINDICATOR FILES

1993: As Youngstown city school teachers strike on the first day of school, buses are running, but few students and even fewer substitute teachers show up for classes.

Warren City Council’s finance committee will meet with members of the W.D. Packard Park board to discuss ways of reducing deficits so the Packard Music Hall can be saved.

Margaret, a bloodhound trained by Ray Messina of the Pymatuning [Pa.] Township police department is fatally wounded during a night-time pursuit of a murder suspect in woods near Beaver, Pa. There will be no funeral; her remains will be disposed of by a Beaver veterinarian who tried to save her.

The Ohio General Assembly’s Nursing Home Commission makes unannounced visits to four Youngstown nursing homes and has a hearing at the Child and Adult Mental Health Center.

1968: Pfc. Fred P . Rugh Jr., East Judson Avenue, Youngstown, is reported killed in action while fighting with the 9th Infantry Division in the Mekong Delta. He had been in Vietnam since mid-July.

Diocesan schools in Youngstown, Campbell, Struthers and the rest of Mahoning County see a drop of 453 students in the first week of school.

Actor Joe Flynn, a Rayen School graduate who stars as Capt. Binghamton in “McHale’s Navy” on TV, will return to Youngstown to kick off the United Appeal campaign.

1943: Special prosecutor Simon Leis, in charge of the state investigation into corruption and vice in Youngstown will apply to the state for funds to complete a crackdown on area gamblers and bug men.

Gen. Dwight Eisenhower announces that Italy surrendered unconditionally five days after the British 8th Army stormed across the Messina Strait from Sicily.

Two thousand first-grade students will be given tuberculin tests and 1,500 10th-grade students will be given chest X-rays under a program approved by the Youngstown Board of Education.