YEARS AGO FOR APRIL 8

Today is Monday, April 8, the 98th day of 2019. There are 267 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1864: The United States Senate passes, 38-6, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery.

1911: An explosion at the Banner Coal Mine in Littleton, Ala., claims the lives of 128 men, most of them convicts loaned out from prisons.

1913: The 17th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for popular election of U.S. senators (as opposed to appointment by state legislatures), is ratified.

1952:President Harry S. Truman seizes the American steel industry to avert a nationwide strike. (The Supreme Court later ruled that Truman had overstepped his authority, opening the way for a seven-week strike by steelworkers.)

1974: Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th career home run in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, breaking Babe Ruth’s record.

2013: President Barack Obama warns Congress not to use delaying tactics against tighter gun regulations and tells families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims during a visit to Hartford, Conn., that he is “determined as ever” to honor their children with tougher laws.

VINDICATOR FILES

1994: Dennis Zitello, a 16-year-old weightlifter, sees a 1976 Cadillac slip off a jack and trap James Rodgers’ foot beneath the car in a Niles driveway. Zitello grabs the bumper and lifts the car enough to allow another man to slip a jack under the car and free Rodgers.

Bazetta Township officials, who are barred by state law from enacting curfews, ask Trumbull County Commissioners to adopt one that could be enforced by any township in the county.

A Youngstown teenager, Dwayne L. Ewing, 18, is gunned down at Belmont and Catalina avenues becoming Youngstown’s 19th homicide of the year.

1979: The Boardman High School Marching Band, 260 strong, marches down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., in the Cherry Blossom Parade. The Spartans were the only Ohio band invited to the annual event.

Joseph Albanese, executive director of the Western Reserve Transit Authority, says recent federal legislation offers renewed hope for a proposed Downtown Transportation Center.

Winners in office-skills competition among 200 students at the Skillarama at Youngstown State University are: Kathy Beatrice, shorthand theory; Paula Young, shorthand dictation; Nancy Hegedusich, word power; John Kern, bookkeeping; Bob Sizer, advanced bookkeeping; Bonnie Sines, business math; Vicki Ramunno, typewriter speed, and Chris Wacht, typewriter production.

1969: Garnet Howard, operator of G.F. Howard Constructing Co., and his wife were overpowered, tied to a bedpost and robbed by four masked bandits who smashed through the door of their Canfield Township home.

The proposed Grand Reservoir in Ashtabula County is described as “the most comprehensive, multipurpose regional water development ever proposed for Ohio” during a public hearing conducted by the Army Engineers at Packard Music Hall in Warren.

Alfred Pincione, Niles tavern owner and a candidate for councilman-at-large, pleads not guilty to a charge of receiving stolen property from the Gentry Men’s Store. Eleven suits, a sports jacket and a raincoat were found in the tavern’s basement.

1944: A few hundred German prisoners of war have been brought to Camp Reynolds near Sharon, Pa., to do work that will release American soldiers for other duty.

Frank McLemore, 42, dies in St. Elizabeth Hospital after he was hit by a car and dragged 50 feet at Westlake Crossing. Police say the driver, who is in custody, was speeding.

The Cold Metal Products Co. starts converting to peacetime manufacturing as war contracts dwindle.