YEARS AGO FOR APRIL 17

Today is Wednesday, April 17, the 107th day of 2019. There are 258 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1492: A contract is signed by Christopher Columbus and a representative of Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, giving Columbus a commission to seek a westward ocean passage to Asia.

1521: Martin Luther goes before the Diet of Worms to face charges stemming from his religious writings. (Luther was later declared an outlaw by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.)

1861: The Virginia State Convention votes to secede from the Union.

1924: The motion picture studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is founded.

1961: Some 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launch the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in an attempt to topple Fidel Castro, whose forces would crush the incursion by the third day.

1969: A jury in Los Angeles convicts Sirhan Sirhan of assassinating Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

1972: The Boston Marathon allows women to compete for the first time; Nina Kuscsik is the first officially recognized women’s champion, with a time of 3:10:26.

2018: Barbara Bush, who was both a first lady and the mother of a president, dies in Houston at the age of 92.

VINDICATOR FILES

1994: Investigators say a private plane headed toward the Salem Airpark began breaking up in the air over the distance of a mile. Bryan and Lisa Jiggens and their son, Caleb, 4, of Michigan die in the crash.

Mahoning County commissioners are considering stripping funds from the Mahoning County convention and visitors bureau and turning it over to the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Bob Miller Jr., 12, is a seventh-grade student at Newton Falls Junior High where he plays trumpet in the school band, takes the same classes as every other student and runs on the track team. He is also a blind student who says he just wants to have a normal life.

1979: Girard Mayor Nick “Tiny” D’Eramo refuses to give the Unification Church permission to solicit in the city, despite a recent federal court order protecting the church’s right to solicit in Niles.

The Ohio Senate passes legislation raising the upper income eligibility for homestead exemptions granted to the disabled and senior citizens from $10,000 to $15,000 a year.

Ken Archer of Akron completes the 26-mile Boston Marathon in a wheelchair in 2 hours, 38 minutes and 59 seconds, a half- hour off the pace set by the fastest male runner, but first among 20 wheelchair competitors.

1969: Ground is broken for a huge interchange to connect Interstate 680 with relocated Route 7 at Martin Avenue and Kyle Street. An unexpected guest is a German shepherd puppy rescued from a manhole by Frank S. Green of A.P. O’Horo Co. who investigated a whimpering sound and found the dog trapped with a coat hanger wrapped around its neck.

Frank W. Knecht Jr., general manager of Sharon Steel Corp.’s Brainard Strapping Division in Warren, is promoted to assistant to Sharon Steel President George Perrault Jr.

Substitute Senate Bill 138, co-sponsored by state Sen. Charles Carney is designed to protect shareholders of Ohio-based corporations from indiscriminate takeovers.

1944: The eighth annual Mahoning-Shenango Kennel Club show draws 1,500 to Stambaugh Auditorium. A perky Wire Fox Terrier, Hetherington Model Rhythm, wins best of show.

Organization of a second rifle company of the Ohio State Guard in Youngstown consisting of three officers and 60 enlisted men has been authorized by Brig. Gen Donald Pascoast. Recruiting will begin immediately.

Burglars steal 21 cases of liquor valued at $1,000 and a 400-pound empty safe from the Commodore Grill on North Champion Street. They gained entrance through a skylight.