YEARS AGO FOR APRIL 24

Today is Wednesday, April 24, the 114th day of 2019. There are 251 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1800: Congress approves a bill establishing the Library of Congress.

1916: Some 1,600 Irish nationalists launch the Easter Rising by seizing several key sites in Dublin.

1967: Soviet Soyuz I cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov becomes the first human spaceflight fatality after his parachutes fail to deploy properly during re-entry.

1980: The United States launches an unsuccessful attempt to free the American hostages in Iran, a mission that results in the deaths of eight U.S. servicemen.

1995: The final bomb linked to the Unabomber explodes inside the Sacramento, Calif., offices of a lobbying group for the wood-products industry, killing chief lobbyist Gilbert B. Murray.

2003: U.S. forces in Iraq take custody of Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi deputy prime minister.

2005: Pope Benedict XVI formally begins his stewardship of the Roman Catholic Church; the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said in his installation homily that as pontiff he would listen to the will of God in governing the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics.

2013: In Bangladesh, a shoddily constructed eight-story commercial building housing garment factories collapses, killing more than 1,100 people.

VINDICATOR FILES

1994: Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman Don L. Hanni Jr. says he “believes in machine style politics ... and to the victor belong the spoils.” His challenger for the chairmanship, Michael Morley, says, “If Hanni wins, the Democratic Party will continue to do nothing for our community.”

Warren Treasurer Patricia Leon-Games refuses to allow into her office an inspector hired by the city to investigate whether some residents are not paying income taxes or garbage collection fees. Leon-Games says she needs two or three more employees in her department to do the work in-house.

In an interview at Hocking Correctional Facility, former Columbiana County Treasurer Ardel Strabala says he expected probation, not a prison term, for his role in the loss of $10 million in county funds through high-risk investments made by his son.

1979: The RMI Co. will spend in excess of $2 million to expand its Niles plant to accommodate increased titanium sponge capacity at the company’s Ashtabula plant.

Dr. Shaffiq Ahmed, professor of chemical engineering and materials science at Youngstown State University, wins the American Society of Engineering’s Education Award for excellence in teaching electrical engineering and is invited to present a paper at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during an international conference.

Cristmon Bakery, under the management of Bill George, opens a second retail outlet at 140 W. Federal Street. The bakery, in operation for 62 years on Oak Hill Avenue, was famous for its fried pies.

1969: Atty. Elton W. Luckhart, chairman of the Mahoning County Republican party, declares the GOP fully endorses the 12-mill Youngstown schools operating levy.

The Ohio Supreme Court refuses for the fourth time to reconsider the suspension from the practice of law former Youngstown Mayor Frank Franko. His license was suspended in 1958 for violating legal ethics.

The Mahoning County Coroner’s Office says a body found in McKelvey Lake is identified as Garfield Harmon, 19, of Prospect Street.

1944: Youngstown City Council authorizes the Board of Control to negotiate the purchase of Ohio Water Service Co. properties in the city. The company supplies the steel industry with about 18 million gallons of water a day.

“Skylight burglars” who have been looting taverns and liquor stores in recent weeks, break into the Struthers state liquor store and truck away 127 cases of whiskey valued at $4,500.