YEARS AGO FOR AUG. 24

Today is Saturday, Aug. 24, the 236th day of 2019. There are 129 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

A.D. 79: Long-dormant Mount Vesuvius erupts, burying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in volcanic ash; an estimated 20,000 people die.

1814: During the War of 1812, British forces invade Washington, D.C., setting fire to the Capitol (which was still under construction) and the White House, as well as other public buildings.

1932: Amelia Earhart embarks on a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., making her the first woman to fly solo, nonstop, from coast to coast.

1948: The North Atlantic Treaty takes effect.

1954: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Communist Control Act, outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.

1981: Mark David Chapman is sentenced in New York to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon. (Chapman remains imprisoned.)

2003: The Justice Department reports the U.S. crime rate in 2002 was the lowest since studies began in 1973.

2006: The International Astronomical Union declares that Pluto is no longer a full-fledged planet, demoting it to the status of a “dwarf planet.”

2018: The family of Arizona Sen. John McCain announces that he has discontinued medical treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer; McCain would die the following day.

VINDICATOR FILES

1994: Michael Iberis, executive director of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, says cost-cutting efforts over the past year will more than cover the cost of 2 percent pay raises given to 10 MVSD salaried employees.

Youngstown police say several rapes on the city’s South Side were preceded by calls to the women from a man posing as a radio station telemarketer who asked if there was a man in the house.

A contingent of politicians and representatives of the business community will lobby Ohio officials for as much as $3.5 million in grant money to help pay for a stadium to lure a minor league baseball team to Youngstown.

1979: Fifty-one candidates file to run in November for board of education seats in 12 Columbiana County school districts. Sixty-seven candidates file in 15 Mahoning County districts.

Eight candidates file to run for the board of education in the Warren City School District, including three anti-busing candidates: Willard T. Rubin, Mary M. Milheim and Raymond J. Tesner.

Sohio increases gasoline prices by 4 cents a gallon, bringing the cost at the pump to 90.9 cents for self-serve regular, 94.9 cents for unleaded and 97.9 cents for premium. Full-service prices are two cents higher across the board.

1969: The Mahoning Valley Vocational School at the Youngstown Air Base, which has trained more than 2,000 disadvantaged youths since 1964, will close its doors for lack of funds. The federal government is directing money into city job training programs.

Enrollment in Youngstown public schools is expected to drop by 900 students this school year, while parochial and suburban district enrollment is expected to increase by 1,400.

Edith H. Ritchie of Austintown will be the first woman installed in the Youngstown Barbers Union Local 84.

1944: The Mahoning County Board of Elections will send a ballot to any serviceman if a family member appears at the office in the Realty Building and fills out an application, which will be notarized for free.

Robert D. Grandmontagne, son of former Youngstown College astronomy teacher Leo Grandmontagne, is promoted to lieutenant colonel. He is director of training for B-24 Liberator crews at a base in Northern Ireland.

“Wing and a Prayer” showing at the Warner Theater is a swiftly moving adventure drama in the mold of some of the best war movies, writes Jane Lamb of The Vindicator staff.