YEARS AGO FOR MARCH 19

Today is Tuesday, March 19, the 78th day of 2019. There are 287 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1918: Congress passes the first law establishing daylight saving time in the United States, with clocks to be moved forward one hour from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. (This law was repealed in August 1919.)

1931: Nevada Gov. Fred B. Balzar signs a measure legalizing casino gambling.

1945: During World War II, 724 people are killed when a Japanese dive bomber attacks the carrier USS Franklin off Japan (the ship was saved). Also, Adolf Hitler orders the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands in his so-called “Nero Decree,” which goes largely disregarded.

1953: The Academy Awards ceremony is televised for the first time; “The Greatest Show on Earth” wins best picture of 1952.

1979: The U.S. House of Representatives begins televising its floor proceedings; the live feed is carried by C-SPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network), which is making its debut.

1987: Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as chairman of his PTL ministry organization amid a sex and money scandal.

2003: President George W. Bush orders the start of war against Iraq.

2013: Pope Francis officially begins his ministry as the 266th pope.

2018: President Donald Trump calls for stiffer penalties for drug traffickers, including the death penalty.

VINDICATOR FILES

1994: The Mahoning County Jail Building Commission sets aside the final three contracts on the Mahoning County Justice Center totaling $1.2 million for minority contractors.

Warden James Schotten of the Trumbull Correctional Institution and officials from Trumbull and Mahoning counties announce a program called “Choices” that will bring about 12 troubled youths to the prison in three sessions to meet with inmates. These will not be confrontational “scared straight”-type sessions, which Schotten says haven’t been shown to work.

Billy Lucarell of Girard, a Tod Woods School sixth-grader, is the 61st annual Vindicator Regional Spelling Bee winner.

1979: Joseph Dohar, a Cardinal Mooney High School senior, wins the original oratory championship in the Ohio High School Speech League tournament at Dayton, bringing the school its fourth state title in individual events in four years.

Crews from Jenkins Sign Co. use a helicopter to lift 8-foot letters spelling “Mahoning Bank” atop the 13-story Mahoning National Bank building.

The Packard Electric Division of General Motors Corp. exercises its option to purchase a 10-year-old former concrete pipe plant near Ravenna.

1969: Chrysler Corp. purchases a 5.5-acre site at the entrance to the Karago Industrial Park on Route 7 south of Route 224 in Boardman.

Plans for a 300-unit apartment complex to be completed in 1972 at a cost of $4.2 million are announced by Morris Simon and Oljaca. The development will be on 44 acres of land near Liberty Memorial Park in Girard.

Legislation pending in Washington, D.C., aimed at halting or slowing the flood of industrial mergers, including that of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. and Lykes Corp., draws fire from U.S. Sen. Russell Long, D-La.

1944: Fire destroys the seven-room, part-stone home of Howard W. Clay on Canfield Road at a loss of $8,000. Two-year-old Curtis Clay II alerted the family when he became fussy from inhaling smoke.

Two Youngstown district airmen are reported missing in action over Germany: 1st Lt. Francis J. Witt Jr., 23, pilot of a Flying Fortress, and S/Sgt. George Seagraves, 20, radio operator on a Fortress.

Dale Brothers is elected exalted ruler of Youngstown Lodge 55, BPO Elks. Other officers are Raymond Pullam, Leo Dunning Jr., Harry Bord, Charles Eberhart Jr., Earl Huffman, Lewis Seaborn and Bert Milliken.