YEARS AGO FOR MAY 8

Today is Wednesday, May 8, the 128th day of 2019. There are 237 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1429: The Siege of Orleans during the Hundred Years’ War ends as English troops withdraw after being defeated by French forces under Joan of Arc.

1541: Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River.

1794: Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, is executed on the guillotine during France’s Reign of Terror.

1921: Sweden abolishes the death penalty.

1945: President Harry S. Truman announces on radio that Nazi Germany’s forces have surrendered, and that “the flags of freedom fly all over Europe.”

1970: Anti-war protests break out across the U.S. and around the world after the shooting deaths of four students at Kent State University.

1987: Gary Hart, dogged by questions about his personal life, including his relationship with Miami model Donna Rice, withdraws from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

1996: South Africa takes another step from apartheid to democracy by adopting a constitution that guarantees equal rights for blacks and whites.

2018: President Donald Trump withdraws the U.S. from the nuclear accord with Iran and restores harsh sanctions.

VINDICATOR FILES

1994: After a week of negotiations, Ernest and Regina Twigg reach an agreement with Robert Mays, who raised 15-year-old Kimberly Mays after she was switched at birth, that will give custody of Regina to the Twiggs. Mrs. Twigg is the former Iris Regina Burge who grew up on Youngstown’s North Side.

Youngstown Police Chief Randall Wellington says firearms in the home pose a danger to children. He says the best home protector is a dog.

Liberty has scheduled a dozen summer concerts for Church Hill Park.

1979: Three small children drown in the swimming pool at Interfaith Park off Niles Road Southeast in Warren. Pulled from the pool by nearby residents alerted by two other children were Terrance Paul Lowery, 8, and his sisters, Quebeck, 5, and Lakesa, 4.

A federal court decision that would allow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban the use of out-of-state coal by Ohio utilities is a victory for Ohio coal miners and consumers, says U.S. Sen. Howard Metzenbaum.

1969: Mahoning County Sheriff Ray T. Davis seeks a declaratory judgment from Mahoning Common Pleas Court to settle a jurisdictional dispute between Teamsters Local 377 and the Fraternal Order of Deputy Sheriffs over which should be the bargaining agent for deputies.

Scattered power outages, minor street flooding and stalled cars were left in the wake of heavy rain from a series of thunderstorms that swept the area. Temperatures dropped by 25 degrees.

Leroi Jones, scheduled to speak at the Warren Urban League’s program titled “The Black Man in the Performing Arts,” will be replaced by boxer Muhammad Ali at Western Reserve High School.

1944: Two masked bandits tie up Reese W. James, night watchman at Hathaway Bakeries on Hubbard Road, and escape in a bakery truck with a 500-pound safe containing $4,500. Later in the day, James is seriously injured when he steps into the path of a car in Market Street.

Men equipped with diving suits are sought to help in the search for three Mecca Township boys believed to have drowned in Mosquito Lake five days ago.

The Union for Democratic Action gives U.S. Rep. Michael Kirwan, D-Youngstown, a perfect score on 18 “crucial” votes.

A $60,000 project calling for the widening of North Meridian Road as an access highway, the first of its kind in the county, is approved by the War Department.