Vindicator file photo / April 17, 1985 | The Rayen Band, directed by Floyd Folio played several numbers at a celebration on Federal Plaza 37 years ago for the Rayen basketball team’s state championship win. The team was presented with proclamations and signs that would be erected at entrances to the city were unveiled.
 
April 18
 
1997: Fred Owens, chairman of Youngstown State University's Department of Communications and Theater, announces that the undergraduate theater program has been accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theater.  Only one in 20 programs in the United States are accredited. 
 
All Seasons Resorts Inc. of Newport Beach, Calif., owners of Ponderosa Park in southern Mahoning County, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The 150-acre park owes Mahoning County $207,500 in back taxes. 
 
Delphi Packard Electric Systems signs an agreement to ship Warren-made electrical components to a South Korean automotive supplier. 
 
1982: Youngstown Mayor George Vukovich is soliciting the support of 19 fellow mayors in the Mahoning Valley to oppose a proposal that would give townships an avenue to share in income taxes collected by cities.
 
More than half the students taking Youngstown State University's mandatory English Placement Test scored below acceptable college levels and will have to take remedial classes.  
 
Paul Isaacs, 21, of New Bedford is the grand champion of the annual inner tube race on Little Yankee Run in Hubbard. Only nine men braved the chilly waters and Isaacs completed the course in 1:03.41.
 
1972: President Nixon has nominated Martin J. Hillenbrand, a native of Youngstown now serving as assistant secretary of State for European Affairs, to be U.S. Ambassador to West Germany. 
 
The 150 area leaders of labor, industry, and churches assemble at the Voyager Inn to demonstrate their support of a May 2 levy to save mass transit in the area.
 
The Youngstown Catholic Diocese calls on individual parishes to work out financial plans for the 1972-73 school year and possibly to business and industry to provide financial support to parochial education after a federal court finds  Ohio's reimbursement of tuition to parents to be unconstitutional. 
 
1947: U.S. Rep. Michael J. Kirwan angrily denounces a labor bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives as "taking us back to the dark ages" of American labor relations, before the passage of the Wagner Act.
 
The special court of jurisdiction will meet to discuss a water rate increase for Niles and Youngstown that is being sought by the MVSD.
 
Two former Youngstown couples living in Texas City, Texas, the site of an industrial explosion that has killed more than 500 people and caused $50- to $100 million in damage are reported safe. They are Mr. and Mrs. W.M. Sweeney and Mr. and Mrs. W.J. Taylor.