Today is Thursday, July 24, the 206th day of 2008. There are 160 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, July 24, the 206th day of 2008. There are 160 days left in the year. On this date in 1858, Republican senatorial candidate Abraham Lincoln formally challenges Democrat Stephen A. Douglas to a series of political debates; the result is seven face-to-face encounters.

In 1847, Mormon leader Brigham Young and his followers arrive in the Great Salt Lake Valley in present-day Utah. In 1862, the eighth president of the United States, Martin Van Buren, dies in Kinderhook, N.Y. In 1866, Tennessee becomes the first state to be readmitted to the Union after the Civil War. In 1929, President Hoover proclaims the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which renounces war as an instrument of foreign policy.

July 24, 1983: In response to a statement by Don L. Hanni Jr. that he is sure “there are hundreds upon hundreds of politicians who have taken money from mob figures,” George McKelvey, the maverick Youngstown city councilman, takes a lie detector test to show he isn’t one of them.

A drive to attract diversified industrial companies to Youngstown Commerce Park shifts into high gear with the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Agency mailing 2,500 letters and brochures to perspective tenants.

The Farmington Board of Education takes the first step toward reinstatement of its charter, which the state revoked in 1974.

July 24, 1968: Snipers open fire on a Cleveland police tow truck at the start of a night of terror in the city that left 10 people dead, three white policemen and seven Negroes. Some 4,000 National Guard troops move into the city to restore order.

Leah DeSantis, a junior at Hubbard High School, is crowned Hubbard Homecoming Queen.

Little League youth baseball teams in Vienna play their first games on a new field built by the Vienna Athletic Association on land owned by and across from the United Methodist Church.

July 24, 1958: Joseph Sabatino, 67, is in City Jail after pleading innocent to two charges of first-degree murder stemming from the fatal shooting of two people during a swimming pool party in Garden Estates.

A subcommittee of five appointed by the County Home Committee of the Welfare Advisory Board is inspecting the Mahoning County Home to determine whether the structure should be rehabilitated or a new home built.

July 24, 1933: Wage increases are announced by the Renner Brewery and by Yoho Hooker, lumber dealers. The latter firm also puts a 40-hour week into effect.

Thomas Antonelli wins a temporary injunction barring Youngstown city officials from razing buildings he owns downtown that have been declared uninhabitable. His suit claims that the city ordinance empowering building Inspector Fred Medicus to condemn structures is unconstitutional.