Today is Saturday, Feb. 18, the 49th day of 2006. There are 316 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Saturday, Feb. 18, the 49th day of 2006. There are 316 days left in the year. On this date 1885, Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is published in the United States for the first time.
In 1546, Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, dies. In 1564, artist Michelangelo dies in Rome. In 1861, Jefferson Davis is sworn in as president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Ala. In 1930, the ninth planet of our solar system, Pluto, is discovered. In 1960, the Eighth Winter Olympic Games are formally opened in Squaw Valley, Calif., by Vice President Nixon. In 1970, the "Chicago 7" defendants are found innocent of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention. In 1972, the California Supreme Court strikes down the state's death penalty. In 1977, the space shuttle Enterprise, sitting atop a Boeing 747, goes on its maiden "flight" above the Mojave Desert. In 1988, Anthony M. Kennedy is sworn in as the 104th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1995, the NAACP replaces veteran chairman William Gibson with Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
February 18, 1981: The General Motors rebate program is expected to boost the company's sales, prompting the Packard Electric Division to announce that there will be no permanent layoffs in the immediate future.
Efforts to balance the $21.2 million budget of the Warren City School District will include laying off as many as 16 teachers and a number of nonteaching personnel.
About 150 Mahoning County residents turn out to argue against a proposal by county commissioners that they reimpose the half-percent piggyback sales tax.
February 18, 1966: Youngstown developer Edward J. DeBartolo presents the first annual DeBartolo award to Braulio Baeza, Panamanian-born jockey, at Hialeah Park in Florida. DeBartolo, who owns several race tracks, established the award to honor the outstanding jockey of the past year.
Alfred P. Sloan, who took General Motors Corp. from a moderately successful company in 1920 to the mightiest manufacturing enterprise the world has ever known, dies at the age of 90 in Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, a hospital his philanthropy had established.
A Richland County Probate Court judge orders the sterilization of two pregnant, unmarried sisters he found to be mentally incompetent. The mother of the girls asked the court to order the procedure.
February 18, 1956: In a new spirit of cooperation, mayors Frank X. Kryzan of Youngstown, William C. Burbank of Warren and Edward P. Lenney of Niles hail the announcement by Chevrolet that it will build a giant plant in Lordstown. Groundbreaking is expected in midMarch.
Three Youngstown teenagers charged with thievery and vandalism are sentenced to the Boys Industrial School by Juvenile Judge Henry P. Beckenbach.
President Eisenhower plays his first round of golf since his September heart attack while visiting Thomasville, Ga.
February 18, 1931: Youngstown City Council removes Harry Engle as the city's traction commissioner after accusations of blackmail are raised against him. Engle demands a special grand jury to investigate the charges.
The Youngstown Ministerial Association unanimously passes a resolution urging the United States to immediately join the World Court as a step toward permanent world peace.
Following a drop in wheat prices, the 5 cent loaf of bread is back on the shelves in Youngstown after an absence of many years.