Today is Monday, Feb. 20, the 51st day of 2006. There are 314 days left in the year. This is the Presidents' Day holiday. On this date in 1962, astronaut John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit



Today is Monday, Feb. 20, the 51st day of 2006. There are 314 days left in the year. This is the Presidents' Day holiday. On this date in 1962, astronaut John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, flying aboard Friendship 7.
In 1790, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II dies. In 1792, President Washington signs an act creating the U.S. Post Office. In 1809, the Supreme Court rules the power of the federal government is greater than that of any individual state. In 1839, Congress prohibits dueling in the District of Columbia. In 1895, abolitionist Frederick Douglass dies in Washington. In 1933, the House of Representatives completes congressional action on an amendment to repeal Prohibition. In 1944, during World War II, U.S. bombers begin raiding German aircraft manufacturing centers in a series of attacks that become known as "Big Week." In 1965, the Ranger 8 spacecraft crashes on the moon after sending back thousands of pictures of the lunar surface. In 1981, the space shuttle Columbia clears the final major hurdle to its maiden launch as the spacecraft fires its three engines in a 20-second test. In 2003, fire breaks out during a rock concert at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., killing 100 people and injuring about 200 others.
February 20, 1981: Common Pleas Judge Clyde Osborne orders striking Youngstown city school teachers to end their strike and return to work. Most of the district's 1,081 teachers failed to report for class.
Clarence T. "Pete" Sheehan, 64, city editor since 1976 and a 40-year member of the Vindicator news staff, dies of cancer in St. Elizabeth Hospital.
General Motors, seeking to tighten its belt in a sluggish auto-buying market, will eliminate about 19,000 salaried jobs through lay-offs or early retirement, the Detroit Free Press reports.
February 20, 1966: An afternoon of fishing on the Ohio River near Aliquippa, Pa., ends in death for two Youngstown University students and a near escape for a third. Edwin Sekinger, 25, and Hugh Harper, 20, drown after their canoe capsized, and Joseph Lampich, 19, is hospitalized after being pulled from the river by a tug boat.
There were only 3,767,000 babies born in the United States in 1965, the lowest number since 1951.
February 20, 1956: Richard Ambrose, 38, son of Mahoning County Prosecutor William A. Ambrose, is killed in a two-car collision in state Route 18 west of Raccoon Road.
The Ohio Department of Highway Safety reports that 2,067 people were killed on the state's highways in 1955, almost 71,000 were injured and property losses exceeded $50 million. Accidents averaged 390 a day.
February 20, 1931: Henry Sammartino, the Youngstown jeweler found dead on board the steamship Pennsylvania in the Pacific Ocean, was described by friends as "scared to death" before he left Youngstown for a California vacation. The ship's captain ruled the death a suicide by hanging, but a coroner has found that Sammartino suffered a fractured skull.
Youngstown Law Director Carl Armstrong files suit in common pleas court to collect 31 bonds forfeited in city liquor cases.
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