Today is Monday, Feb. 27, the 58th day of 2006. There are 307 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Monday, Feb. 27, the 58th day of 2006. There are 307 days left in the year. On this date in 1933, Germany's parliament building, the Reichstag, catches fire. The Nazis, blaming the Communists, use the fire as a pretext for suspending civil liberties.
In 1801, the District of Columbia is placed under the jurisdiction of Congress. In 1807, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is born in Portland, Maine. In 1902, American author John Steinbeck is born in Salinas, Calif. In 1922, the Supreme Court unanimously upholds the 19th Amendment to the Constitution that guarantees the right of women to vote. In 1939, the Supreme Court outlaws sit-down strikes. In 1960, the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeats the Soviets, 3-2, at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. (The U.S. team goes on to win the gold medal.) In 1972, President Nixon and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai issue the Shanghai Communique at the conclusion of Nixon's historic visit to China. In 1979, Jane M. Byrne confounds Chicago's Democratic political machine as she upsets Mayor Michael A. Bilandic to win their party's mayoral primary. (Byrne goes on to win the election.) In 1986, the U.S. Senate approves telecasts of its debates on a trial basis. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush declares that "Kuwait is liberated, Iraq's army is defeated," and announces that the allies would suspend combat operations at midnight.
February 27, 1981: The Youngstown Board of Education plans to layoff 35 people and eliminate the ninth grade athletic program, saving $686,000.
State Sen. Harry Meshel, D-Youngstown, and state Rep. Thomas J. Carney, D-Boardman, say plans by the Reagan administration to eliminate the Economic Development Administration will leave "frostbelt states" with no program to redevelop their dwindling economic base.
Philadelphia police are looking for two men who scooped up two bags containing $1.2 million in $10 bills that fell out of a Purolator armored truck.
Robert A. Douglas Jr., general counsel and citizens participation director for the Youngstown Community Development Agency, is the new president of the board of trustees of Associated Neighborhood Centers.
February 27, 1966: General Motors Corp.'s new Lordstown plant is nearing completion, realizing a 10-year dream of making the Youngstown district a major automobile assembly center.
Some 500 persons of Welsh descent from three states attend the 75th anniversary dinner of the St. David Society in Hotel Pick Ohio.
The Shenango Valley Young Men's Christian Association is preparing to celebrate the first anniversary in its first home, in a former motel on Route 18, just across from Tam O'Shanter golf course.
February 27, 1956: Two Youngstown residents are killed and two companions injured when their dump truck collides with a tractor-trailer loaded with steel in Route 18, two miles west of Rootstown. Dead are Mrs. Thelma L. Traylor, 38, and Aaron Macklin, 28.
A total of $25,800 is collected on Heart Fund Sunday by 3,000 volunteers who went door-to-door in the Youngstown area.
The Youngstown district had one of the biggest home-building years in history in 1955 with 2,631 new homes worth more than $31 million constructed in Youngstown and nearby suburbs in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
The Century Food Markets Co. of Youngstown buys the Cook supermarket chain of Erie, Pa, which has seven stores, for about $1 million in cash.
February 27, 1931: The Youngstown Festival Chorus takes its Passion Play on the stage of the Hippodrome, featuring a cast of 31 from Freiburg, Germany, and 220 local performers, most in mob scenes. The Fassnacht family has been presenting the play for centuries, and will perform in English in Youngstown.
Westinghouse Electric Co. engineer Harry B. Stevens demonstrates a robot man at a meeting of the Electrical Maintenance Engineers Association of Youngstown at the YMCA. It was the association's first ladies night meeting.
During January, Youngstown public schools provided shoes valued at $1,700 in January. "Conditions have become such that we almost have a shoe department at the board of education building," says Director S.R. Crips.