Today is Tuesday, Feb. 20, the 51st day of 2007. There are 314 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Tuesday, Feb. 20, the 51st day of 2007. There are 314 days left in the year. On this date in 1962, astronaut John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth, flying aboard Friendship VII.
In 1790, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II dies. In 1792, President George Washington signs an act creating the U.S. Post Office. In 1809, the Supreme Court, in United States v. Peters, 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 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt signs an immigration act which excludes "idiots, imbeciles, feebleminded persons, epileptics, insane persons" from being admitted to the United States. 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 VIII spacecraft crashes on the moon after sending back thousands of pictures of the lunar surface.
February 20, 1982: Three inmates of the Mercer County Jail, one a convicted murderer, escape from their cells after climbing down a makeshift rope. One is captured within hours.
Atty. Avetis Darvanan asks Youngstown Law Director Edward Sobnosky to file a taxpayer lawsuit demanding that city council "cease and desist its practice of using revenue-sharing money" for pork barrel projects. If Sobnosky declines, Darvanan says he will file the suit himself.
General Motors Corp.'s car assembly plant at Lordstown, which has been shut down for a month, will resume operations March 1 with one shift. The adjacent van assembly plant will add a second shift in April.
February 20, 1967: A long-festering feud between East Side and South Side teenage gangs erupts in a Lincoln Knolls bowling alley and ends in the stabbing death of Richard Boone, 16, of Spring Street.
Ronald Johnson, 42, of Glenwood Avenue, is shot to death as he sits in his automobile talking with a nephew in the driveway of his home.
At least 41 members of Congress have relatives on the congressional payroll, some at salaries as high as 20,000 a year, a poll by the Associated Press shows.
In the face of mounting obstacles, including foreign competition and U.S. tax policies, domestic steel makers are planning to invest record amounts in 1967 to modernize and automate their facilities.
February 20, 1957: The Mahoning County Bar Association, representing 400 lawyers in the Youngstown area, tells a Senate judiciary subcommittee that at least one of three proposed federal judges for Ohio should be permanently assigned to Youngstown.
Howard A. Welch, 72, of 32 W. Philadelphia Ave., chairman of the board of Union National Bank, dies in North Side Hospital.
February 20, 1932: Attorney General Gilbert Bettman gives approval to a plan for the reopening of Dollar Savings & amp; Trust Co. in Youngstown.
Opposition on Youngstown City Council is growing against Mayor Mark Moore's suggestion that the city hire 10 additional policemen and 10 additional firemen.
The third diphtheria death in Mahoning County in a week is reported. All have been in Boardman Township, two of them children.
Mrs. E.T. McDonnell, acting president of the Youngstown Federation of Women's Clubs, and the Rev. Joseph N. Trainor, pastor of St. Columba's Church, issue an appeal on WKBN radio for Youngstown citizens to open their hearts and pocketbooks to aid Youngstown's unemployed.