Today is Ash Wednesday, Feb. 6, the 37th day of 2008. There are 329 days left in the year. On this

Today is Ash Wednesday, Feb. 6, the 37th day of 2008. There are 329 days left in the year. On this date in 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, is born in Tampico, Ill.

In 1756, America’s third vice president, Aaron Burr, is born in Newark, N.J. In 1778, the United States wins official recognition from France with the signing of a Treaty of Alliance in Paris. In 1899, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain is ratified by the U.S. Senate. In 1933, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, the so-called “lame duck” amendment, is proclaimed in effect by Secretary of State Henry Stimson. In 1952, Britain’s King George VI dies; he is succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II. In 1959, the United States successfully test-fires for the first time a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile from Cape Canaveral, Fla. In 1978, Muriel Humphrey takes the oath of office as a U.S. senator from Minnesota, filling the seat of her late husband, former Vice President Hubert Humphrey. In 1992, 16 people are killed when a C-130 military transport plane crashes in Evansville, Ind.

February 6, 1983: Members of the Mahoning County Board of Health reject a proposed consolidation of city and county health departments because they could see no real benefit in merging

Youngstown’s first grand prix chess tournament opens at the Ramada Inn. At the end of the first day of play, nine players survived, including all three masters-rated players who were among the 48 contestants.

Despite polls showing him behind former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, U.S. Sen. John Glenn of Ohio expresses confidence in his bid for the 1984 democratic presidential nomination.

February 6, 1968: G-Sgt. Frank Thomas Jr. of Niles is one of three U.S. Marines who take down a Viet Cong flag and run up the Stars and Stripes after U.S. forces capture the Viet Cong headquarters in Thua Thein province, Vietnam.

Damage from vandals is estimated at $2,000 at the new Mahoning County School for the Retarded on Woodbine Avenue in Austintown.

Boardman Trustee Vice Chairman Harold Perkins fails to get a second from Chairman Peter Van Nest to name GOP Chairman Ted Johnson to fill the vacancy on the trustees board left by the resignation of Howard W. Mansell.

February 6, 1958: George F. Jones, a Canfield High school senior, places first among some 750 Mahoning County students on the 1958 general state scholarship tests. Tied for second place were Sandra Deidus of Boardman and Michael I. Walling of South High.

John C. Hazen, vice president of the National Retail Merchants Association, tells Youngstown’s Downtown Board of Trade not to believe suggestions that downtown shopping areas are all but washed up. Charles G. Nichols, president of the G.M. McKelvey Co., reports that Youngstown has increased its off-street parking spaces 33 percent since 1953.

About 150 Coitsville residents vote by a 99 percent margin against annexing to Youngstown at a public hearing at Township Hall.

February 6, 1933: Three investigations are underway to place responsibility for an accident at the Wick Avenue crossing when a westbound P & LE Railroad passenger train struck a private car and a municipal bus, injuring four people, one seriously, and shaking up six others.

Dr. Fletcher Homan, pastor of Belmont Avenue M.E. Church and executive secretary of the Federated Churches, announces his resignation to take the pastorship of a Methodist church in Los Angeles, Calif.

Mrs. Anna Jones McNeil, pretty 32-year-old blonde, is being held in Lawrence County Jail in connection with the fatal shooting of her husband, Harold, 35, in the bedroom of their 3-year-old son, Lee, following a party at the McNeil home in the fashionable Walmo residential district north of New Castle.