Today is Friday, Feb. 6, the 37th day of 2009. There are 328 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Friday, Feb. 6, the 37th day of 2009. There are 328 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 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 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 United States 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. In 1996, a Turkish-owned Boeing 757 jetliner crashes into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff from the Dominican Republic, killing 189 people, mostly German tourists.

February 6, 1984: GF Furniture Systems Inc. discloses that it is studying a realignment plan that could return some of its operations from its Forest City, N.C., plant to it Youngstown facility, possibly bringing jobs to the city.

A Berlin Township man who reportedly became angry over a “legal matter” was captured at gunpoint after he allegedly fired a series of shotgun blasts that killed three quarter horses and wounded seven others at his brother’s Jackson Township farm.

February 6, 1969: Youngstown city councilmen are at odds with one another and the administration over the creation of four new detective positions in the police department. Some councilmen are questioning whether Mayor Anthony B. Flask wants the positions created so that he can fill them with hand-picked candidates.

Youngstown Osteopathic Hospital approves a 10 percent increase for all employees. About 240 nonprofessional employees will see their hourly pay increase to $1.76; some 50 registered nurses will be earning $3.70 an hour.

February 6, 1959: With a large volume of new steel orders on tap, Youngstown district steel mills will sharply boost operations, bringing hundreds of furloughed workers back and boosting production to 75 percent of capacity.

Sharon police capture a 20-year-old Sharon man and believe they wounded one of two other men who fled after officers surprised the three opening a safe at the American Legion Home on East State Street.

February 6, 1934: Youngstown finance Director Hugh D. Hindman presents city council with a salary ordinance that makes cuts exceeding $75,000.

Mrs. Mary Zitnyar, 28, sobs out a guilty plea to manslaughter charges in the mercy killing of her crippled two-year-old son and is sentenced by Mercer County Judge James A. McLaughry to an indeterminate term in the Munsey Reformatory. She’s told the length of her sentence will depend on her conduct.