Today is Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25, the 56th day of 2009. There are 309 days left in the year. On this

Today is Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25, the 56th day of 2009. There are 309 days left in the year. On this date in 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, giving Congress the power to levy and collect income taxes, is declared in effect by Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox.

In 1779, a militia led by George Rogers Clark routs the British from Fort Sackville in the Revolutionary War Battle of Vincennes in present-day Indiana. In 1836, inventor Samuel Colt patents his revolver. In 1901, United States Steel Corp. is incorporated by J.P. Morgan. In 1919, Oregon becomes the first state to tax gasoline, at one cent per gallon. In 1948, Communists seize power in Czechoslovakia. In 1964, Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) becomes world heavyweight boxing champion by defeating Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, Fla.

February 25, 1984: A panel of three Mahoning County Common Pleas judges spares John Alexander from going to the electric chair, sentencing him instead to 40 years to life for killing Vera and Lacie Patton in their Gerwig Avenue home.

Atty. Don L. Hanni Jr. and Russell Saadey, Democratic members of the Mahoning County Board of Elections, put Republican members of the board on notice that the county’s old voting machines must be replaced.

February 25, 1969: More than 125 Democratic Party leaders and precinct committeemen gather at Hotel Ohio to kick off the 1969 Democratic May primary campaign and to vote unanimously to support a Youngstown school levy if one is on the ballot.

A sniper fires a shot through the window of a Youngstown school bus carrying Coitsville Township students to parochial elementary schools and Ursuline High School. None of the 22 students is injured.

February 25, 1959: After 10 months of idleness, the Lowellville Works of the Sharon Steel Corp. is relighting three open hearth furnaces and starting up the blooming and bar mills. More than 600 men will be recalled.

The Ohio Valley Improvement Association declares that the proposed West Branch and Shenango reservoirs would have prevented most of the estimated $20 million in damage from January’s floods in the Youngstown district.

Marvin Itts, chairman of the Saramar Aluminum Co., announces plans for a $300,000 expansion of the plant at 4201 Mahoning Ave., which will increase both capacity and employment.

February 25, 1934: Youngstown is faced with a severe shortage of coal unless the extreme cold weather lets up, says L.W. Dunning, president of the Youngstown Coal Dealers Association.

In order to care for an expanding business, the Wehle Baking Co., 1900 Hubbard Road, orders 35 new 1934 trucks from the L.F. Donnell Co. on Market Street.

An amendment to the Constitution to prevent Congress from declaring war unless the United States is actually being invaded or the declaration is approved by a general vote of the people is proposed by Rep. Terrell, a Texas Democrat.