Today is Friday, Feb. 27, the 58th day of 2009. There are 307 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Friday, Feb. 27, the 58th day of 2009. There are 307 days left in the year. On this date in 1933, Germany’s parliament building, the Reichstag, is gutted by fire. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming the Communists, uses the fire as justification for suspending civil liberties.

In 1801, the District of Columbia is placed under the jurisdiction of Congress. In 1860, former Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln delivers a widely acclaimed speech in which he argues against the expansion of slavery into the western territories, telling listeners at Cooper Union in New York that “right makes might.” In 1861, in Warsaw, Russian troops fire on a crowd protesting Russian rule over Poland; five marchers are killed. In 1922, the Supreme Court, in Leser v. Garnett, unanimously upholds the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees the right of women to vote. In 1939, the Supreme Court, in National Labor Relations Board v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp., outlaws sit-down strikes. In 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, is ratified. 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 1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupy the hamlet of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children. (The occupation lasts until May.) 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 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, Eastern Time. In 1999, the Rev. Henry Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention USA, is convicted in Largo, Fla., of swindling millions of dollars from companies seeking to do business with his followers. (Lyons, who served nearly five years in prison, is released in 2003.)

February 27, 1984: Fourteen architectural students from the main campus of Kent State University are working on a project that would show how downtown Salem would look like if its buildings were historically restored.

A Griffith Street man is charged with kidnapping after he allegedly stole a car containing a 5-year-old boy from in front of the Peoples Market at 1006 Market Street. The boy, Hassan Mufleh, son of the store’s owner, was thrown from the car at Jacobs Road and Ridley Avenue about a half hour after the theft.

Fire engulfs a warehouse rented by St. Elizabeth Hospital at 620 Willow Ave., creating a pall of smoke that extended from downtown to Liberty Township. Hospital officials say the warehouse contained paper products and surgical supplies, but no narcotics.

February 27, 1969: Fred Tod Jr., Youngstown insurance executive and a member of a family that has long been a power in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., resigns from the company’s board of directors in a protest against the proposed merger with Lykes Co.

John Hudzik, Youngstown City Council president, proposes a new council standing committee on metro-urban affairs, which would become involved in many regional issues, including the financial crisis in city schools.

February 27, 1959: Youngs-town’s Downtown Board of Trade reports donations of more than $16,000 from all segments of the community to be used for surveys linked to urban renewal plans.

Mahoning County commissioners are seeking a “Miracle Man” to rid the courthouse of roosting flocks of noisy, dirty starlings. The commissioners will bring Otto Standke, a 71-year-old Kansas man who has gained a reputation for getting rid of starlings, to town.

Members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation have joined the effort to win two flood control projects on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, the West Branch and Shenango reservoirs.

February 27, 1934: A Youngs-town man, Tom Jeffries, 37, and Mrs. J.M. Snyder are among nine people killed in the wreck of a New York-bound Pennsylvania Railroad train in Pittsburgh. Eleven local people are among the 40 injured.

The Federal Trade Commission reveals salaries of and bonuses of officers of big companies from 1929 through 1933. The late James A. Campbell, president of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., received $250,000 in 1930, and $191,666 in 1931, but only $30,000 in 1933.

The mercury slips to 14 degrees below zero at Canfield and to six below at the Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. for the second coldest day of the winter.