Today is Sunday, Jan. 25, the 25th day of 2009. There are 340 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Sunday, Jan. 25, the 25th day of 2009. There are 340 days left in the year. On this date in 1759, Scottish poet Robert Burns is born in Alloway.

In 1858, Britain’s Princess Victoria, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, marries Crown Prince Frederick William (the future German Emperor and King of Prussia) at St. James’s Palace. In 1890, the United Mine Workers of America is founded in Columbus, Ohio. Reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) of the New York World completes a round-the-world journey in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes. In 1909, the opera “Elektra” by Richard Strauss premieres in Dresden, Germany. In 1915, Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service between New York and San Francisco. In 1947, American gangster Al Capone dies in Miami Beach, Fla., at age 48. In 1959, American Airlines begins jet flights between New York and Los Angeles on the Boeing 707. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy holds the first presidential news conference carried live on radio and television.

January 25, 1984: Former Youngstown Police Chief Donald Baker and Dr. Thomas A. Shipka, philosophy professor at Youngstown State University, say they will refuse to provide statements to a Senate subcommittee investigating organized crime because its staff asked them to withhold information.

Councilman Herman P. Starks, D-2nd, is sponsoring legislation that would pull away the Youngstown Revitalization Foundation’s funding for the current federal fiscal year.

January 25, 1969: Rocco Mico, Campbell mayor, writes a letter of support for a former Cleveland gun-runner, Dominick E. Bartone, who is facing a three-year prison sentence on charges of tax evasion.

The Rev. William A. Hughes, superintendant of Youngstown diocesan schools, announces the appointment of two full-time psychologists, George P. Banks and Robert G. Medlin.

January 25, 1959: Youngstown’s biggest steel mill — the U.S. Steel Corp.’s Ohio Works — celebrates the 50th birthday of its open hearth shop and the production of 50 million tons of high grade open hearth steel.

The bravery of a Youngstown staff sergeant killed in World War II is immortalized when the Army Reserve Center on Miller Street is named for S.Sgt Gus Kefurt, Youngstown’s only Congressional Medal of Honor winner since the Civil War.

January 25, 1934: Two Youngs-town sisters, Mrs. Andrew Kish, 63, and Mrs. Elizabeth Halak, 50, are killed when struck by a fast passenger train after being trapped on the B&O railroad trestle near the city waterworks. The trestle is often used as a shortcut.