Today is Tuesday, Jan. 27, the 27th day of 2009. There are 338 days left in the year. On this date

January 27, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Tuesday, Jan. 27, the 27th day of 2009. There are 338 days left in the year. On this date in 1967, astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee die in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Fla.

In 1756, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born in Salzburg, Austria. In 1880, Thomas Edison receives a patent for his electric incandescent lamp. In 1901, opera composer Giuseppe Verdi dies in Milan, Italy, at age 87. In 1943, some 50 bombers strike Wilhelmshaven in the first all-American air raid against Germany during World War II. In 1944, the Soviet Union announces the complete end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had lasts for more than two years.

January 27, 1984: Atty. John Weed Powers, president of the Citizens League of Greater Youngstown, tells a U.S. Senate subcommittee that only stepped up federal law enforcement would help break organized crime’s hold on the Mahoning Valley.

Teams from the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office conduct simultaneous dawn raids on the Outlaw Motorcycle Club’s headquarters and the Struthers home of the Outlaws president.

The U.S. foreign trade deficit ballooned to a record $69.4 billion in 1983, a 62 percent increase over the previous year’s deficit of $42.7 billion.

January 27, 1969: The Butler Institute of American Art presents its annual Ohio Ceramic and Sculpture show, with 248 works on display. Nine were purchased for Butler’s collection.

Boardman Police Chief Donald Hawkins resigns from the department, saying that interference from one of the three township trustees made it impossible for him to do his job.

Acting on a recommendation of the Ohio Parole Board, Gov. James Rhodes commutes the life sentence for racketeer Thomas Licavoli to a sentence of 35 years for second-degree murder, making Licavoli eligible for parole. He was convicted of conspiracy in four gangland slayings.

January 27, 1959: Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. and Bethlehem Steel Corp. announce that they have abandoned their 30-year fight to win approval from the Justice Department for a merger of the companies.

Martin P. Joyce, an assistant police prosecutor, is named by Gov. Michael DiSalle to the vacant seat on the Youngstown Municipal Court. He replaces Judge Frank R. Franko.

Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. reported 1958 earnings of $21.5 million, or $623 per share, about half the earnings reported in 1957.

January 27, 1934: After nearly 22 hours of deliberations and 11 ballots, the jury in the embezzlement trial of Fred A. LaBelle is deadlocked and Judge David G. Jenkins dismisses the jurors. Prosecutor J.H. Leighninger says he intends to retry the case. The jury stood at seven to five for conviction.

The big Newton Steel Co. sheet mill at Newton Falls, idle since the summer of 1931, will resume operations Feb. 19, using about 50 percent of its capacity.