Years ago

August 12, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Thursday, Aug. 12, the 224th day of 2010. There are 141 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1859: Poet and English professor Katharine Lee Bates, who wrote the words to “America the Beautiful,” is born in Falmouth, Mass.

1867: President Andrew Johnson sparks a move to impeach him as he defies Congress by suspending Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.

1898: Fighting in the Spanish-American War comes to an end.

1944: During World War II, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., eldest son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, is killed with his co-pilot when their explosives-laden Navy plane blows up over England.

1953: The Soviet Union conducts a secret test of its first hydrogen bomb.

1960: The first balloon communications satellite — the Echo 1 — is launched by the United States from Cape Canaveral.

VINDICATOR FILES

1985: Police in South Africa drop charges against U.S. Appeals Court Judge Nathaniel Jones, a Youngstown native, who was arrested on charges of illegally entering a black township near Johannesburg.

Youngstown Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro names Atty. Edwin Romero city law director and names Atty. Ron Miller an assistant prosecutor in the municipal court.

1970: The Mahoning-Trumbull Mass Transit Authority hires John Bobola as general manager to operate the transit system in the Youngstown area at an annual salary of $10,500.

A housing dispute between 10 neighbors in Liberty Township and Orosby Willingham is dropped after a day- long hearing before U.S. District Judge Thomas D. Lambros in Cleveland. The neighbors had claimed prebuilt trusses used in construction of Willingham’s home were a violation of plat restrictions; Willingham’s lawyer, Atty. Nathaniel Jones, said such trusses were commonly used in home construction and that the suit was an excuse for racial discrimination.

1960: Stan Musial and Warren’s Bill White combined hits in the 12th inning to give the second-place St. Louis Cardinals a 3-2 win over the pennant leading Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh.

Eight young postulants or “brides of Christ” exchange bridal gowns for nuns’ habits in the Ursuline order after a ceremony conducted by Bishop Emmet Walsh at St. Columba Cathedral.

1935: Alfred P. Sloan, president of General Motors Corp., announces a $50 million expansion program.

Gregory “Lefty” Strichek’s triple in the 15th inning gives Lansingville a 4-3 win over Haseltine in the long-est game of the season in the Slovak League. Relief pitcher “Bushel” Olenick struck out 15 batters while pitching 12 scoreless innings for the winners.