YEARS AGO

Today is Wednesday, May 26, the 146th day of 2010. There are 219 days left in the year,

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1521: Martin Luther is banned by the Edict of Worms because of his religious beliefs and writings.

1868: The impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson ends with his acquittal.

1908: The first major oil strike in the Middle East occurs in Masjid-i-Suleiman, Persia (Iran).

1938: The House Un-American Activities Committee is established by Congress.

1940: The evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, begins during World War II.

1960: U.N. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge accuses the Soviets of hiding a microphone inside a wood carving of the Great Seal of the United States that had been presented to the U.S. embassy in Moscow.

1972: President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in Moscow. (The U.S. withdrew from the treaty in 2002.)

1981: Fourteen people are killed when a Marine jet crashes onto the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off Florida.

1994: Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley are married in the Dominican Republic. (The marriage, however, ended in 1996.)

2000: Barry Grunow. 35, an English teacher at Lake Worth Community Middle School in Florida, is shot to death by Nathaniel Brazill, a seventh grader, after the teacher refused to let him talk with two girls in his classroom. (Brazill was convicted of second-degree murder and is serving a 28-year sentence.)

vindicator fileS

1985: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says illegal fireworks plants go into operation in the spring and shutdown by July 4 after making millions of dollars producing small bombs that cost 5 cents to make and sell for as much as $1 on the black market.

LTV Steel is closing its Aliquippa, Pa., Works, leaving a question as to where the Campbell Works seamless mill, which employs hundreds, will get its tube rounds.

Atty. Staughton Lynd files a class action suit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court challenging the firing of 100 employees over a 10 year period by Schwebel Baking Co.

1970: Physical, social and economic problems in the city seriously threaten Youngstown’s future development, Mayor Jack C. Hunter tells parents involved in the Head Start Program of the Community Action Council.

The New Castle Area School District’s 14 schools, closed by a teachers’ strike since April 30, reopen after the school board and teachers agree to recommendations of a mediation panel.

1960: Second Ward Councilman Phil Panno asks for legislation making retirement compulsory as soon as a member of the police or fire department reaches 65 or completes 33 years of service.

Dr. Joseph F. Swartz Jr., a member of the education faculty at Youngstown University since 1949, is named dean of the school of education by President Howard Jones.

The United Steelworkers of America and six aluminum extrusion companies sign a new contract for some 800 employees, marking the first time a basic labor agreement for the extrusion firms is reached through joint negotiations.

1935: A private company will be organized to acquire the land necessary for construction of the Beaver-Mahoning waterway. Two Army Engineers, Brig. Gen. G.B. Pillsbury and Maj. Gen. Edward M. Markham, are credited with giving the canal strong backing.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars in Youngstown raises $500 before it runs out of Buddy Poppies during its annual downtown annual sale.