Years Ago

Today is Thursday, Feb. 24, the 55th day of 2011. There are 310 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1582: Pope Gregory XIII issues a papal bull, or edict, outlining his calendar reforms. (The Gregorian Calendar is the calendar in general use today.)

1711: The opera “Rinaldo” by George Frideric Handel premieres in London.

1761: Boston lawyer James Otis Jr. goes to court to argue against “writs of assistance” that allows British customs officers to arbitrarily search people’s premises; citing English common law, Otis declares: “A man’s house is his castle.” (Although Otis loses the case, his statement provides a source of inspiration for American independence.)

1803: In its Marbury v. Madison decision, the Supreme Court establishes judicial review of the constitutionality of statutes.

1821: Mexican rebels proclaim the “Plan de Iguala,” their declaration of independence from Spain.

1863: Arizona is organized as a territory.

1868: The House of Representatives impeaches President Andrew Johnson following his attempted dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton; Johnson is later acquitted by the Senate.

1920: The German Workers Party, which later becomes the Nazi Party, meets in Munich to adopt its platform.

1942: The Voice of America goes on the air for the first time.

1961: The Federal Communications Commission authorized the nation’s first full-scale trial of pay television in Hartford, Conn.

1981: Buckingham Palace announces the engagement of Britain’s Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.

A jury in White Plains, N.Y., finds Jean Harris guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of “Scarsdale Diet” author Dr. Herman Tarnower. (Sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, Harris is granted clemency by New York Gov. Mario Cuomo in Dec. 1992.)

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Coach Jim Tressel has put together his coaching staff for the Youngstown State University Penguins’ 1986 season: Dave Pavlansky, Rick Bevly, Ken Conatser, Jim Bollman, Mark Mangino, Don Treadwell, Mark Dantonio and Bob Dove.

Warning that the risk of pollution to the Great Lakes outweighs any potential benefits from oil drilling there, the governors of the eight adjoining states have united to forestall the tapping of oil deposits beneath the vast inland waters.

1971: An inch of snow slicks highways throughout the district, bringing on the usual rash of minor accidents and a 300-vehicla jam on Interstate 80 west of Girard.

The Mahoning County Nursing Home received $239,949 in Medicaid payments in 1985 to care for 194 welfare cases, the highest amount paid in the state to a public nursing home.

Liberalization of federal and state voting laws and an increase in ballot-eligible political parties threaten to force a return to paper ballots in Mahoning County, replacing voting machines that have been in use for 20 years.

Advertisement: Tire sale, one low price, $11 per tire for small cars, $12 for medium and $14 for large at Goodyear’s four area stores, downtown, Boardman, Liberty and Austintown.

1961: U.S. Rep Michael J. Kirwan tells Youngstown City Council that authorization exists for construction of the Lake Erie-Ohio River Waterway by stages.

The Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority faces the loss of 90 family units in its Westlake Terrace project because of expressway construction.

W.J. Engelhardt, 76, former Mahoning County sheriff and one of the Youngstown Police Department’s most colorful officers during the prohibition era, dies of a heart ailment in South Side Hospital.

1936: Two young Warren men, Ivan D. Wortman, 26, and John Kanche Jr., 21, are killed when their speeding car skids on Warren-Newton Falls Road and smashes into a pole near Leavittsburg.

Scores of Mahoning Valley Italian women enthusiastically contribute gold wedding rings, earrings, bracelets and other valuable jewelry for the Italian Red Cross in the Ethiopian expedition while a crowd of 2,000 cheer them at a celebration at the Nu-Elms Ballroom.

Youngstown City Council’s utilities committee is drawing up routes for trackless trolleys on the city’s South Side, preparatory to submitting legislation for electric buses.