Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Feb. 26, the 57th day of 2011. There are 308 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1815: Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from exile on the Island of Elba.

1861: Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., receives its initial funding of $400,000 from its namesake, businessman Matthew Vassar.

1919: President Woodrow Wilson signs a measure establishing Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona.

1929: President Calvin Coolidge signs a measure establishing Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

1970: National Public Radio is incorporated.

1993: A bomb built by Islamic extremists explodes in the parking garage of New York’s World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro says Socrates Kolitsos should either withdraw from the race for Mahoning County auditor or resign his Civil Service job as assistant director of the Youngstown Community Development Agency.

The Rev. Hycel Berman Taylor, former pastor of Elizabeth Baptist Church in Youngstown, is installed as national president of Operation PUSH Inc. in Chicago.

Shareholders of Commercial Shearing Inc. turn down a proposal by the firm’s directors to issue an additional 15 million shares of common stock and 10 million shares of preferred stock.

1971: A move to merge the section of Coitsville Township now in the Youngstown School District with the Campbell School District is underway in Coitsville.

Jerry Knight, director of the Council of Governments, says there is a written commitment from four Mahoning Valley industries to provide $82,500 for a pilot project for removing oil from the Mahoning River.

Speaking to 450 steel executives during a Northern Ohio dinner of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers at the Hotel Ohio in Youngstown, Edgar B. Speer, president of U.S. Steel Corp,, predicts Europe will be buying American steel again.

1961: One of Youngstown’s biggest gambling operations in horses, bug and basketball parlays, with daily bets exceeding $3,000, is uncovered when state liquor agents raid Tisone’s Tavern at 1810 Wilson Ave.

Thomas Seifert, general manager of the G.M. McKelvey Co., and Mary Ann Cason, a store detective, sue Atty. Vincent P. Serman for malicious prosecution after Serman had them arrested on a charge of blackmail related to their demands for restitution from a woman who had allegedly shoplifted $1,000 worth of merchandise.

1936: W.J. Williams of Youngstown urges all city Republicans, especially Negroes, to help make the appearance of Sen. Willliam E. Borah of Idaho a success when he comes to Youngstown.

Mahoning County deputy sheriffs arrest an alleged drunken driver after a 10-mile chase.