Years Ago

Today is Sunday, March 13, the 72nd day of 2011. There are 293 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1781: The seventh planet of the solar system, Uranus, is discovered by Sir William Herschel.

1901: The 23rd president of the United States, Benjamin Harrison, dies in Indianapolis at age 67.

1911: Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is born in Tilden, Neb.

1925: The Tennessee General Assembly approves a bill prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution.

1928: Hundreds of people die when the San Francisquito Valley in California is inundated with water after the St. Francis Dam bursts.

1933: Banks begin to reopen after a “holiday” declared by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1964: Bar manager Catherine “Kitty” Genovese, 28, is stabbed to death near her Queens, N.Y. home; the case generates controversy over the supposed failure of Genovese’s neighbors to respond to her cries for help.

1996: A gunman bursts into an elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and opens fire, killing 16 children and one teacher before killing himself.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Youngstown City Council sends to the city planning commission a pan for redevelopment of downtown that includes reopening part of Federal Plaza to two-way traffic.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says a pilot program it used in Niles and Western Pennsylvania in May 1985 that required tornado victims to locate their own temporary housing before applying for financial assistance was so successful it is being adopted as the agency‘s new policy.

Dr. Dennis L. Smith, Kent State Trumbull Campus dean since 1982, resigns to return to teaching in the university system.

1971: A federal grand jury convenes in Columbus to investigate big time gambling operations in Steubenville, which may have ties to the Mafia.

Fog closes the Youngstown Municipal Airport in the early morning hours, causing the delay of three flights.

The first of 15 Ohio Avenue homes is demolished in the first phase of an $80,000 apartment project in the Youngstown State University area.

General Motors’ Lordstown plant begins turning out a distinctive “GT” version of the Vega.

1961: William G. “Billy” Reese, who served as mayor of Youngstown in 1921-23 following the resignation of George L. Oles, dies at his home at 559 W. LaClede Ave. He was 77.

Trumbull county Sheriff Robert Barnett, and Coroner Dr. Joseph Sudimack Jr. are conducting an investigation in the death of two infants found in Western Reserve Lake near Youngstown. The bodies of a boy and a girl were found by a Niles fisherman.

Bottled milk sold in stores rises to 74 cents a gallon after four dairies (Lawson Milk Co., Isaly Dairy Co., Golden Glow dairies and McAllister Dairy Farms) raise their prices.

1936: The Boyd-Hunter unemployment insurance bill is defeated in the Ohio Senate, with two a Democrats, including Sen. J. Ralph Seidner of Mahoning County.

Silhouette artists Mr. and Mrs. Judd Budd-Jack return to Youngstown to visit school rooms and make portraits of children. Many of the silhouettes will appear in the vindicator.

Mahoning County commissioners agree to put on the May primary ballot a $100,000 bond issue to construct a psychopathic hospital.