Years Ago

Today is Friday, May 6, the 126th day of 2011. There are 239 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1861: Confederate President Jefferson Davis approves an act passed by the Confederate Congress recognizing that a state of war exists with the United States of America.

1889: The Paris Exposition formally opens, featuring the just-completed Eiffel Tower.

1935: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order creating the Works Progress Administration.

1942: During World War II some 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrender to Japanese forces.

1954: Medical student Roger Bannister breaks the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds.

1960: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960.

1981: Yale architecture student Maya Ying Lin is named winner of a competition to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: It takes jurors in Portage County only two hours to return guilty verdicts against Timothy A. Combs on charges of aggravated murder, kidnapping and rape in the death of Raymond Fife in Warren.

Voter turnout is reported as light with only 30,000 Mahoning County voters going to the polls by midday.

1971: Three taxis and the Belmont Avenue offices of Yellow Cab are firebombed in Youngstown.

Five Youngstown area men are admitted to the Ohio Bar during ceremonies in Columbus: Jon T. Flask, James G. Floyd, Gerald M. Parker, Patrick J. Donlin and Peter C. Economus.

1961: J.D. Runeric, acting manager of the Youngstown district office of the Ohio State Employment Service, says job openings rise in the area and compensation rolls are down, an encouraging sign of a possible economic revival.

Jacquelyn Simko of St. Patrick School, Youngstown, wins the 29th annual Vindicator Spelling Bee on the word “efficacious.”

The Youngstown Board of Control rejects bids for slag, salt and corrugated pipe saying it suspects price fixing by bidders.

1936: Elaine Howard, of New York City, 17-year-old granddaughter of William Horvath of Youngstown, signs a long term contract with the Columbia Broadcasting System and will be a guest artist on the Phillip Morris hour.

Carl C. Parkhurst, a farmer near Warren, is found dead in a creek near his home after apparently shooting himself accidentally with a 22 caliber rifle he was using to shoot crows.