Years Ago

Today is Thursday, Nov. 24, the 328th day of 2011. There are 37 days left in the year. This is Thanksgiving Day.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1859: British naturalist Charles Darwin publishes “On the Origin of Species,” which explains his theory of evolution by means of natural selection.

1941: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Edwards v. California, unanimously strikes down a California law prohibiting people from bringing impoverished non-residents into the state.

1963: Jack Ruby shoots and mortally wounds Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy, in a scene captured on live television.

1969: Apollo 12 splashes down safely in the Pacific.

1971: A hijacker calling himself “Dan Cooper” (but who becomes popularly known as “D.B. Cooper”) parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 somewhere over the Pacific Northwest after receiving $200,000 in ransom — his fate remains unknown.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Citing rising caseloads, Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Mitch Shaker tells county commissioners that an additional $100,000 is needed for operations; Juvenile Court Judge Peter Panagis said an additional $520,000 will be needed to run the new Family Court complex.

Some 6,000 production workers at the General Motors Corp. car and van plant in Lordstown will be laid off due to parts shortages created by a supplier’s strike.

1971: Youngstown’s Christmas tree, a 45-foot blue spruce donated by Mr. and Mrs. Steve Hoda of 723 Philadelphia Ave., is set up on Central Square.

Downtown Youngstown stores will be open every evening except Christmas Eve, beginning the Friday after Thanksgiving, and continuing until New Years Eve. Bus service is also being extended.

1961: U.S. Rep. Michael J. Kirwan begins circulating petitions for nomination to a 14th term in Congress.

Had temperatures been lower, the 1.75 inches of rain that fell on the Youngstown area over Thanksgiving Day could have been as much as 17 inches of snow.

1936: A rush of steel orders boosts operations in Youngstown to what are probably the best levels in history for December; Carnegie-Illinois Steel announces price increases of $2 to $4 per ton.

The Republic Steel Corp. will build a $4 million 96-inch strip mill in Cleveland’s flats area, with the Youngstown United Engineering and Foundry Co. of Youngstown providing the units. Republic also plans improvements at its Youngstown facilities totaling several hundreds of thousands of dollars.