Years Ago

Today is Thursday, April 12, the 103rd day of 2012. There are 263 days left in the year.

Associated Press

On this date in:

1861: The American Civil War begins as Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

1877: The catcher’s mask is first used in a baseball game by James Tyng of Harvard in a game against the Lynn Live Oaks.

1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga., at age 63; he is succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.

1955: The Salk vaccine against polio is declared safe and effective.

1985: Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, becomes the first sitting member of Congress to fly in space as the shuttle Discovery lifts off.

Vindicator files

1987: Fred DeLuca, manager of the Youngstown Municipal Airport, says Youngstown will go to court to stop the Federal Aviation Administration from closing the airport’s flight service station.

Laura Cullumbine, an eighth-grader at Edison Junior High School in Niles wins the 54th annual Vindicator Spelling Bee on the words “jaundice” and “horrific.”

1972: The Dollar Savings & Trust Co. unveils plans for a $4-million reconstruction of its 70-year-old red brick office building on Central Square The entire building will be covered with a manufactured stone-like material.

The Mahoning Valley Sanitary District will hold its water rate for its member cities, Niles and Youngstown, unchanged at $91.24 per million gallons. Anticipated usage is 36 million gallons per day.

1962: Harry M. Dunspaugh, 89, president of the Youngstown Musicians union for 41 years and a former state representative, dies in St. Elizabeth Hospital.

The Ohio Public Employees Council asks the Ohio Personnel board of Review to investigate civil service procedures in nine cities, including Youngstown, Warren and East Liverpool.

1937: Margaret Baxter, 17, remains in a semiconscious state in South Side hospital 10 days after suffering a fractured skull in a fall while riding horseback.

By a five-four vote, the Supreme Court of the United States upholds the Wagner Act, giving government the power to protect labor’s right to organize in four cases, including one brought by Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. The court found that the government has the power to regulate labor issues under the interstate commerce clause.