Today in history

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 5, the 340th day of 2012. There are 26 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1776: The scholastic fraternity Phi Beta Kappa is organized at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va.

1848: President James K. Polk triggers the Gold Rush of ’49 by confirming that gold has been discovered in California.

1932: German physicist Albert Einstein is granted a visa, making it possible for him to travel to the United States.

1933: National Prohibition comes to an end as Utah becomes the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment.

1994: Republicans choose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Cardinal Mooney High School wins the Division III football championship at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, beating Thornville-Sheridan High 30-7.

Mahoning Valley commissioners are split over a proposed law that would allow counties to raise money through local lotteries.

1972: Jennings R. Lambeth, senior vice president, is elected president of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., succeeding Frank Nemec, who will remain chairman of the board.

Andrew Pavlinic, 54, of Boardman, a former outstanding sandlot baseball and softball player, is killed when his car crashes into a pole in Fifth Avenue near Lincoln Avenue.

1962: The Youngstown Army Reserve Training Center stands to add a new engineering company in the Defense Department’s planned reorganization of reserve and National Guard forces, while some other Ohio reserve centers face cutbacks.

The Youngstown-Warren area and other districts that rely heavily on steel show the greatest job losses among nine metropolitan areas in the 4th Federal Reserve District.

1937: Six hundred acres of a 1,000-acre tract under option for the proposed $1 million district airport at Vienna are bought by a committee representing the chambers of commerce of Youngstown, Warren, Sharon, Niles and Girard with a partial payment of $6,000.

J.C. Argetsinger, vice president of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., says industries are seeing “outrageous” increases of 80 cents a ton from the Bituminous Coal Commission, while residential users are being protected from price hikes.

Youngstown firemen, members of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 312, are seeking a reduction in hours from 84 per week to 72.