Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 1, the 32nd day of 2012. There are 334 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1790: The U.S. Supreme Court convenes for the first time in New York. (However, since only three of the six justices are present, the court recesses until the next day.)

1862: “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” a poem by Julia Ward Howe, is published in the Atlantic Monthly.

1922: In one of Hollywood’s most enduring mysteries, movie director William Desmond Taylor is shot to death in his Los Angeles home; the killing has never been solved.

1942: The Voice of America broadcasts its first program to Europe, relaying it through the facilities of the British Broadcasting Corp. in London.

1960: Four black college students begin a sit-in protest at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where they’d been refused service.

1962: The Ken Kesey novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” is first published by Viking Press.

1982: “Late Night with David Letterman” premieres on NBC.

2003: The space shuttle Columbia breaks up during re-entry, killing all seven of its crew members.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Nearly 1,300 LTV Steel Co. retirees and their families and supporters march through downtown Youngstown to a rally at the Edward W. Powers Auditorium, where speakers call for solidarity in support of pension rights and discuss a march on Washington in March.

YSU’s Penguins bring an aggressive offense against the Akron Zips before 6,339 fans at Beeghly Center and come away with a 71-68 win over the Ohio Valley Conference champs.

1972: Sixteen reporters, announcers, directors and cameramen at WKBN-TV and WKBN radio strike after two weeks of contract negotiations break down.

The first of six people charged with collecting state unemployment benefits while employed pleads guilty before Judge John J. Leskovyansky and is sentenced to 90 days in county jail.

1962: Police Chief William Golden tells City Council that Youngstown patrolmen are testing small two-way radios ht are about the size of transistor radios. He describes them as a “tremendous innovation” and recommends buying them.

Carol Amendolara, a junior majoring in sociology at Youngstown University, is elected Interfraternity Sweetheart. She is a member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority and a graduate of Ursuline High School.

1937: A 19-year-old bride-to-be and her parents, all of Niles, are dead and the prospective bridegroom is in serious condition in Toledo after an auto-truck collision on the Cleveland Toledo highway. Dead are Anna Fleser, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Fleser, 45 and 42, of 328 Peiffer Ave. Injured is Emil Gish, 24, of Warren.

Ellsworth H. Sebring, 75, pioneer potter and last of eight brothers who founded towns in Ohio and Florida bearing the family name, dies in Sebring (Fla.) Hospital of heart disease.