Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 15, the 46th day of 2012. There are 320 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1898: The U.S. battleship Maine mysteriously blows up in Havana Harbor, killing more than 260 crew members and bringing the United States closer to war with Spain.

1933: President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt escapes an assassination attempt in Miami that mortally wounds Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak; gunman Giuseppe Zangara is executed more than four weeks later.

1953: Tenley Albright becomes the first American woman to win the world figure skating championship, held in Davos, Switzerland.

1965: Canada’s new maple-leaf flag is unfurled in ceremonies in Ottawa.

1982: Eighty-four men are killed when a huge oil-drilling rig, the Ocean Ranger, sinks off the coast of Newfoundland during a fierce storm.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: David G. Bozanich, assistant finance director, says Youngstown should drop its ambulance service and allow private carriers to provide better service.

Victor Posner, Miami Beach millionaire and chairman of Sharon Steel, donates $200,000 toward a liver transplant for a 7-year-old Fort Lauderdale boy a day after burglars took $5,000 in coins and crumpled bills raised by the boy’s elementary school toward his operation.

1972: Firebombers cause $500 damage to the Sportsland Tavern. Assistant fire chief Glen Schultz said a kerosene firebomb was thrown through the front window.

1962: City Council President A.B. Flask says he will pass up his first paycheck of the year rather than submit to the identification test required by state examiners who distribute the checks as part of their audit.

City police say hoodlums and known police characters can look forward to arrest and charges of being suspicious persons as police begin a crackdown on robbery and burglary gangs that have been hanging out downtown. One of the first to be caught in the dragnet is Dominic P. “Junior” Senzarino, 29, of Struthers.

1937: Three little girls die in their sleep when fire destroys the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lewis on Lisbon Street, Canfield. Dead are Margaret Lewis, 10; Vedna, 8, and Catherine, 5. The parents and four other children escaped.