Years Ago

Today is Sunday, Jan. 8, the eighth day of 2012. There are 358 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1815: U.S. forces defeat the British in the Battle of New Orleans — the closing engagement of the War of 1812.

1935: Rock-and-roll legend Elvis Presley is born in Tupelo, Miss.

1964: President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a “War on Poverty.”

1987: For the first time, the Dow Jones industrial average closes above 2,000, ending the day at 2,002.25.

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1987: Two-year-old Danny “Champ” McGahagan of Austintown receives a heart transplant during a nine-hour operation at Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital.

1972: School superintendents in districts along Route 11, the Lake Erie-to-Ohio River Freeway, lodge strong protests against state plans that would leave Trumbull County without bridges over the four-lane highway.

The Ohio Leather Co. plant in Girard, as well as machinery and equipment, will be sold at auction. At its peak, the company employed 1,000 people and was one of the top producers of calfskin leather.

1962: Ground is broken for the first building to be erected in the W. Federal Street’s slum clearance area, a $70,000 structure at W. Federal and Worthington Street that will house the Youngstown Furnace Co.

1937: Joseph L. Heffernan, former mayor of Youngstown, is appointed an assistant attorney general by Ohio Atty. Gen. Herbert L. Duffy.

The slot machines placed in Youngstown bars and clubs before Christmas have been mysteriously removed by their unidentified owners.