Years Ago

Today is Thursday, Jan. 19, the 19th day of 2012. There are 347 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1853: Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Il Trovatore” premieres in Rome.

1862: Union forces win a victory over the Confederates in the Civil War Battle of Mill Springs in southeastern Kentucky.

1937: Millionaire Howard Hughes sets a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.

1942: During World War II, Japan invades Burma.

1955: A presidential news conference is filmed for television for the first time, with the permission of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

1981: The United States and Iran sign an accord paving the way for the release of 52 Americans held hostage for more than 14 months.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Three years after he laid off 21 city workers on the basis of economic necessity, Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro admits that some of those layoffs were used as a political hammer on City Council, including that of Edrice Clark, sister of then-Councilman Herman P. Starks.

The Ohio Bureau of Employment Services rules that picketing workers at Weatherbee Coats Inc. in Youngstown are on strike, not locked out, thereby preventing them from collecting unemployment compensation during the 11-week labor dispute.

1972: Youngstown State University acquires the Woman’s City Club at 505 Wick Ave. for $80,000, but has no immediate plans for the building.

David J. Fithian is recommended to a four-year term on the Mahoning County Board of Elections over incumbent GOP member by the Republican Executive Committee.

1962: State highway director Everett Preston tells the Lake Erie to Ohio River Highway Association that state Route 11 deserves “early financing and immediate construction,” but funds are lacking.

Mayor Harry Savasten brings in state auditors to distribute pay checks to every city employee, each of whom is required to sign for the check.

1937: The FBI arrests John Zetzer, former Youngstown man, and charges him with aiding the notorious Alvin Karpis gang after the $46,000 machine gun mail train robbery at Garrettsville, Nov. 7, 1935.

Seventy-five Vindicator carrier boys leave for Washington, D.C., and the inaugural of Franklin D. Roosevelt as a reward for selling 20 or more new subscriptions to the paper.

Ellsworth R. Marteeny of Conneaut, a student at Dana Musical Institute in Warren, is leaving for Europe, where he will study at musical conservatories in London, Milan and in Germany.