Years Ago

Today is Friday, Jan. 20, the 20th day of 2012. There are 346 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1265: England’s first representative Parliament, which includes officials from districts, cities and boroughs, meets for the first time.

1649: King Charles I of England goes on trial, accused of high treason (he is found guilty and executed by month’s end).

1887: The U.S. Senate approves an agreement to lease Pearl Harbor in Hawaii as a naval base.

1937: President Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first chief executive to be inaugurated on Jan. 20 instead of March 4.

1942: Nazi officials hold the notorious Wannsee conference, during which they arrive at their “final solution” that calls for exterminating Jews.

1961: John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th U.S. president.

1981: Iran releases 52 Americans it has held hostage for 444 days, minutes after the presidency passes from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan.

1986: The United States observes the first federal holiday in honor of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

2001: George Walker Bush becomes America’s 43rd president after one of the most turbulent elections in U.S. history.

2009: Barack Obama is sworn in as the nation’s 44th, as well as first African-American, president.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Former Poland Township Police Department Chief Lee Goodin and former Lt. William Conti file suit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court claiming they were wrongfully demoted in rank.

Trumbull County commissioners Arthur U. Magee and Christopher Lardis approve a five-year, half-percent sales tax for the county over the objection of Commissioner Anthony A. Latell Jr.

1972: Youngstown Mayor Jack C. Hunter orders Law Director William Higgins and acting Police Chief Donald Komara to pursue proof from Pennsylvania authorities regarding an assertion that an unidentified Youngstown policeman was involved in a burglary and theft ring in that state.

Niles City Council, expressing dissatisfaction with service from the Western Reserve Transit Authority, votes to oppose a special election on a 1-mill operating levy for the service.

President Richard M. Nixon writes a personal letter to Youngstown Mayor Jack C. Hunter commending him for rejecting a $4,700 pay raise that was authorized by City Council in December.

1962: Fire fed by 150,000 feet of lumber and hundreds of gallons of paint destroys the five buildings of the William Bender Co. on Grove Street in New Castle. The loss is estimated at $150,000.

The Youngstown Board of Control signs a new lease with the U.S. Air Force for use of Youngstown Municipal Airport on revised terms set by the military.

The Youngstown Transit Co. will take over suburban bus runs being abandoned by Greyhound under a temporary order issued by the Public Utilities Commission.

1937: Youngstown Police Chief Carl Olson says two-way radios installed in cruisers six years ago are in need of replacement, as are most of the 19 cruisers.

Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. will pay accumulated dividends on its preferred stock amounting to $1.4 million, clearing the way to later resume dividends on common stock.