Years Ago

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 25, the 25th day of 2012. There are 341 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1890: Reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) of the New York World completes a round-the-world journey in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes.

The United Mine Workers of America is founded in Columbus, Ohio.

1915: Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service between New York and San Francisco.

1947: American gangster Al Capone dies in Miami Beach, Fla., at age 48.

1959: American Airlines begins Boeing 707 jet flights between New York and Los Angeles.

1961: President John F. Kennedy holds the first presidential news conference to be carried live on radio and television.

1971: Idi Amin seizes power in Uganda by ousting President Milton Obote in a military coup.

1981: The 52 Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days arrive in the U.S.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Youngstown Finance Director Gary T. Kubic says a 30 percent drop in the number of cases filed in Youngstown Municipal Court between 1976 and 1985 proves that three city judges are unnecessary.

Eleventh District Court of Appeals Judge Donald R. Ford orders Trumbull County commissioners to stop spending on any services that are not mandated by law, such as the Office of Elderly Affairs and the Cooperative Extension Service office, in response to a lawsuit brought by 14 county officeholders against the commissioners.

1972: Fanned by 46 mile-per-hour winds, a four alarm fire guts the 140,000 square foot warehouse on Hubbard Road that was formerly used by the A&P supermarket company.

Commercial Shearing & Stamping Co. increases its net sales $2.4 million in fiscal 1971, reaching a record high of $67 million. Record earnings were $3.3 million, equal to $2.26 a share.

1962: The Struthers Board of Education rejects renewal of the contract of O.J. Gabriel, superintendent of schools for 18 years, by a vote of 3-2.

General Fireproofing Co. makes its first move to enter the plastic and more competitive lower-priced chair market with the acquisition of Sturgis Cos. of Sturgis, Mich., and Charleston, S.C.

The chief of the U.S. Army Engineers Corps at Pittsburgh, Col. Bert De Maelker, says he sees no reason to conduct further hearings on a proposed Lake Erie-to-Ohio River Canal because those that have been held are producing little new information.

1937: About 20 people are rescued from their homes in the Valley Street district of Youngstown and flood waters do thousands of dollars in property damage.

Police in Portsmouth, Ohio, are given “shoot to kill” orders in an attempt to discourage looters from invading abandoned homes in the flooded city.

Columbiana County Engineer Robert S. Wheatley announces that 36 road workers are being dismissed in order to balance the budget.