Years Ago

Today is Friday, June 29, the 181st day of 2012. There are 185 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1911: The Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers has its beginnings as Pope Pius X gives his blessing for the formation of The Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America.

1927: The first trans-Pacific airplane flight is completed as Lt. Lester J. Maitland and Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger fly 2,400 miles from Oakland, Calif., in 25 hours, 50 minutes.

1941: Polish statesman, pianist and composer Ignacy Jan Paderewski dies in New York at age 80.

1966: The United States bombs fuel storage facilities near the North Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Haiphong.

1967: Jerusalem is re-unified as Israel removes barricades separating the Old City from the Israeli sector.

1972: The U.S. Supreme Court, in Furman v. Georgia, Jackson v. Georgia and Branch v. Texas, strikes down a trio of death sentences, saying the way they had been imposed constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

1992: The remains of Polish statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski, interred for five decades in the United States, are returned to his homeland in keeping with his wish to be buried only in a free Poland.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Damage is estimated at $225,000 in the Kenmore Avenue area of Youngstown where a tornado touched down. The twister narrowly missed South High School.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Pension Benefit Guarantee may return control of LTV Corp.’s underfunded steel division pension plans to the company.

Hourly employees at the Brainard Strapping Division of Sharon Steel Corp. narrowly reject a concessionary contract that company officials say is essential to the future of local operations.

1972: Heavy rains during June have contributed to dwindling bird populations in the Mahoning Valley, especially purple martins, which subsist on insects that don’t fly in the rain. Frank Mills of Canfield, a local expert, says adult martins usually weigh five ounces, but the bodies of some birds weigh as little as an ounce and their digestive tracts are empty.

Atty. Eugene B. Fox takes over as president of the Mahoning County Bar Association.

1962: An investigator for the Workmen’s Compensation Services Co. tells Youngstown Mayor Harry Savasten that some city employees are abusing workmen’s compensation, collecting 65,000 so far this year for injuries ranging from a bruised toe or a rash, to more serious injuries.

U.S. Steel Corp. will close its Ohio and McDonald Works for at least a week, bringing the Youngstown district’s operating rate to about 35 percent.

1937: Gus Hall, fiery Steel Workers Organizing committee leader, is being sought for questioning by Warren police in connection with a strike-related bomb plot. Three other men have been arrested.

Four members of the SWOC Lodge in Campbell are arrested on charges of kidnapping for allegedly detaining Ivor W. Gardner, a steel worker, until he agreed to sign a SWOC card.

A Beaver Falls man, George Mike, is the 13th person to die in the seven-state steel strike after being hit by a projectile from a tear gas gun fired by a deputy sheriff outside the Moltrup Steel Products Co. in Beaver Falls.