Years Ago

Today is Friday, March 30, the 90th day of 2012. There are 276 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1135: The Jewish philosopher Maimonides is born in Cordoba in present-day Spain.

1867: U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward reaches agreement with Russia to purchase the territory of Alaska for $7.2 million.

1870: The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits denying citizens the right to vote and hold office on the basis of race, is declared in effect by Secretary of State Hamilton Fish.

1909: The Queensboro Bridge, linking the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Queens, opens.

1923: The Cunard liner RMS Laconia beomes the first passenger ship to circle the globe as it arrives in New York.

1959: A narrowly divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Bartkus v. Illinois, rules that a conviction in state court following an acquittal in federal court for the same crime did not constitute double jeopardy.

1964: John Glenn withdraws from the Ohio race for the U.S. Senate because of injuries suffered in a fall.

The original version of the TV game show “Jeopardy!,” hosted by Art Fleming, premieres on NBC.

1972: North Vietnamese forces launch their three-pronged Easter Offensive against South Vietnam; the fighting lasts until the following October.

1981: President Ronald Reagan is shot and seriously injured in an assassination attempt outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr.

1986: Actor James Cagney dies at his farm in Stanfordville, N.Y., at age 86.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: More than half of the 25 full-time employees in the Youngstown Parks Department will be laid off until mid-June when the city’s pools and playgrounds open.

Thomas Sawyer Sr., president of the Trumbull County fair board, is under fire from former board members for keeping too tight a rein on board operations, but he says he’s just responding to the wishes of the current board majority.

The Rev. Bernard R. Bonnot, director of planning for the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, is appointed president and chief executive officer of Catholic Telecommunications Network of America Inc.

Hulk Hogan, World Wrestling Federation heavyweight champion, defends his title at Wrestlemania II which was seen by 2,800 fans on closed-circuit TV at the Beeghly Center on the campus of Youngstown State University.

1972: Lykes Youngstown Chairman Joseph T. Lykes Jr. and President Frank Nemec look to 1972 to be a “year of recovery” and one that is profitable.

Fourteen of the 57 jobs created in the second phase of Youngstown’s participation in the Federal Emergency Employment Act program pay $9,000 or more, hardly executive salaries but a far cry from unemployment or under-employment.

The Youngstown Area Chamber of Commerce urges the Youngstown Board of Education to rescind its newly adopted discipline procedure and asks Dr. Richard Viering, school superintendent who resigned in protest over the policy, to remain in his job.

City officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are negotiating a swap of 388 acres of Air Force land at the Youngstown Municipal Airport for 40 acres of city-owned land.

1962: The Mahoning County Republican Central Committee decides against endorsing candidates in most races. The committee had earlier endorsed Auditor James A. Rhodes for governor.

J.R. Philips, district manager of Republic Steel Corp., says a new battery of 59 coke ovens have been fired, giving the plant a total of 231 ovens with a daily capacity to carbonize 6,000 tons of coal a day.

Mahoning County commissioners slash $715,000 from department budget requests in order to meet the $4.5 million in anticipated general fund revenue.

1937: Youngstown will retire all of its scrip issued during the depression if a bill passes the Ohio General Assembly that allows cities to issue bonds for that purpose.

Ohio sets its minimum wages for hotel and restaurant workers at three levels. The wage for employees subject to receiving tips is $7.50 a week in cities of 100,000 or more; $7 in cities of 5,000 to 100,000 and $6.25 for villages under 5,000. The rates for nonservice employees are $10.50, $9 and $8 per week.

The Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. hot strip mill is likely to establish a new world record for mills of its type by exceeding 77,000 tons for a month.