Years Ago

Today is Sunday, May 27, the 148th day of 2012. There are 218 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1861: Chief Justice Roger Taney, sitting as a federal circuit court judge in Baltimore, rules that President Abraham Lincoln lacks the authority to suspend the writ of habeas corpus (Lincoln disregards the ruling).

1912: Golf legend Sam Snead is born in Ashwood, Va.

1935: The Supreme Court strikes down the National Industrial Recovery Act.

1941: The British Royal Navy sinks the German battleship Bismarck off France, with a loss of some 2,000 lives, three days after the Bismarck sank the HMS Hood.

1942: Navy Cook 3rd Class Doris “Dorie” Miller is the first African-American to receive the Navy Cross, cited for extraordinary courage during Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.

1962: A dump fire in Centralia, Pa., ignites a slow-burning blaze in underground coal deposits that continues to smolder to this day.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987:Youngstown Finance Director Gary Kubic says the city will investigate the New Avanti Motor Co. and its president, Michael E. Kelly, to determine the company’s potential profitability in light of recent revelations about some of Kelly’s past dealings.

The Columbiana Jaycees hold their four-day festival in the Village Plaza with a 12-ride midway, parade and fireworks.

1972: James D’Amoto, 59, of Youngstown is fined $50 and has his license suspended for 30 days after being clocked at 126 mph in a 70 mph zone on state Route 11 near Route 30. He told a trooper he was hurrying to make the daily double at Waterford Park. D’Amoto is second in the Lake-to-River derby, a Lisbon man having been clocked at 134 mph some time ago.

Youngstown Parks Superintendent Ed Finamore announces that the city will open its six swimming pools on June 15.

1962: A slump in the steel industry that is affecting many aspects of the Mahoning Valley economy is expected to last until the fall, Vindicator industrial writer George Reiss reports.

The Youngstown Park and Recreation Commission increases the swimming fee for children at city pools from 5 cents to 10 cents and cuts the pay of workers at the pool to balance the budge. Lifeguards will get $9.50 instead of $10 per day and cashiers and locker help will get $7.25 and $6.25 a day respectively.

1937: Nearly 70,000 steel workers nationwide and 32,000 in the Mahoning Valley walk off the job in a strike ordered by the Steel Workers Organizing Committee against Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., Republic Steel Corp. and Inland Steel..

Youngstown Mayor Lionel Evans asks state liquor stores and any state-licensed outlets to stop the sale of liquor during the steelworkers strike. A crackdown on bootleggers is also ordered.

Youngstown district railroads begin laying off crews working in yards that serve steel mills.