Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Sept. 8, the 252nd day of 2012. There are 114 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1504: Michelangelo’s towering marble statue of David is unveiled to the public in Florence, Italy.

1565: A Spanish expedition establishes the first permanent European settlement in North America at present-day St. Augustine, Fla.

1761: Britain’s King George III marries Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, just a few hours after meeting her for the first time.

1892: An early version of “The Pledge of Allegiance,” written by Francis Bellamy, appears in “The Youth’s Companion.”

1900: Galveston, Texas, is struck by a hurricane that kills an estimated 8,000 people.

1921: Margaret Gorman, 16, of Washington, D.C., is crowned the first “Miss America” in Atlantic City, N.J.

1935: Sen. Huey P. Long, D-La., is shot and mortally wounded inside the Louisiana State Capitol; he dies two days later. (The assailant is identified as Dr. Carl Weiss, who was gunned down by Long’s bodyguards.)

1951: A peace treaty with Japan is signed by 49 nations in San Francisco.

1971: The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts makes its official debut in Washington, D.C., with a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass.”

1974: President Gerald R. Ford grants an unconditional pardon to former President Richard Nixon.

1987: Former Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart admits during an interview on ABC’s “Nightline” that he had committed adultery, and says he had no plans to resume his White House bid.

1994: A USAir Boeing 737 crashes into a ravine as it was approaching Pittsburgh International Airport, killing all 132 people on board.

VINDICATOR FILES

1987: Rayen Football coach John Turco says his most improved player this year is quarterback Ray Isaac, who led the Tigers to a 33-7 victory over Division I rival, Berea.

Buddy Blue, a rooster owned by 10-year-old Katie Elizabeth Rice of New Middletown, wins the 25th anniversary Rooster Crowing Contest at the Canfield Fair.

An engineering report calls for $60 million in capital improvements to the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District.

1972: Charges of armed robbery and kidnapping are expected to be filed by Boardman police against a 20-year-old Warren woman and 15-year-old girl accused of abducting and robbing two Lowellville women in the parking lot of the Southern Park Mall.

The Mahoning County grand jury issues its report after meeting for just a day and hearing 26 cases. The report includes a recommendation to county commissioners that the jail be upgraded, including the installation of closed circuit TV to monitor each floor, and that the commissioners provide funding for more staff.

1962: Members of the Youngstown Education Association welcome 100 new teachers to the school district during a breakfast at the Foster Memorial Presbyterian church.

The executive committee of the Mahoning Valley Council, Boy Scouts of America, approves a long-range capital improvements plan of $500,000 at Camp Stambaugh.

1937: A young gang of bandits shoots and kills Jim Tisone, 52, as he gets out of his car in front of his Wilson Avenue beer garden and escapes with a money bag containing $5,000. The robbery was apparently carefully planned on a day Tisone would be cashing railroad paychecks.

Traffic is snarled for more than two hours at Mahoning Avenue and Hazelwood Avenue after a truck loaded with furnace parts overturned in front of the A&P Tea Co. store.