Today in history

Today is Friday, Feb. 15, the 46th day of 2013. There are 319 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1764: The city of St. Louis is established by Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau.

1898: The U.S. battleship Maine mysteriously blows up in Havana Harbor, killing more than 260 crew members and bringing the United States closer to war with Spain.

1942: The British colony Singapore surrenders to Japanese forces during World War II.

1952: A funeral is held at Windsor Castle for Britain’s King George VI, who had died nine days earlier.

VINDICATOR FILES

1988: The trustee overseeing the bankruptcy of the Sharon Steel Corp. says CEO Victor Posner “will have to go.”

Ohio lawmakers are considering repeal of the state’s 21-month old law requiring the use of seat belts in motor vehicles after Rep. Richard Rench, R-Milan, says deaths on Ohio highways actually increased in the year after the law was passed and people should have the right to choose.

1973: The Youngstown Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 28, representing most of the city’s uniformed police officers, warns city council that drastic action will be taken unless legislation is passed authorizing the 7.5 percent pay increases that were negotiated.

Frank Leseganich declares that he is the winner in his bid for re-election as director of District 26, United Steelworkers of America on the basis of unofficial tallies giving him 8,929 votes to the 8,439 votes received by his nearest challenger.

1963: Hugh A. Frost, executive director of the McGuffey Center since 1956, is named to the Youngstown Board of Education to succeed Francis J. Witt Jr., who has moved to Cleveland.

Virgil J. Van Oss, an examiner from the state auditor’s office, tells Mahoning County commissioners that there is a serious abuse of gasoline credit cards by county officials amounting to perhaps thousands of dollars.

1938: A car-stripper who had removed three wheels from an auto escapes police bullets after being caught in the act by Constable John Dubhyak of Coitsville.

Hugh H. Bonnell, treasurer of the Mahoning County Tuberculosis Society, reports receipts of $10,475 from the 1937 Christmas Seal campaign.