Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Feb. 1, the 32nd day of 2014. There are 333 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1790: The U.S. Supreme Court convenes for the first time in New York. (However, since only three of the six justices were present, the court recessed until the next day.)

1861: Texas votes to leave the Union at a Secession Convention in Austin.

1893: The opera “Manon Lescaut,” by Giacomo Puccini, premieres in Turin, Italy.

1896: Puccini’s opera “La Boheme” premieres in Turin.

1922: In one of Hollywood’s most enduring mysteries, movie director William Desmond Taylor is shot to death in his Los Angeles home; the killing has never been solved.

1942: The Voice of America broadcasts its first program to Europe, relaying it through the facilities of the British Broadcasting Corp. in London.

1943: One of America’s most highly decorated military units, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, made up almost exclusively of Japanese-Americans, is authorized.

1946: Norwegian statesman Trygve Lie is chosen to be the first secretary-general of the United Nations.

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1989: Two of the potential Republican candidates for governor, U.S. Rep. Mike DeWine of Cedarville and state Rep. Jeffrey P. Jacobs of Cleveland, attend the 74th annual Mahoning Valley McKinley Club banquet in the Mc- Kinley Memorial Auditorium in Niles.

In a move to end a six-year legal battle with its black managers, professionals and clerical workers in Ohio and two other states, General Motors agrees to create a computer model that will statistically compare promotions and raises received by black and white workers and redress any gaps.

South High School and Wilson High School boost security amid concern over recent clashes between students near the schools.

1974: The General Motors Assembly Division plant at Lordstown, already facing a possible shutdown because of the independent truckers strike, has received a five-day strike notice from Local 1112, United Auto Workers union.

Standard Oil Co. announces an increase of 5.4 cents per gallon, bringing the price at the pump for regular gas at Sohio stations to 51.8 cents. Premium is 55.8 percent.

Gilbert Hopkins, a senior at South High School, wins the 1974 mayoral speakers contest and will preside as mayor at the YMCA’s annual Civic Day.

1964: Atty. T. Lamar Jackson of Harrington, Huxley & Smith is elected president of the Community Corporation, succeeding Sidney Moyer.

The Packaging Corp. of America at 600 N. Meridian Road announces that it will triple the size of its Austintown plant with a $480,000 addition.

A 16-year-old South Side youth is injured seriously after one of three cars he had stolen failed to make a curve in Rt. 45 at Western Reserve Road and crashed, pinning him underneath during a 110-mph chase by three police cruisers.

1939: Mahoning County relief director I.L. Feuer says a survey of WPA workers in the county shows that 10 percent are ineligible for a variety of reasons including having too great an income or being an alien. By the time all 9,000 workers are surveyed, it is likely that nearly 1,000 will be dismissed.

Standard Oil Co. slashes its prices in the Youngstown area by 2 cents a gallon, and some independent dealers follow suit. Prices are ranging from 16 cents to 181/2 cents a gallon.

Dr. Earle W. Cliff, a leading Youngstown physician for 25 years, dies in St. Elizabeth Hospital where he was being treated for a heart condition for a week. He was 54 and had delivered 2,800 babies during his career.