Years Ago

Today is Sunday, Feb. 2, the 33rd day of 2014. There are 332 days left in the year. This is Groundhog Day.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1536: Present-day Buenos Aires, Argentina, is founded by Pedro de Mendoza of Spain.

1653: New Amsterdam — now New York City — is incorporated.

1848: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War, is signed.

1887: Punxsutawney, Pa., has its first Groundhog Day festival.

1914: Charles Chaplin makes his movie debut as the comedy short “Making a Living” is released by Keystone Film Co. (Five days later, Keystone releases “Kid Auto Races at Venice,” in which Chaplin first plays his famous Tramp character.)

The musical “Shameen Dhu,” featuring the song “Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral,” opens on Broadway.

1922: The James Joyce novel “Ulysses” is published in Paris on Joyce’s 40th birthday.

1934: The Export-Import Bank of the United States has its beginnings as the Export-Import Bank of Washington is established.

1943: The remainder of Nazi forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrenders in a major victory for the Soviets in World War II.

1964: Ranger 6, a lunar probe launched by NASA, crashes onto the surface of the moon as planned, but fails to send back any TV images.

1971: Idi Amin, having seized power in Uganda, proclaims himself president.

1988: In a speech the broadcast television networks decline to carry live, President Ronald Reagan presses his case for aid to the Nicaraguan Contras.

1990: In a dramatic concession to South Africa’s black majority, President F.W. de Klerk lifts a ban on the African National Congress and promises to free Nelson Mandela.

2004: President George W. Bush unveils a $2.4 trillion budget featuring a record deficit, as well as big increases for defense and homeland security.

2009: President Barack Obama’s choice for health secretary, Tom Daschle, apologizes for failing to pay more than $120,000 in taxes. (Daschle ends up withdrawing his nomination.)

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: A truck transporting Cesium 137, a radioactive material used to take X-rays of well casings at gas drilling sites, overturns at Tibbetts-Wick Road and state Route 11, but the lead-sealed container did not leak.

Poland Township Trustee Nick Jeswald criticizes his two colleagues who apparently approved of Police Chief Richard Anderson taking a police cruiser to Virginia while he attended an 11-week training session at the FBI National Academy.

The Ohio Department of Highway Safety announces that 66 deputy registrar offices will be closed in the state, including four of the eight in Trumbull County, three of the eight in Mahoning County and three of the six in Columbiana County.

1974: Warrants are issued for the arrest of an 18-year-old North High School senior who allegedly attacked a North High band director after the teacher accused the student of stealing a musical instrument.

A Tri-County Crime Laboratory will be set up at Youngstown State University under a $115,000 federal grant.

Fire destroys the main store and offices of the Morgan Home & Lumber Center at 5400 Oak Hill Drive in Champion Township. The monetary loss is expected to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

1964: Enrollment at Youngstown University reaches a new high of 8,545 at the beginning of the new semester, 454 more than a year earlier.

The YU Penguins’ unbeaten streak of 16 games is snapped by Central State of Ohio, 75-69, at Wilberforce. Youngstown led 34-28 at halftime.

Charles Pollock of Boy Scout Troop 35 at First United Presbyterian Church in Niles receives his Eagle Scout Award, and Alfred Robison receives his Eagle Award at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Girard.

1939: A dozen marble boards and five music machines valued at $4,000 are destroyed in a fire at the garage of Joseph Saker, 1157 Edgewood Ave., Warren. The garage was being used as a shop and storeroom for the marble boards, which had been outlawed in the city.

Nine people are injured when their car skids on ice in South Avenue near Marion Avenue and strikes a pole. The family of Mr. and Mrs. John Yavorsky was hurrying to Candlemas services at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church.

The Ohio Supreme Court rules that marble board games are illegal gambling devices and cities cannot turn them into revenue producers through licensing.