Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Feb. 15, the 46th day of 2014. There are 319 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1564: Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei is born in Pisa.

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.

1764: The site of present-day St. Louis is established by Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau.

1933: President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt escapes an assassination attempt in Miami that mortally wounds Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak; gunman Giuseppe Zangara is executed more than four weeks later.

1944: Allied bombers destroy the monastery atop Monte Cassino in Italy.

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: About 40 tons of fireworks confiscated during the largest seizure of its kind in Ohio were returned under court order to a Deerfield dealer who was cleared of charges of illegally selling frieworks.

Trumbull County Commissioner Arthur U. Magee objects to what he said is the arbitrary replacement of one-term Children Services Board member Atty. John A. McNally III of Liberty with Atty. John A. Leopardi of Warren by a vote of commissioners Christopher S. Lardis and Anthony A. Latell Jr.

1974: Trustees of the Youngstown YMCA vote to close its West Federal branch and consolidate its programs with those of the Central Y. Atty. Floyd Hanes, chairman of the Save-the-W. Federal YMCA Committee, says the committee will cooperate in the merger.

Agents of the Youngstown Humane Society and Mahoning County Dog Warden Daniel Pecchio raid a Belleview Avenue home and confiscate 30 dogs and one guinea pig that were without food or water and in various stages of malnutrition and without adequate housing.

1964: The drought that has gripped the Youngstown area for nearly two years is tightening its pinch and causing concern about shortages of stored water and farm crops. Area reservoirs are at 55 percent of normal.

The Voyager Motor Inn, which opened in November in downtown Youngstown, announces a $500,000 expansion that will include 70 rooms and a swimming pool.

Grant E. Spong, widely known Youngstown industrial executive and civic leader, announces that he will leave Youngstown to become personnel director of Quaker Industries, a steel fabricator in Antioch, Ill.

1939: More than six inches of heavy, wet snow, most of which piled up within a period of five hours, cause rush- hour traffic jams in Youngstown and has interurban buses running between five and 35 minutes late.

Youngstown and PWA officials are conferring about awarding the contract for construction of City Hall to the second lowest bidder, a local contractor. Low bidder was Schimer- Peterson Co. of Cleveland at $215,913, followed by Charles F. Shutrump & Sons Co. of Youngstown at $220,800.