Years Ago

Today is Thursday, Feb. 27, the 58th day of 2014. There are 307 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1801: The District of Columbia is placed under the jurisdiction of Congress.

1814:Ludwig van Beet-hoven’s Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93, is first performed in Vienna.

1911: Inventor Charles F. Kettering demonstrates his electric automobile starter in Detroit by starting a Cadillac’s motor with just the press of a switch, instead of hand-cranking.

1922: The Supreme Court, in Leser v. Garnett, unanimously upholds the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees the right of women to vote.

1933: Germany’s parliament building, the Reichstag, is gutted by fire. Chancellor Adolf Hitler, blaming the Communists, uses the fire as justification for suspending civil liberties.

1939: The Supreme Court, in National Labor Relations Board v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corp., effectively outlaws sit-down strikes.

1943: The U.S. government begins circulating one-cent coins made of steel and plated with zinc (the steel pennies proved very unpopular, since they were easily mistaken for dimes).

1951: The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, limiting a president to two terms of office, is ratified.

1960: The U.S. Olympic hockey team defeats the Soviets, 3-2, at the Winter Games in Squaw Valley, Calif. (The U.S. team goes on to win the gold medal.)

1968: At the conclusion of a CBS News special report on the Vietnam War, Walter Cronkite delivers a commentary in which he says the conflict appears “mired in stalemate.”

1973: Members of the American Indian Movement occupy the hamlet of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux men, women and children. (The occupation lasts until May.)

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: The Hubbard Board of Education debates adding soccer and 7th and 8th grade girls basketball to its programs, but some parents say all of the academic cuts that were made due to financial shortfalls should be restored first.

Councilwoman Darlene Rogers asks the Youngstown Law Department to prepare legislation that will make it more difficult for house strippers to sell aluminum siding or copper plumbing to local scrap yards. Stripping is on the rise with aluminum selling for 45 to 55 cents a pound and copper 65 to 75 cents.

Youngstown Patrolman Eric Thompson, 29, who has a reputation for recovering stolen cars, is seriously injured while chasing a suspected stolen car when a third car sideswipes his cruiser, causing it to strike an Oak Street Bridge abutment.

1974: A lawsuit is filed on behalf of Teamsters and Butchers unions asking the U.S. District Court to compel the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. to reopen its meat packing plant at Salem.

Trumbull County’s 700 employees and county commissioners reach an agreement on a new three-year contract that provides $47 per month, across-the-board pay increases and a $1,000 life insurance policy.

Commercial Shearing Inc. reports record earnings for 1973 of $7.7 million on sales of $104 million.

1964: Youngstown City Council’s three new Democratic members withdraw support from five legislative proposals submitted by Mayor Anthony B. Flask, including the purchase of two cars for the fire department and nine trucks for the street department.

The federal tax cut signed by President Johnson is expected to trigger a major spending boom by Youngstown district industries, writes George Reiss, Vindicator business editor.

Convicted wife slayer Dr. Sam Sheppard says he would give up his fight to prove his innocence if he were granted parole. Gov. James A. Rhodes says that decision is up to the parole board.

1939: Congressman Michael J. Kirwan of Youngstown is gaining wide praise as the only Ohio congressman to support the administration’s proposal to improve the harbor of Guam.

The Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co. receives an order that will be filled in Sharon, Pa., for four large transformers costing $206,000 from the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Sheriff Ralph Elser says a 20-year-old youth has confessed to sending a threatening note to a North Lima farmer threatening to murder him and his wife unless $5,000 was paid to him.