Years Ago

Today is Thursday, Jan. 16, the 16th day of 2014. There are 349 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1883: The U.S. Civil Service Commission is established.

1920: Prohibition begins in the United States as the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution takes effect, one year to the day after its ratification. (It is later repealed by the 21st Amendment.)

1935: Fugitive gangster Fred Barker and his mother, Kate “Ma” Barker, are killed in a shootout with the FBI at Lake Weir, Fla.

1942: Actress Carole Lombard, 33, her mother Elizabeth and 20 other people are killed when their plane crashes near Las Vegas, Nev., while en route to California from a war-bond promotion tour.

1944: During World War II, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower formally assumes command of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in London.

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: Youngstown firefighters hamstrung by a lack of water on industrialized North Meridian Road are unable to halt a roaring blaze that levels much of Sentco Paint Manufacturing Co.

Jerry Olsavsky, a Pitt linebacker and graduate of Youngstown Chaney High School, scores on a 75-yard interception return as the East beats the West, 24-6, in the East-West Shrine Game at Stanford Stadium.

1974: The Youngstown Catholic Diocese Board of Education adopts a student pregnancy and abortion policy that asks the school community to accept unmarried students who have become pregnant and are returning to school and opposes abortion for either married or unmarried girls or women.

The Sharon Redevelopment Authority applies for $24,000 in federal funds for the beautification of buildings in its downtown urban renewal area.

The employment unit at the Mahoning County Welfare Department placed 847 welfare and low-income clients, most of them women, in jobs in 1973, according to a report by Vincent J. Doria, assistant welfare director.

1964: Astronaut John Glenn will announce his retirement from the Marine Corps and his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate from Ohio.

City, state and federal agents seize a 55-gallon still in full operation and moonshine cooking upstairs at a two-story frame house on Kyle Street in Youngstown, but find only an elderly grandmother at home.

Ohio Bell Telephone Co. announces a $3.3 million expansion and improvement program in Youngstown during a press conference at the Hotel Pick-Ohio.

1939: The Mahoning County Republican Party patronage committee recommends nine local Republicans for important state positions and a number for minor jobs.

Driving toward a goal of 2,000 abolished jobs, Gov. John H. Bricker announces that 46 additional jobs have been eliminated in the roads department.