Years Ago

Today is Friday, March 28, the 87th day of 2014. There are 278 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1854: During the Crimean War, Britain and France declare war on Russia.

1898: The Supreme Court, in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, rules that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants is a U.S. citizen.

1914: U.S. Sen. and Secretary of State Edmund Muskie is born in Rumford, Maine.

1930: The names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora are changed to Istanbul and Ankara.

1935: The notorious Nazi propaganda film “Triumph des Willens” (Triumph of the Will), directed by Leni Riefenstahl, premieres in Berlin with Adolf Hitler present.

1939: The Spanish Civil War nears its end as Madrid falls to the forces of Francisco Franco.

1941: Novelist and critic Virginia Woolf, 59, drowns herself near her home in Lewes, East Sussex, England.

1943: Composer Sergei Rachmaninoff dies in Beverly Hills, Calif.

1969: The 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, dies in Washington, D.C., at age 78.

1979: America’s worst commercial nuclear accident occurs with a partial meltdown inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa.

1990: President George H.W. Bush presents the Congressional Gold Medal to the widow of U.S. Olympic legend Jesse Owens.

VINDICATOR FILES

1989: Youngstown City Jail could be closed and city prisoners housed in the new Mahoning County Jail if negotiations between the city and county on leasing space are successful.

Auto dealer Jim Pace, who owns Pace Pontiac and Superior Lincoln-Mercury-Isuzu in Niles, expands his local presence with the purchase of a Chevrolet dealership from the sons of Charles H. Stiver, who founded the Stiver Niles dealership during the Depression.

A survey released by Ohio Citizen Action shows a “substantial rate gap” between Ohio Edison Co. and nearly all other private or municipal electric companies in the state.

1974: Despite predictions that coal may be the nation’s answer to the energy crisis, mining firms in the greater Youngstown area aren’t enthusiastic over the prospects of their product ever replacing petroleum and its derivatives.

Youngstown Mayor Jack C. Hunter suggests that rather than Youngstown taking over Mill Creek Park, as has been suggested by some councilmen, that the county commissioners be asked if they’re interested in running the park.

Atty. William E. Fowler Jr. is elected to his eighth term and Atty. Peter P. Michaels to his third as members of the Ohio State Bar Association’s council of delegates during the spring meeting of District 13 at the Hotel Ohio in Youngstown.

1964: The Mahoning County Red Cross reports being inundated by calls from people wanting to know about Youngstown friends and relatives who are in Alaska, which has been shaken by an earthquake that is believed to have killed hundreds.

Joseph Mogulich, 18, former Cardinal Mooney High football star, is treated at South Side Hospital after being dragged from his car at Miller and Gibson streets and beaten by two men.

Josephine Kearcher, owner of the Kearcher Plaza Beauty Salon in Salem is one of eight cosmetologists selected to represent the United States at the world hair-styling competition to be held in the fall in Switzerland.

1939: Youngstown City Council votes to buy 570 parking meters that have been used on a lease-purchase agreement for six months.

Youngstown Police Chief Carl L. Olson warns motorists that they have four days to buy their 1939 license plates or face arrest and an $18 fine if they are caught driving on expired plates.

Morris Engle, operator of Blue Bird Club, N. Meridian Road, watches as Sheriff Ralph E. Elser and his deputies smash five slot machines valued at $125 each.