YEARS AGO

YEARS AGO

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 29, the 363rd day of 2015. There are two days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1170: Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury, is slain in Canterbury Cathedral by knights loyal to King Henry II.

1845: Texas is admitted as the 28th state.

1890: The Wounded Knee massacre takes place in South Dakota as an estimated 300 Sioux Indians are killed by U.S. troops sent to disarm them.

1916: Grigory Rasputin, the so-called “Mad Monk” who’d wielded great influence with Czar Nicholas II, is killed by a group of Russian noblemen in St. Petersburg.

1940: During World War II, Germany drops incendiary bombs on London, setting off what comes to be known as “The Second Great Fire of London.”

1972: Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, crashes into the Florida Everglades near Miami International Airport, killing 101 of the 176 people aboard.

1975: A bomb explodes in the main terminal of New York’s LaGuardia Airport, killing 11 people (it’s never been determined who was responsible).

1992: The United States and Russia announce agreement on a nuclear-arms reduction treaty.

2010: The Obama administration expels Venezuela’s ambassador to the United States, a day after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he would not allow diplomat Larry Palmer to become the U.S. ambassador to his country.

2014: President Barack Obama, in an NPR interview, warns congressional Republicans set to take control of both houses of Congress that he has a veto pen and would not be afraid to use it.

VINDICATOR FILES

1990: State Sen. Paul Pfeifer, R-Bucyrus, is contesting his November loss to Lee Fisher for state attorney general, asking the Ohio Supreme Court to reverse the outcome or order a new election because “massive mechanical and procedural errors” in Mahoning County tipped the election.

Castle Harlan Inc., a New York investment company, completes its purchase of Sharon Steel Corp.’s steel division in a transaction valued at $300 million.

1975: Two fires in New Castle, Pa., destroy the Sno-White One Hour Cleaners and the Barado Restaurant on South Mill Street.

Emanuel Catsoules is sworn in as city council president from his mother’s hospital room in South Side Hospital, where she is being treated for injuries suffered when struck by a car on Hillman Street.

Twelve Girl Scouts from Troop 656 in Poland receive the First Class Award, highest award in Girl Scouting: Gina Augustine, Nora DeCarlo, Debbie Holbert, Kathryn Kostyo, Marlene Lautner, Rachelle Minneman, Deanna Parsons, Gina Pompeo, Pamela Royal, Kelly Sakely, Margaret Sanders and Terri Windsor.

1965: Lowellville Village Council marks the end of an era by selling electric- and water-distribution systems to Ohio Edison Co. for $258,560 and Ohio Water Service Co. for $140,000.

Miss Anna M. Hadley, retired secretary and bookkeeper for Butler Wick & Co. who died in July at 95, leaves an estate appraised at $246,757.

A seal of approval is being offered to all breeding and boarding kennels and catteries in the Youngstown area by the Animal Charity League to recognize those of high quality.

1940: Three people are burned, none seriously, when an $8,000 fire destroys the historic Pulaski Hotel and damages a home next door. Mr. and Mrs. James Black, owners and operators of the hotel, and his aunt, Mrs. Ada Hershey, suffer burns.

For movie entertainment in 1940, Hollywood liked drama best. Comedy films ran a close second, adventure and biographies third, and musicals were an also-ran.

Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John H. Clarke, president of The Vindicator Printing Co. and a resident of San Diego, Calif., sends a telegram to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging more U.S. support for Great Britain.