YEARS AGO

Today is Thursday, Jan. 1, the first day of 2015. There are 364 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1515: Louis XII, King of France, dies; he is succeeded by Francis I.

1660: Englishman Samuel Pepys begins keeping his famous diary.

1863: President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that slaves in rebel states shall be “forever free.”

1913: U.S. Parcel Post system goes into operation.

1935: The Associated Press inaugurates Wirephoto, the first successful service for transmitting photographs by wire to member newspapers.

1945: France is admitted to the United Nations.

1953: Country singer Hank Williams Sr., 29, is discovered dead in the back seat of his car during a stop in Oak Hill, W. Va., while he was being driven to a concert date in Canton, Ohio.

1959: Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries overthrow Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista, who flees to the Dominican Republic.

1975: A jury in Washington finds Nixon administration officials John N. Mitchell, H.R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman and Robert C. Mardian guilty of charges related to the Watergate cover-up; a fifth defendant, Kenneth Parkinson, was acquitted, and Mardian’s conviction for conspiracy was later overturned on appeal.

1979: The United States and China hold celebrations in Washington and Beijing to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

1985: The music cable channel VH-1 debuts with a video of Marvin Gaye performing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

1995: The World Trade Organization comes into being replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

Sweden, Findland and Austria join the European Union.

2005: Desperate, homeless villagers on the tsunami-ravaged island of Sumatra mob American helicopters carrying aid as the U.S. military launches its largest operation in the region since the Vietnam War.

Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress, dies near Daytona Beach, Fla., at age 80.

California Congressman Robert T. Matsui dies in Bethesda, Md., at age 63.

No. 6 Texas manages a wild 38-37 win over No. 13 Michigan in the Rose Bowl. Fifth-ranked Utah dominates 19th-ranked Pittsburgh 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl.

2010: A suicide bomber detonates a truckload of explosives on a volleyball field in northwest Pakistan, killing at least 97 people.

VINDICATOR FILES

1990: Youngstown area residents who put off buying for their New Year’s Eve parties until the last minute ran into a complication: With Dec. 31 a Sunday, very few retail outlets were licensed to sell wine, mixed drinks or liquor.

The Liberty Education Association, representing the district’s 92 teachers, and the Board of Education ratify a 12-month contract extension, avoiding a strike that was set for New Year’s Day.

Paul Easton of Boardman, a retired General Motors manager of human resources, is named the executive director of Hospice of Youngstown.

1975: David Furrie, 26, of Mineral Ridge, a deputy sheriff, is in critical condition in St. Elizabeth Hospital, Youngstown, with bullet wounds received during an armed robbery at the Clark’s Super 100 service station on state Route 46, where he was working.

Public interest in gold on the first day of legal trading in the metal since 1933 ranges from mild to nil in Youngstown brokerage houses. Gold is trading at about $200 per ounce.

Forty-two people died in traffic accidents in Mahoning County during 1974, five fewer than in 1973 and 29 fewer than in 1972.

1965: Schools and colleges are advised that no federal money will be available to them after Jan. 3 unless they are completely desegregated.

Joe Namath, Alabama quarterback, signs with the New York Jets for $400,000, making him football’s highest paid player ever.

Dr. Hugh N. Bennett, Heart Association president, endorses the group’s New Year’s resolution: “In 1965 I will take all possible precautions to reduce my risk of heart attack.”

1940: The Mahoning River, source of Warren’s drinking water, is described as little better than a sewer, and the city is looking at reservoirs at Berlin, Eagle Creek or Mosquito Creek as possible alternatives.

The annual New Year’s show opens at the Butler Art Institute with 307 works by Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia artists.

The 1930 were a period of economic depression, but Youngstown made outstanding progress in many fields, with major road, housing and school construction projects totaling $20 million and many important industrial improvements.