YEARS AGO

Today is Friday, Jan. 2, the second day of 2015. There are 363 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1788: Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1893: The U.S. Postal Service issues its first commemorative stamp to honor the World’s Columbian Expedition and the quadricentennial of Christopher Columbus’ voyage.

1900: Secretary of State John Hay announces the “Open Door Policy” to facilitate trade with China.

1921: Religious services are broadcast on radio for the first time as KDKA in Pittsburgh airs the regular Sunday service of the city’s Calvary Episcopal Church.

1935: Bruno Hauptmann goes on trial in Flemington, N.J., on charges of kidnapping and murdering the 20-month-old son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was found guilty and executed.)

1942: The Philippine capital of Manila is captured by Japanese forces during World War II.

1955: The president of Panama, Jose Antonio Remon Cantera, is assassinated.

1960: Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts launches his successful bid for the presidency.

VINDICATOR FILES

1990: Ohio Highway Patrol troopers in Mahoning and Trumbull counties announce the arrest of 16 people for drunken driving over the New Year’s weekend.

Two Youngstown teenagers arrested in the shooting of an East Cleveland high school basketball coach plead guilty to delinquency charges before Juvenile Court Judge James M. McNally. Sentencing will be at a later date.

A mixture of drugs, alcohol and guns leaves two men dead after a New Year’s Eve party at 1444 Florencedale Ave. Dead are Russell Clinton, 26, and Christopher J. Ross, 24.

1975: Struthers Mayor Thomas J. Creed resigns from office to become energy-resource coordinator of the Eastgate Development and Transportation Agency.

Mahoning County’s first baby of 1975 is the daughter of Joseph and Margaret Grimm, born at 2:24 a.m. at Tod Babies & Children’s Hospital, despite a nurses strike at the hospital.

1965: Four nuns from Defiance, Ohio, drive to Detroit and back in a car sought in three states as stolen. The “stolen” car was parked next to one they were supposed to use and the ignition key fit both.

The Ohio Turnpike has the largest revenue and greatest number of fatalities in its history. Five more deaths were recorded than at any previous year. Income was $28.6 million.

Shawn V. Khoury, a Youngstown University cum laude graduate, earns a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh.

1940: Mayor William B. Spagnola, his wife and mother arrive at City Hall for the first day of his administration and greet more than 400 people in a receiving line.

Youngstown has the second lowest traffic fatality record in 10 years during 1939, with 32 deaths recorded on city highways.

Employees of the Girard water and street departments who were asked to resign by Mayor Alex Whitford will fight to retain their jobs, which they say are protected by civil service and by their membership in the State, County and Municipal Union.