YEARS AGO

Today is Monday, Jan. 26, the 26th day of 2015. There are 339 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1784: In a letter to his daughter, Sarah, Benjamin Franklin expresses unhappiness over the choice of the bald eagle as the symbol of America, and states his own preference: the turkey.

1837: Michigan becomes the 26th state.

1870: Virginia rejoins the Union.

1915: President Woodrow Wilson signs the Rocky Mountain National Park Act, which creates America’s 10th national park.

1925: Actor Paul Newman is born in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

1939: During the Spanish Civil War, rebel forces led by Gen. Francisco Franco capture Barcelona.

1942: The first American Expeditionary Force to go to Europe during World War II arrives in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

1950: India officially proclaims itself a republic as Rajendra Prasad takes the oath of office as president.

1962: The United States launches Ranger 3 to land scientific instruments on the moon — but the probe ends up missing its target by more than 22,000 miles.

1979: Former Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller dies in New York at age 70.

1988: Australians celebrate the 200th anniversary of their country as a grand parade of tall ships re-enacts the voyage of the first European settlers.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Phantom of the Opera” opens at Broadway’s Majestic Theater.

1998: President Bill Clinton forcefully denies having an affair with a former White House intern, telling reporters, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”

2005: A U.S. Marine helicopter crashes in western Iraq, killing 30 Marines and a Navy medic aboard.

VINDICATOR FILES

1990: A longtime Youngs-town Municipal Court employee has been “severed” from the court following allegations that he managed an unauthorized fund with eviction- notice fees collected from landlords.

Shari L. Harrell of Harrell Real Estate and Roy D. Pilasky of Warren General Hospital receive the Warren Area Jaycees’ Distinguished Service and Civic awards, respectively, at the Jaycees’ 43rd annual awards dinner and bosses’ night.

Youngstown State’s enrollment shows a 0.5-percent increase from the winter quarter of 1989 to 1990 (14,178 to 14,253).

1975: The Youngstown Police Department is brought up to full strength when 24 cadets are sworn in. Five will be paid with federal funds.

Walter Pestrak, a former Warren mayor who is the lone Democrat on Trumbull County’s board of commissioners, has not ruled out a June primary bid for the Democratic Party nomination for mayor.

Four veteran Youngstown firefighters are retiring: Capt. Michael Jankovic, Capt. Edwin Fleming, Capt. Roy Gelonese and Fireman Nicholas Colla.

1965: Thirty-seven new practical nurses graduate from the Choffin Vocational Center practical nursing program during ceremonies at Princeton Junior High School.

Ohio Bell Telephone Co. warns Youngstown area businesses and residential customers that a thief posing as a telephone repairman has been operating in the Youngstown area.

1940: A Summit County jury of four women and eight men takes just 18 minutes to convict Frank Bruno, 48, of Youngstown of extortion in the Akron “music box wars.” He allegedly sought payment of a $15 initiation fee and 25 cents a month for each music machine in Summit County.

Columbus police are searching for the perpetrators of what United Mine Workers President John L. Lewis called a “cowardly, reprehensible and dastardly trick” in unfurling a large red flag emblazoned with the Communist hammer and sickle when he was delivering an address marking the UMW’s 50th anniversary.

The price of gasoline in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties drops a half-cent, making the price of regular gasoline 16.5 cents a gallon and ethyl, 18.5 cents a gallon.