YEARS AGO

Today is Sunday, July 12, the 193rd day of 2015. There are 172 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1543: England’s King Henry VIII marries his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr.

1690: Forces led by William of Orange defeat the army of James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.

1862: During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill authorizing the Army Medal of Honor.

1909: The House of Representatives joins the Senate in passing the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, allowing for a federal income tax, and submits it to the states. (It was declared ratified in February 1913.)

1948: The Democratic National Convention, which nominated President Harry S. Truman for a second term of office, opens in Philadelphia.

1957: President Dwight D. Eisenhower is flown by helicopter from the White House to a secret mountaintop location as part of a drill involving a mock nuclear attack on Washington

1967: Six days of race-related rioting erupt in Newark, N.J.; the violence claims 26 lives.

1975: The African island nation of San Tome and Principe become independent of Portugal.

1977: President Jimmy Carter defends Supreme Court limits on government payments for poor women’s abortions, saying, “There are many things in life that are not fair.”

1984: Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale announces his choice of U.S. Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York to be his running-mate; Ferraro is the first woman to run for vice president on a major-party ticket.

1988: Democratic presidential candidate Michael S. Dukakis taps Sen. Lloyd Bentsen of Texas as his running-mate.

1994: President Bill Clinton, visiting Germany, goes to the eastern sector of Berlin, the first U.S. president to do so since Harry Truman.

2005: Mohammed Bouyeri, a Muslim extremist on trial in the slaying of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, unexpectedly confesses in court, saying he was driven by religious conviction. (Bouyeri was sentenced to life in prison.)

2010: Roman Polanski is declared a free man, no longer confined to house arrest in his Alpine villa, after Swiss authorities reject a U.S. request for the Oscar-winning director’s extradition because of a 32-year-old sex conviction.

VINDICATOR FILES

1990: Butler Institute of American Art officials decide to forgo development of a new volunteer group to replace the defunct Friends of American Art and will instead have a full-time museum staff member work as the “volunteer coordinator.”

Vandals cause at least $100,000 in damage to the 156-bed Lyden House dormitory at Youngstown State University, possibly preventing completion of in time for students to move in for fall classes.

Warren City Council passes an ordinance prohibiting construction of waste treatment facilities and garbage dumps in the city.

1975: Campbell Patrolman Frank Phillips, 36, is in critical condition in St. Elizabeth Hospital after being shot in the abdomen by the owner of Jimmy’s News Stand, who mistook him for a burglar.

Gov. James Rhodes signs a bill creating the Ohio Rail Transportation Authority, which will oversee rail development with powers similar to those of the turnpike authority.

After 55 years as a conductor, motorman and driver for the Western Reserve Transit System and its predecessor companies, Ralph Wilson retires at the age of 76.

1965: Roy M. Shook Jr. of Boardman wins the third Greater Youngstown Soap Box Derby sponsored by four Chevrolet dealers and the Jaycees. Tommy Woods of Canfield was second.

The Ohio Legislature takes the first step toward renaming Mosquito Creek Reservoir McKinley Lake. The final decision is up to Congress.

Three more people die in traffic accidents in Youngstown, bringing the toll to 21 so far, compared to five at this time in 1964. The latest to die were James E. Scott, 23, of Warren; Joelene Ann Miller, 19, of Austintown and Mary Jones, 78, of Hubbard.

1940: Film actress and model Diana Manners, who was born in Youngstown as Helen McDonough, is suing Hollywood photographer Art Carter for $150,000 for unauthorized publication of photographs of her in a shower bath and receiving a massage au naturel.

Aetna-Standard Engineering Co. in Youngstown receives a $3.3 million contract for gun carriages from the U.S. War Department.

After a heated exchange of words between Sheriff Ralph E. Elser and county Democratic Chairman Walter W. Mitchell at the Purple Cow over Elser’s gambling raids in the city, Mitchell invites the sheriff to “step outside.” Elser responds that he would be happy to go five rounds with Mitchell at Idora Park, with proceeds of the match going to war relief and the Democratic Party.