YEARS AGO

Today is Saturday, June 20, the 171st day of 2015. There are 194 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1782: Congress approves the Great Seal of the United States, featuring the emblem of the bald eagle.

1837: Queen Victoria accedes to the British throne after the death of her uncle, King William IV.

1863: West Virginia becomes the 35th state.

1893: A jury in New Bedford, Mass., finds Lizzie Borden not guilty of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.

1943: Race-related rioting erupts in Detroit; federal troops are sent in two days later to quell the violence that resulted in more than 30 deaths.

1967: Boxer Muhammad Ali is convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted. (Ali’s conviction was ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court).

1975: Steven Spielberg’s shark thriller “Jaws,” starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss is released by Universal Pictures.

VINDICATOR FILES

1990: Warren Western Reserve High School students say that if the city’s combined high school is going to use Warren G. Harding’s alma mater, it should use Reserve’s fight song.

Community Mutual Insurance, the Cincinnati-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan, permanently lays off 1,277 employees at the company’s Youngstown office at 2400 Market Street.

Youngstown State University trustees consider using the largest amount ever from its contingency fund – $1.6 million – to balance the proposed $87 million budget.

1975: In its suit to block the sale of Bancroft School, the NAACP contends that students in overcrowded black schools should have been transferred to Bancroft, rather than Bancroft students being transferred to Sheridan School, which increased segregation.

A federal appeals court rules that widowers are as entitled to the Social Security survivors benefits of the spouses as are widows.

After a 22-month wait, the Vienna Township Volunteer Fire Department receives its new $42,7000 pumper truck, which is painted “safety yellow” rather than the traditional fire engine red.

1965: Pressure is building to modify the 13-week “sabbaticals” that veteran steel workers receive under steel union contracts.

Jack C. Hunter, 35, an employee of the trust department of Mahoning National Bank, is recommended by the 5th Ward Republican Executive Committee as the GOP candidate for Youngstown’s 5th Ward council seat. The incumbent, Paul H. Kechler, is not seeking re-election.

A rash of traffic violations by young motorcyclists leads Niles Police Chief John Ross to warn parents that permits are needed for the vehicles. Some youths who have been arrested claim salesmen said no permits are needed.

1940: A taxpayer suit filed by Joe Sergi challenging Youngstown’s marble board ordinance is revealing how the “pin ball” machines are being used as gambling devices.

Ohio Sen. Maurice Lipscher proposes that payment to the state’s old-age pensioners be increased to $40 per month but that those who have other sources of income would receive less. The annual cap for a single person would be $480, and for a couple, $960.

Dog races resume at the Lake Milton Dog Track. A special attraction has been booked for June 25, 26 and 27: Duke Ellington and his world-famous orchestra.