YEARS AGO

Today is Monday, March 9, the 68th day of 2015. There are 297 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1661: Cardinal Jules Mazarin, the chief minister of France, dies, leaving King Louis XIV in full control.

1796: The future emperor of the French, Napoleon Bonaparte, marries Josephine de Beauharnais (The couple later divorced.)

1862: During the Civil War, the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimac) clash for five hours to a draw at Hampton Roads, Va.

1916: Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attack Columbus, N.M., killing 18 Americans.

1933: Congress, called into special session by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, begins its “hundred days” of enacting New Deal legislation.

1935: Animated cartoon character Porky Pig first appears in the Warner Bros. animated short “I Haven’t Got a Hat.”

1945: During World War II, U.S. B-29 bombers launch incendiary bomb attacks against Tokyo, resulting in an estimated 100,000 deaths.

1954: CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow critically reviews Wisconsin Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy’s anti- communism campaign on “See It Now.”

1964: The U.S. Supreme Court, in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, raises the standard for public officials to prove they’d been libeled in their official capacity by news organizations.

1965: The Rev. James Reeb, a white minister from Boston who’d gone to Selma, Ala., to show support for civil rights marchers, is attacked by a group of white men and struck on the head; he died two days later at age 38.

1977: About a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invade three buildings in Washington, D.C., killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. (The siege ended two days later.)

1981: Dan Rather debuts as principal anchorman of “The CBS Evening News.”

1990: Dr. Antonia Novello is sworn in as surgeon general, becoming the first woman and the first Hispanic to hold the job.

2005: Michael Jackson’s young accuser takes the witness stand, saying he once considered the pop star being tried for allegedly molesting him “the coolest guy in the world.” (Jackson was later acquitted.)

Dan Rather signs off for the last time as principal anchorman of “The CBS Evening News.”

2010: Vice President Joe Biden, visiting Israel, condemns an Israeli plan to build hundreds of homes in east Jerusalem.

VINDICATOR FILES

1990: A New Bedford, Pa., man is fined $150 for animal cruelty and ordered to give nine malnourished ponies and a horse to the Lawrence County Humane Society.

Campeau Corp., the financially distressed owner of U.S. department stores under bankruptcy protection, will default on $5.2 million in interest owed to the Edward J. DeBartolo Corp.

Packard Electric must reduce its costs by December 1991 or risk losing business from its parent, General Motors Corp., officials say. “Don’t panic, but this is getting serious,” says Harold Nichols, IUE Local 717 shop chairman.

1975: The MAT Narcotics Strike Force Unit, a federally funded project to curb drug trafficking in the four-county area, begins a year-long phase-out of its operations.

Of 136 candidacy petitions taken out for the June municipal primary elections in Mahoning County, only nine were taken by women aspiring to office.

Carl Wallenda, a circus legend for 50 years, will walk the high wire at the Aut Mori Grotto Circus at the Struthers Field House. Wallenda, 70, will be joined by a grandson and granddaughter.

1965: Cardinal Mooney High School wins all team trophies at the annual National Forensic League district tourney at Euclid. Two students, Diane Fortine of Mooney and Pete Campian of Boardman, qualify for the national tournament in Omaha.

The Automobile Dealers Association of Eastern Ohio installs Aura Wheeler, president of Valley Pontiac Inc., as president.

The seven women lawmakers in Ohio’s Legislature introduce a bill to repeal the federal tax on handbags, costume jewelry, cosmetics and luggage, saying most of these items are “a necessary part of women’s dress wear.”

1940: An intoxicated gunman holds up Jay’s Lunch, 300 W. Federal St., as a dozen patrons look on, escaping with $2,300.

City purchases of gasoline, coal, oil and other supplies costing thousands of dollars will be tested periodically to determine whether they are of specified quality and quantity, says Youngstown Finance Director Walter W. Mitchell.

Henry C. Wick, 86, member of an early Ohio banking and steel family who headed the Henry Wick & Co. banking firm founded by his father, dies in Cleveland. A son, Kenneth, survives.