Years Ago

Today is Thursday, March 19, the 78th day of 2015. There are 287 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1687: French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle — the first European to navigate the length of the Mississippi River — is murdered by mutineers in present-day Texas.

1863: The Confederate cruiser Georgiana, on its maiden voyage, is scuttled off Charleston, S.C., to prevent it from falling into Union hands.

1918: Congress approves daylight-saving time.

1920: Senate rejects, for a second time, the Treaty of Versailles by a vote of 49 in favor, 35 against, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval.

1931: Nevada Gov. Fred B. Balzar signs a bill legal- izing casino gambling.

1945: During World War II, 724 people are killed when a Japanese dive bomber attacks the carrier USS Franklin off Japan; the ship, however, is saved. Also, Adolf Hitler orders the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands in his so-called “Nero Decree,” which is largely disregarded.

1955: The inner-city school drama “Blackboard Jungle,” starring Glenn Ford, is released by MGM.

1965: The wreck of the Confederate cruiser Georgiana is discovered by E. Lee Spence, 102 years to the day after it had been scuttled.

1976: Buckingham Palace announces the separation of Princess Margaret and her husband, the Earl of Snowdon, after 16 years of marriage.

1979: The U.S. House of Representatives begins televising its floor proceedings; the live feed is carried by C-SPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network), which is making its debut.

1987: Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as chairman of his PTL ministry organization amid a sex and money scandal involving Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary.

1993:Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White announces plans to retire. (White’s departure paved the way for Ruth Bader Ginsburg to become the court’s second female justice.)

VINDICATOR FILES

1990: Robert J. Liptak, president of the Shenango Valley Water Co., who moved to the area 10 years ago, says the Shenango Valley is a remarkable place to live with great potential for growth.

Gov. Richard F. Celeste comes to Youngstown to announce that the “711 connector”, linking U.S. Route 422 and Division Street in Youngstown with I-80 and state Route 11 in Liberty Township, will be built at an estimated cost of $24 million.

The Lyons Medical Supply Co., whose Struthers warehouse was destroyed in a spectacular 1988 fire, plans to build a $1.5 million distribution center at the Salt Springs Industrial Park in Youngstown.

1975: Surpassing all projections, 15,000 Warren voters turn out for a special election and approve a 6.8-mill, three-year school levy by more than 2,000 votes.

Elaynne D. Morgan, who became the first woman elected to Poland Village Council in 1971, takes over as mayor of Poland after Merle L. Madrid accepts an appointment by Gov. James Rhodes as superintendent of maintenance in Mahoning County for the Ohio Department of Transportation.

A Fort Wayne, Ind., truck driver is injured when thrown from his overturned tractor-trailer in I-80 near the Ohio turnpike entrance in Jackson Township. The truck’s cargo of 37,000 pounds of olives spilled on the roadway.

1965: Lois Axtell Bunn, Broadway Avenue, widow of Youngstown schools Superintendent Paul C. Bunn, is found dead in her apartment by a neighbor of an apparent heart attack. She was 78.

The Rev. George Winca, pastor of Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church since 1958, succeeds the late Msgr. John G. Hamrak at St. Matthias Church. The Rev. William Yuko goes from Sheffield, Ohio, to Sts. Cyril and Methodius.

1940: East Liverpool City Council rejects a petition signed by 17 people urging a state or county investigation of suspected gambling operation.

A second swan dies within a week at Crandall Park, dropping the population to six, and Park Supt. Tom Pemberton says there’s no known cause for the deaths.

Taylorcraft Aviation Corp. in Alliance has a production schedule of 1,000 airplanes in 1940, says Richard H. DePew Jr., vice president and general manager.