YEARS AGO

Today is Thursday, Dec. 29, the 364th day of 2016. There are two days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1170: Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is slain in Canterbury Cathedral by knights loyal to King Henry II.

1808: The 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, is born in Raleigh, N.C.

1890: The Wounded Knee massacre takes place in South Dakota as an estimated 300 Sioux Indians are killed by U.S. troops sent to disarm them.

1916: James Joyce’s first novel, “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” is first published in book form in New York after being serialized in London.

1940: During World War II, Germany drops incendiary bombs on London, setting off what came to be known as “The Second Great Fire of London.”

1975: A bomb explodes in the main terminal of New York’s LaGuardia Airport, killing 11 people (It’s never been determined who was responsible.)

2006: Word reaches the U.S. of the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (because of the time difference, it was the morning of Dec. 30 in Iraq when the hanging took place).

2015: Belgian authorities announce they have arrested two men and seized military-type uniforms and Islamic State group propaganda in connection with a suspected plot to unleash holiday season attacks against police and celebrated locations in Brussels.

VINDICATOR FILES

1991:Mahoning County Prosecutor James A. Philomena predicts that local violence is going to get worse before it gets better. Youngstown registered a record 58 homicides in 1991.

Youngstown State University Alumni group says there are YSU satellite groups throughout the nation, and it expects them to grow as a result of the Penguins winning the Division 1-AA national football championship.

Albert D. Glover, a professor at West Virginia University and director of the school’s Tobacco Research Center, predicts a surge in mouth-cancer cases around the turn of the century, based on the increasing use of smokeless tobacco by teenagers.

1976: Bar Processing Corp,. a Detroit steel-bar processor and storage facility, is the first plant that will locate in a 42-acre industrial park in Newton Falls

Ohio Bell Telephone Co. reinstates a Youngstown long-distance operator fired for taking too much sick leave, ending a five-hour strike by 500 workers in Youngstown, Salem and East Liverpool.

Arson is believed to be the cause of a fire that gutted the Farrell Memorial Community Center at 211 Federal St.

The U.S. Department of Commerce tells Youngstown Mayor Jack C. Hunter that $2.1 million that had been allotted to Milton Dam repairs may instead go toward a $2.4 million project to expand the terminal and build a hangar at the Youngstown Municipal Airport.

1966: Two major steps toward execution of Youngstown’s Central Business district urban renewal program are taken when city council passes legislation to acquire property.

Fire officials in six states warn that hundreds of thousands of imported dolls with flaxen hair bought for the Christmas season have both hair and faces that could be flammable.

A two-week wave of small thefts adds five more victims to a long list, including two women, Ann Restuccio and Audrey Kemp, who were injured by young purse snatchers.

1941: Atty. Ralph P. Swanner is appointed administrator of the Commodity Distribution Committee, which will handle tire rationing in Youngstown.

The Miami University Women’s Club has an afternoon tea at the Manchester Room of the YMCA for the pleasure of Miami students home for the holidays.

More than 500 Vindicator carrier boys will open a defense savings-stamp sales campaign with a rally at the Warner Theater.