YEARS AGO

YEARS AGO

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 3, the 34th day of 2016. There are 332 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1783: Spain formally recognizes American independence.

1865: President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens have a shipboard peace conference off the Virginia coast; the talks deadlock over Southern autonomy.

1913: The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, is ratified.

1924: The 28th president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, dies in Washington, D.C., at age 67.

1943: During World War II, the U.S. transport ship Dorchester, which was carrying troops to Greenland, sinks after being hit by a German torpedo; of the more than 900 men aboard, only some 230 survive.

1959: Rock ’n’ roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson die in a small-plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

An American Airlines Lockheed Electra crashes into New York’s East River, killing 65 of the 73 people on board.

1994: The space shuttle Discovery lifts off, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a U.S. spacecraft.

2006: An Egyptian passenger ferry sinks in the Red Sea during bad weather, killing more than 1,000 passengers.

2011: Tens of thousands of protesters stage unprecedented demonstrations against Yemen’s autocratic president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key U.S. ally in battling Islamic militants, as unrest inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia spreads further in the Arab world.

2015: An evening rush-hour commuter train with 750 people aboard slams into an SUV at a crossing in Valhalla, N.Y., killing the vehicle’s driver and six people on the train.

VINDICATOR FILES

1991: A young couple originally from Springfield Township, Richard T. and Dawn Withers, are listed as unaccounted for after the crash of a USAir jetliner that collided with a commuter plane at Los Angeles International Airport.

The Ohio auditor’s office cites Mahoning County for failure to comply with competitive bidding rules on purchases or leases exceeding $826,000.

Bill Prus of Canfield, who has driven a Model T Ford for 40 years, is elected president of the Model T Ford Club International, which has 72 chapters and 4,000 members.

1976: Fire sweeps through a rented home at 1112 Edgewood St. NE in Warren, killing John W. Davis, 33; his wife, Loretta, 30; and their 7-year-old son, William.

A 40-year-old Liberty Township man is arraigned on a charge of grand theft, accused of flimflamming Olive Grubb, an 82-year-old retired teacher, of $56,000.

Ernie Holmes, a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers “Steel Curtain,” is arrested in Amarillo, Texas, after being charged with possession of 250 grams of cocaine. Holmes was on probation for gunfire and a police chase in the Mahoning Valley in 1973 that ended with an Ohio State Highway Patrol helicopter pilot being wounded.

1966: Nearly 1,000 top science students and teachers from throughout the Mahoning and Shenango valleys attend the second Industrial Information Institute forum at Boardman High School.

Poland Village Council will reduce the speed limit on Main Street from 35 to 25 mph.

Mahoning County Community College Board releases a 143-page report outlining the need for a community college in Mahoning County.

1941: Youngstown Engineer Ralph W. O’Neill reports that 46 employees on the PWA street-widening payroll will miss their paychecks because the salary fund is nearly exhausted.

Vitya Vronsky and Victor Babin, the famous piano duo, arrive in Youngstown for a performance as part of the Monday Musical Club series.

State highway patrolmen from the Salem barracks arrest 16 motorists during a weekend crackdown on reckless driving.