YEARS AGO

YEARS AGO

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 17, the 48th day of 2016. There are 318 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1815: The United States and Britain exchange the instruments of ratification for the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.

1863: The International Red Cross is founded in Geneva.

1865: During the Civil War, Columbia, S.C., burns as the Confederates evacuate and Union forces move in.

1904: The original two-act version of Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Madama Butterfly” receives a poor reception at its premiere at La Scala in Milan, Italy.

1913: The Armory Show, a landmark modern-art exhibit, opens in New York City.

1925: The first issue of The New Yorker magazine (bearing the cover date of Feb. 21) is published.

1933: Newsweek magazine is first published under the title News-Week.

1944: During World War II, U.S. forces invade Eniwetok Atoll, encountering little initial resistance from Imperial Japanese troops. (The Americans secured the atoll less than a week later.)

1959: The United States launches Vanguard 2, a satellite that carries meteorological equipment.

1964: The Supreme Court, in Wesberry v. Sanders, rules that congressional districts within each state had to be roughly equal in population.

1972: President Richard M. Nixon departs the White House with his wife, Pat, on a historic trip to China.

1986: Johnson & Johnson announces it no longer will sell over-the-counter medications in capsule form, after the death of a woman who had taken a cyanide-laced Tylenol capsule.

1996: World chess champion Garry Kasparov beats IBM supercomputer “Deep Blue,” winning a six-game match in Philadelphia (however, Kasparov lost to Deep Blue in a rematch in 1997).

2006: Ten U.S. service members die when two Marine Corps helicopters crash off the coast of Africa.

A federal jury in New Orleans clears Merck and Co. in the death of a 53-year-old Florida man who’d taken the painkiller Vioxx.

A mudslide in the Philippines kills more than 1,000 people.

Tanja Frieden of Switzerland wins the Olympic women’s snowboardcross, speeding past American Lindsey Jacobellis, who’d fallen on her next-to-last jump before the finish line.

William Cowsill, lead singer of the family band The Cowsills, dies in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, at age 58.

2011: A group of Democratic Wisconsin lawmakers blocks passage of a sweeping anti-union bill, refusing to show up for a vote and then abruptly leaving the state in an effort to force Republicans to the negotiating table.

2015: Vice President Joe Biden opens a White House summit on countering extremism and radicalization, saying the United States needs to ensure that immigrants are fully included in the fabric of American society to prevent violent ideologies from taking root at home.

VIINDICATOR FILES

1991: Despite a strong undercurrent of political patronage, Mahoning County officeholders steadfastly defend hiring lawyers to represent their offices, even though the county prosecutor is their legal counsel.

A spokesman for former state Sen. Paul Pfeifer, a Republican, says 55 Mahoning County ballots from the November election have disappeared. Pfeifer was defeated by Democrat Lee Fisher by 1,234 votes out of more than 3 million cast in the race for Ohio attorney general, and the ballot count in Mahoning County is being questioned by Pfeifer.

A study of county records shows that the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department made regular non-bid purchases of food from a poultry company owned by a captain in the department and from a restaurant operated by the captain’s children.

1976: For the second time in two weeks, Trumbull County deputies arrest a youth in connection with a bomb threat called into a local high school. The latest arrest involved a 17-year-old Newton Falls boy who made the threat to LaBrae High School.

Raging winds heavily damage four hangars and 14 small aircraft at Executive Airport in Canfield Township.

A 17-year-old Campbell youth who admitted stealing 10 cars two weeks earlier is arrested after being released from the juvenile justice center and being apprehended driving a stolen car.

1966: Niles City Council calls for new strictly enforced curfews after the arrest of seven Niles teenagers, the youngest 14 years old, on burglary charges.

Youngstown 5th Ward Councilman Jack C. Hunter calls for a bipartisan committee to discuss revisions to the city’s Home Rule Charter.

Country singer Johnny Cash brings his show to Stambaugh Auditorium, including June Carter, Tex Ritter and the Statler Brothers.

1941: The demand for skilled workers in Salem far exceeds the supply, says Arthur S. Johnson, manager of the unemployment office.

The Ohio Highway Patrol, Warren police and the Trumbull County sheriff’s office announce a crackdown on reckless drivers, and say they’ll be watching especially for stop-sign violations and unsafe vehicles.

Youngstown has spent $800,000 in “excessive prices” for “holdout” property in the PWA street-widening program, says Councilman Anthony T. Kryzan.