YEARS AGO

YEARS AGO

Today is Tuesday, Feb. 23, the 54th day of 2016. There are 312 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1836: The siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.

1848: The sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, dies in Washington, D.C., at age 80.

1863: British explorers John H. Speke and James A. Grant announce they had found the source of the Nile River to be Lake Victoria.

1870: Mississippi is readmitted to the Union.

1903: President Theodore Roosevelt signs an agreement with Cuba to lease the area around Guantanamo Bay to the United States.

1927: President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill creating the Federal Radio Commission, forerunner of the Federal Communications Commission.

1934: Leopold III succeeds his late father, Albert I, as King of the Belgians.

1945: During World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima capture Mount Suribachi, where they raise a pair of American flags (the second flag-raising was captured in the iconic Associated Press photograph.)

1954: The first mass inoculation of schoolchildren against polio using the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh as some 5,000 students are vaccinated.

1995: The Dow Jones industrial average closes above the 4,000 mark for the first time, ending the day at 4,003.33.

2006: The snow-covered roof of a Moscow market collapses, killing 66 people.

2011: In a major policy reversal, the Obama administration says it no longer will defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law banning recognition of same-sex marriage.

2015: A jury in New York finds the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization liable for their roles in terrorist attacks in Israel between 2002 and 2004 in which Americans were killed or injured; the Palestinians said later they would appeal the ruling.

VINDICATOR FILES

1991: Dollar Savings & Trust Co. begins revamping the remains of the McKinley Bank in Niles in the wake of the first bank failure in Mahoning Valley history.

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission upholds a $9,000 fine against the A.P. O’Horo Co. in the 1984 death of Isaiah Richardson, 45, who was killed when a trench collapsed during construction of the Mosquito Creek sewer project in Howland.

Liberty’s Mark Majick sinks a winning 3-point shot with seconds left, giving the Leopards a 51-49 victory over Canfield in the final regular- season game.

1976: An off-duty Girard police dispatcher, John Villecco, is credited with thwarting a burglary at the Blue Crystal Nightclub when he noticed a man carrying merchandise from the tavern at 4:40 a.m.

Some 400 Strouss department store employees and their guests dine in the Southern Park Mall concourse and welcome new members into the 10-, 15-, 20- and 25-year clubs. Fred Gronvall, Strouss president, presents 25-year watches to 19 employees.

Duane Davidson and Lester DeZee roll a 1,336 to take over the lead in the doubles handicap column during the 44th Youngstown Men’s Bowling Association Tournament at Camelot Lanes and Lincoln Lanes.

1966: Ohio Secretary of State Ted Brown orders the name of Nils P. Johnson placed back on the May primary ballot for appellate judge. The Mahoning County Board of Elections had ruled Johnson’s election petitions invalid.

Columbiana Village Chamber of Commerce members say keys to growth are annexation of land to the village and creation of an airport in northern Columbiana County.

The Warren Board of Education appoints Richard A. Boyd assistant principal of the city’s new Western Reserve High School.

Billy Kyle, 53, a pianist for Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong who became ill while Armstrong was appearing at Stambaugh Auditorium, dies in South Side Hospital of complications from hemorrhaging ulcers.

1941: Don Meredith, 8, and Raymond Hall,10, are credited with saving their 7-year-old friend, Sue Newton, who fell through the ice while the three were skating on Yellow Creek in Struthers.

M. DeBartolo Construction Co. announces plans to build a second eight-unit apartment building on Prestwick Drive in Newport Village.

Sharon officials make plans to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the city’s incorporation.

Grace Fulton, Warren’s leading lady bowler, rolls 254 in the Ohio Women’s Tournament at Dayton, the highest in the tourney. She placed second.