YEARS AGO

Today is Sunday, Jan. 10, the 10th day of 2016. There are 356 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1776: Thomas Paine anonymously publishes his influential pamphlet, “Common Sense,” which argues for American independence from British rule.

1861: Florida becomes the third state to secede from the Union.

1870: John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.

1901: The Spindletop oil field in Beaumont, Texas, produces the Lucas Gusher, heralding the start of the Texas oil boom.

1916: Men loyal to Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa stop a train at Santa Ysabel and shoot a group of U.S. mining employees execution-style (the reported number of dead varies from 16 to 18).

1920: The League of Nations is established as the Treaty of Versailles goes into effect.

1946: The first General Assembly of the United Nations convenes in London.

The first manmade contact with the moon is made as radar signals transmitted by the U.S. Army Signal Corps were bounced off the lunar surface.

1947: The musical fantasy “Finian’s Rainbow,” with music by Burton Lane and lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, opens on Broadway.

1967: Massachusetts Republican Edward W. Brooke, the first black elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote, takes his seat.

1971: “Masterpiece Theatre” premieres on PBS with host Alistair Cooke introducing the drama series “The First Churchills.”

French fashion designer Coco Chanel dies in Paris at age 87.

1984: The United States and the Vatican establish full diplomatic relations for the first time in more than a century.

2000: America Online announces it is buying Time Warner for $162 billion).

2006: Iran resumes nuclear research two years after halting the work to avoid possible U.N. economic sanctions.

2011: The nation gets its first look at Jared Loughner, the accused assailant of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, as a federal judge in Phoenix orders the 22-year-old suspect held without bail.

A judge in Austin, Texas, orders former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to serve three years in prison for his money laundering conviction. (DeLay’s conviction was ultimately overturned.)

2015: Hundreds of thousands of people march in French cities from Toulouse in the south to Rennes in the west to honor the victims of recent terror attacks.

VINDICATOR FILES

1991: A leader of Youngs-town’s Arab-American community, grocer Sam Bahour, refused to be interviewed by the FBI about potential terrorist activities as prospects for war in the Persian Gulf heighten, saying he doesn’t trust the FBI, which he believes is attempting to intimidate his people.

A 40-year-old Struthers man who had been a Big Brother volunteer, is arrested on two felony counts after police find more than 1,000 photographs of young boys, many of them nude, at his home.

State Rep. Joseph J. Vukovich III, D-53rd of Poland, introduces a bill in the Ohio House that would make it illegal for employers to fail to notify workers when their fringe benefits are going to be canceled.

1976: Chester Amedia is named chairman of a committee to consider the fate of the Mahoning County Nursing Home, which has a deficit of $941,000 and faces a continuing annual deficit of at least $400,000.

William P. McLain, Warren city solicitor, says the city is likely to file suit challenging the denial by Trumbull County commissioners of a petition to annex the “Golden Triangle” to the city.

The Amazing Kreskin, who has been performing magic and illusions since the age of 11, performs for 2,000 people who ventured out to Powers Auditorium on a bitterly cold night.

1966: Cpl. Nathan Cole Jr., 22, of Superior Street, Youngstown, is killed by a sniper while on patrol in Da Nang, Vietnam, the first Youngstown area Marine to die in the conflict.

Cardinal Mooney High School rolls to its eighth basketball win in 10 games by downing Canton Central, 63-50.

Mahoning County commissioners will meet with Capt. James Williams to discuss the leasing of the old county home on Herbert Road to the National Guard to use as a training center for free or at $1 a year.

1941: Mayor William B. Spagnola gives city police four days to rid Youngstown drugstores, restaurants, cafes and night clubs of marble boards.

Permission to make Youngstown Municipal Airport a regular stop for United and Pennsylvania Central Airlines flights is expected within 30 days.

The nation’s milling industry is about to make the first major change in 75 years, enriching flour with vitamins.