YEARS AGO

YEARS AGO

Today is Wednesday, Jan. 27, the 27th day of 2016. There are 339 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1756: Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is born in Salzburg, Austria.

1880: Thomas Edison receives a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.

1901: Opera composer Giuseppe Verdi dies in Milan, Italy, at age 87.

1913: The musical play “The Isle O’ Dreams” opens in New York; it features the song “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” by Ernest R. Ball, Chauncey Olcott and George Graff Jr.

1944: During World War II, the Soviet Union announces the complete end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which lasted for more than two years.

1945: During World War II, Soviet troops liberate the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland

1951: An era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert begins as an Air Force plane drops a 1-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flat.

1965: “Up the Down Staircase,” Bel Kaufman’s novel about a young, idealistic teacher at a New York inner-city school, is published by Prentice-Hall.

1967: Astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee die in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft.

1973: The Vietnam peace accords are signed in Paris.

1977: The Vatican issues a declaration reaffirming the Roman Catholic Church’s ban on female priests.

1984: Singer Michael Jackson suffers serious burns to his scalp when pyrotechnics set his hair on fire during the filming of a Pepsi-Cola TV commercial at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

1998: First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, on NBC’s “Today” show, charges the sexual misconduct allegations against her husband are the work of a “vast right-wing conspiracy.”

2005: Condoleezza Rice, in her first day on the job as secretary of state, reaches out by phone to European allies and partners in the war on terrorism and echoes President George W. Bush’s inaugural charge to promote liberty across the globe.

2006: Salzburg, Austria, holds an exuberant 250th birthday party for its native son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Western Union delivers its last telegram.

2011: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announces that color-coded terror alerts will be phased out by late April 2011.

2015: An online message purportedly from the Islamic State group warns that a Japanese man and a Jordanian pilot being held by the group have less than 24 hours to live unless Jordan frees an Iraqi woman sentenced to death for involvement in a deadly 2005 terror attack.

European leaders gather in Poland to mark the 70th anniversary of the Soviet liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.

VINDICATOR FILES

1991: John Tablac, executive director of the Mahoning County Veterans Commission, says financial aid will not be provided to families of soldiers serving in the Persian Gulf because only honorably discharged soldiers and their dependents are eligible for relief.

The proposed $41 million Hubbard Expressway and $29 million 711 connector will become realities within the decade, but Youngstown will have to come up with its $6 million share of the projects.

The Western Reserve Flag Co. in Boardman says it has sold out of full-size flags in the days after U.S. entry into the Persian Gulf war.

1976: Dr. Leonard P. Caccamo, director of medical education at St. Elizabeth Hospital, speaks at commencement exercises for 53 graduates of Choffin School of Practical Nursing in Youngstown.

A 26-year-old Sebring man is charged with murder and kidnapping in the death of Mrs. Lorraine Cutchall, 26, who was abducted from the Salem Laundromat on South State Street in the city.

Youngstown Mayor Jack C. Hunter fires 75 city employees, members of Associated Trades and Crafts Local 14, who staged a two-day sick-out, saying they were tired of inadequate wage offers made by the city.

1966: The season’s coldest weather strikes the Youngstown area, bringing sub-zero temperatures. It was 9 below zero at the Salem Sewage Treatment Plant.

A new set of fees and licenses, mostly for the building industry, are adopted by Youngstown City Council. The fees, which haven’t increased in 15 years, will be doubled, in most cases.

1941: The season’s heaviest snowfall blows into the Youngstown district, bringing fears of high waters. Gates at Lake Milton are wide open, releasing 600,000 gallons of water a day.

Youngstown Water Department workers file a grievance with city council through Local 157, Utility Workers Organizing Committee, a CIO affiliate. The men term their wages of 55 cents to 65 cents an hour “outrageous.”

Two Youngstown AAU Tournament champions – Sonny Horn of Niles and Steve Ignath of Youngstown – are set for action in the semifinals of the Cleveland Golden Gloves Tournament.