YEARS AGO

years ago

Today is Wednesday, June 15, the 167th day of 2016. There are 199 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1215: England’s King John puts his seal to Magna Carta (“the Great Charter”) at Runnymede.

1775: The Second Continental Congress votes unanimously to appoint George Washington head of the Continental Army.

1864: Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton signs an order establishing a military burial ground that would become Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

1934: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act making the National Guard part of the U.S. Army in the event of war or national emergency.

1944: American forces begin their successful invasion of Saipan during World War II.

1978: King Hussein of Jordan marries 26-year-old American Lisa Halaby, who becomes Queen Noor.

1991: Mount Pinatubo in the northern Philippines explodes in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing about 800 people.

1996: Ella Fitzgerald, the “first lady of song,” dies in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 79.

2006: The death toll of U.S. servicemen and women in the Iraq war reaches 2,500.

2011: Pushing back against congressional criticism, the White House says that President Barack Obama has the authority to continue U.S. military action in Libya even without authorization from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

VINDICATOR FILES

1991: U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant earned $19,000 in speaking fees in 1990 and still owes the Internal Revenue Service at least $100,000 according to financial disclosure documents filed with the House of Representatives.

Atty. Paul M. Dutton, who withdrew his candidacy for president of Youngstown State University in May, is elected to the position in a closed-door meeting of the board of trustees.

Larry Graber, principal of Howland Springs Primary School, is found beaten to death on a winding trail near Mosquito Creek Lake.

1976: John W. Adams Jr., national commander of the American Legion, speaks at Flag Day ceremonies on Youngstown’s Federal Plaza, saying that Americans are heirs to one of the most successful revolutions in history.

Youngstown Bishop James W. Malone attends the Youngstown Reachout evangelical meeting attended by 3,300 at the Canfield Fairgrounds, describing the Leighton Ford crusade “a wonderful ecumenical event.”

Youngstown City Engineer Edmund Salata orders the Erie Lackawanna Railroad to reopen Westlake’s Crossing, which has been closed for 10 months after a fiery derailment, which killed a North Side woman.

1966: The Rev. John H. Burt of Pasadena, Calif., former rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Youngstown, is elected coadjutor bishop of the Ohio Episcopal Diocese.

Lt. Peter Bernstein, an Air Force pilot from Youngstown who flew 650 combat missions in Vietnam, leaves on a different mission – to take gifts from the United States to the children of a Vietnamese hamlet.

Over the objections of motorcycle shop owners, Warren Mayor Raymond Schryver signs a law requiring cyclists to wear helmets when riding in the city.

1941: Drilling crews are working day and night taking core samples from the proposed site of the Berlin Dam.

Youngstown-made steel pipe is playing a vital role in construction of a new nationwide oil-pipeline system that will be vital to national security.

Lawson Little takes the lead from Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson as the Mahoning Open Golf Tournament enters its final day. Bobby Cruickshank, a professional golfer for 20 years, scores a hole-in-one on the No. 9 hole.