YEARS AGO

YEARS AGO

Today is Saturday, March 19, the 79th day of 2016. There are 287 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date:

1891: Future California governor and chief justice of the United States Earl Warren is born in Los Angeles.

1918: Congress approves daylight-saving time.

1920: The Senate rejects, for a second time, the Treaty of Versailles by a vote of 49 in favor, 35 against, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval.

1931: Nevada Gov. Fred B. Balzar signs a measure legalizing casino gambling.

1941: Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra record “Green Eyes” and “Maria Elena” for Decca Records.

1945: During World War II, 724 people are killed when a Japanese dive bomber attacks the carrier USS Franklin off Japan (the ship was saved).

Adolf Hitler orders the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands in his so-called “Nero Decree.” It was largely disregarded.

1951: Herman Wouk’s World War II novel “The Caine Mutiny” is first published by Doubleday.

1966: The Texas Western Miners defeat the heavily favored Kentucky Wildcats, 72-65, to win the NCAA Championship played in College Park, Md. The contest is especially noteworthy because Texas Western became the first basketball team to start five black players in a national title game as it faced an all-white Kentucky squad.

1976: Buckingham Palace announces the separation of Princess Margaret and her husband, the Earl of Snowdon, after 16 years of marriage.

1979: The U.S. House of Representatives begins televising its floor proceedings; the live feed is carried by C-SPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network), which was making its debut.

1987: Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as chairman of his PTL ministry organization amid a sex and money scandal involving Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary.

1991: Polish President Lech Walesa arrives in Washington for his first state visit to the United States.

2003: President George W. Bush orders the start of war against Iraq. (Because of the time difference, it was early March 20 in Iraq.)

2006: President George W. Bush marks the anniversary of the Iraq war by touting efforts to build democracy there, without ever mentioning the word “war.”

2011: The U.S. fires more than 100 cruise missiles from the sea while French fighter jets target Moammar Gadhafi’s forces from the air, launching the broadest international military effort since the Iraq war in support of an uprising.

President Barack Obama arrives in Brazil for the start of a three-country, five-day tour of Latin America.

The Berlin Zoo’s beloved polar bear Knut dies at age 4.

2015: President Barack Obama orders the federal government to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions by nearly half over the next decade, driving his climate-change agenda forward despite percolating challenges from Republican-led states.

VINDICATOR FILES

1991: State Rep. Ronald Gerberry of Austintown, D-71st, says Gov. George Voinovich’s proposed $26.8 billion budget not only hits the poor but falls short of Voinovich’s pledge to make education a top priority.

Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro warns that Youngstown residents soon will face a wholesale reduction in city services, including police and fire protection, as the city attempts to close a $600,000 budget shortfall.

Hubbard City Council unanimously rejects a township resident’s request to have the city separated from Hubbard township. The township could petition county commissioners next in seeking separation.

1976: General Motors will eliminate the second shift at the Lordstown Vega- Astre assembly line, idling 2,225 workers. Chevrolet dealers have a six-month supply of the subcompact cars on their lots.

The Youngstown Municipal Airport is stepping up security measures to stave off some of the disastrous incidents that have hit other airports, says Fred DeLuca, airport manager. All baggage will be screened, and an $82,000 security fence has been built around the ramp area.

John C. Muller, 17, a member of Scout Troop 183, receives the Eagle Scout Award at St. Luke Church hall in Boardman.

1966: Five Rochester, N.Y., college students miraculously escape death when their car strikes another on the West Federal Street Expressway and virtually disintegrates. They were en route to a party at Phi Sigma Kappa social fraternity at Youngstown University.

The Ohio Board of Regents will decide whether Salem will get a community college or an enlarged branch of Kent State University. It can’t have both.

Niles will pay $12,500 for a study to determine the feasibility of building its own electric-generating plant.

1941: Youngstown Mayor William B. Spagnola signs an ordinance providing for a $46,000 bond issue that will allow the purchase of furniture and equipment needed to open the new airport by July 1.

The Four Ink Spots, versatile entertainers of radio, stage and screen, are on stage at the Palace Theater for four shows, at 3, 5, 8 and 10 p.m.

Three draft boards serving Trumbull County send 60 men to Cleveland to begin a year’s service in the armed forces.