YEARS AGO

Today is Sunday, May 1, the 122nd day of 2016. There are 244 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1707: The Kingdom of Great Britain is created as a treaty merging England and Scotland takes effect.

1786: Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” premieres in Vienna.

1866: Three days of race-related rioting erupts in Memphis, Tenn., as white mobs target blacks, 46 of whom are killed, along with two whites. (The violence spurred passage of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining American citizenship and equal protection under the law.)

1898: Commodore George Dewey gives the command, “You may fire when you are ready, Gridley,” as an American naval force destroys a Spanish squadron in Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.

1915: During World War I, a German submarine torpedoes and severely damages the SS Gulflight, an American tanker near Britain’s Scilly Isles, even though the United States is still neutral in the conflict.

1931: New York’s 102- story Empire State Building is dedicated.

Singer Kate Smith makes her debut on CBS Radio on her 24th birthday.

1941: The Orson Welles motion picture “Citizen Kane” premieres in New York.

1945: A day after Adolf Hitler took his life, Adm. Karl Doenitz effectively becomes sole leader of the Third Reich with the suicide of Hitler’s propaganda minister, Josef Goebbels.

1960: The Soviet Union shoots down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane over Sverdlovsk and captures its pilot, Francis Gary Powers.

1963: James W. Whittaker becomes the first American to conquer Mount Everest as he and Sherpa guide Nawang Gombu reach the summit.

1975: Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Brewers breaks baseball’s all-time RBI record previously held by Babe Ruth during a game against the Detroit Tigers (Milwaukee won, 17-3).

1982: The World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tenn., is opened by President Ronald Reagan.

1991: Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers throws his seventh no-hitter at age 44, shutting out the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0.

2006: Hundreds of thousands of mostly Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. skip work and take to the streets, flexing their economic muscle in a nationwide boycott.

2011: President Barack Obama announces the death of Osama bin Laden during a U.S. commando operation (because of the time difference, it was early May 2 in Pakistan, where the al-Qaida leader met his end).

Pope Benedict XVI beatifies Pope John Paul II, moving his predecessor a step closer to sainthood in a Vatican Mass attended by some 1.5 million pilgrims.

2015: Baltimore’s top prosecutor charges six police officers with felonies ranging from assault to murder in the death of Freddie Gray, who’d suffered a spinal injury while riding in a police van.

VINDICATOR FILES

1991: Mahoning County deputies recover two safes from Meander Creek under the Gibson Road Bridge in Jackson Township. One safe was taken from an East Liverpool fast-food restaurant. The source of the other is unknown.

Mahoning County commissioners warn that if a referendum to stop collection of the 0.5 percent sales tax passes, the effect would be catastrophic for the Sheriff’s Department and coroner.

Youngstown Municipal Judge Patrick Kerrigan swears in six new Youngstown police officers: Rod J. Foley, Stephen M. Thomas, Eugene C. Lopez, Kerry Ray Wigley, William Ross and Ricky A. Deluco.

1976: Evelyn Johannes, a freshman majoring in advertising art, is crowned queen of Youngstown State University’s 26th Military Ball at the Mahoning Country Club.

Arnold Davidson, 17, is named “Boy of the Year” at the annual banquet of the Boys Club of Youngstown He is a senior at South High School, where he plays varsity basketball and is studying distributive education. He also works at the A & P store in the McGuffey Plaza.

Twelve cars of a Conrail freight train derail in the west end of East Liverpool, releasing hydrogen peroxide gas from one of the cars and causing the evacuation of 1,000 people.

1966: Ron Barnes, a Vindicator wire-room attendant, discovers a steering defect in his 1966 Chevrolet Corvair. Chevrolet confirms that the same defect was found in other Corvairs and will be corrected with a 62-cent rear wheel bracket.

City engineer J. Phillip Richley reports that the Youngstown Sewage Plant’s incinerator units are test-fired and will start burning sludge within a week.

A group of Liberty residents organize the Logan Swim & Tennis Club on a 5-acre site that will have a swimming pool, four tennis courts, bathhouse and refreshment stand. The $150,000 facility will be used by 325 families.

1941: Two heat records were broken during April, and precipitation was the lowest on record for the month.

Youngstowners begin pouring their savings into national defense by buying defense bonds and postal-savings stamps Bonds and stamps valued at $12,500 were sold on the first day of availability.

The Federal Communication Commission authorizes WKBN, Youngstown, to increase its power from 500 watts at night and 1,000 watts during the day to 5,000 watts day and night.