YEARS AGO

Today is Monday, May 23, the 144th day of 2016. There are 222 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1533: The marriage of England’s King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.

1788: South Carolina becomes the eighth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1915: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary during World War I.

1934: Bank robbers Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker are shot to death in a police ambush in Bienville Parish, La.

1945: Nazi official Heinrich Himmler commits suicide by biting into a cyanide capsule while in British custody in Luneburg, Germany.

1949: The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) is established.

1967: Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships, an action which would precipitate war between Israel and its Arab neighbors the next month.

1977: The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear the appeals of former Nixon White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman and former Attorney General John N. Mitchell in connection with their Watergate convictions.

1984: Surgeon General C. Everett Koop issues a report saying there is “very solid” evidence linking cigarette smoke to lung disease in nonsmokers.

“Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” starring Harrison Ford, is released by Paramount Pictures.

1991: Talk-show host Johnny Carson stuns an NBC affiliates’ meeting in New York by announcing his retirement from “The Tonight Show” effective in one year.

2006: In a recording posted on the Internet, a voice purported to be that of Osama bin Laden said Zacarias Moussaoui – the only person convicted in the U.S for the 9/11 attacks – had nothing to do with the al-Qaida operation.

Former U.S. senator, vice-presidential candidate and Treasury secretary Lloyd Bentsen dies in Houston at age 85.

2015: Cleveland patrolman Michael Brelo, who fired down through the windshield of a suspect’s car at the end of a 137-shot barrage that left the two unarmed black occupants dead, is acquitted of criminal charges by a judge who said he could not determine the officer alone fired the fatal shots.

VINDICATOR FILES

1991: Trumbull County prosecutors say Mark Badilo plotted to kill his brother, Timothy, to take over the cleaning business they shared. Badilo and two purported accomplices are in custody after an employee of the company went to police.

A Warren Harding High School athlete’s appeal of his suspension over harassment of a substitute teacher is denied by school officials who pledge to crack down on discipline problems.

Unions representing Warren’s police, fire and service workers say that while they believe city employees should be able to live wherever they choose, they would not oppose pending legislation that would require only new employees be subject to residency requirements.

1976: Some 20,000 General Motors Corp. employees at the Lordstown Complex and Packard Electric Division in the Mahoning Valley will get a cost-of-living pay raise of about $1.60 per week.

Americans planning to visit Canada this summer will need to show proof of citizenship as Canada tightens its border control in response to the Summer Olympics in Montreal.

The Rev. Anthony Kosnik, dean of theology at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Seminary, Orchard Lake, Mich., will discuss “The Moral, Ethical and Legal Aspects of Prolonging Life” at a special dinner of the Chesterton Club.

1966: Carl C. Rigsby, general manager of General Motors Corp.’s Packard Electric Division since 1958, dies in Trumbull Memorial Hospital 10 days after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage.

Five Springfield Local High School students place in the district and state scholarship contests. In state ratings: Craig Raub and Nancy Streets. In district ratings: Raub, Miss Streets, Sam Mason, Paul Barger and Marilyn Mitchell.

Youngstown Mayor Anthony B. Flask and Howard Cleveland, president of the Safety Council of Youngstown, present the National Safety Council’s Achievement Award to the Youngstown Transit Co.

1941: Operations are expected to resume on construction of the huge $47.9 million shell-loading plant at Ravenna, which was halted when the Hunkin-Conkey Construction Co. canceled the identification badges of its 10,400 workers following an unauthorized strike. New badges are being issued.

Youngstown’s biggest-little plane – a model with an 81/2-foot wingspan and a half-horsepower engine – will fly in the Mahoning Model Club’s air meet at the Youngstown Municipal Airport.