YEARS AGO

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 16, the 321st day of 2016. There are 45 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1776: British troops capture Fort Washington in New York during the American Revolution.

1993: President Bill Clinton signs the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, making it harder for government to interfere with religious practices.

2015: President Barack Obama, in Turkey for a meeting of world leaders, concedes that the Paris terror attacks were a “terrible and sickening setback” in the fight against the Islamic State, but forcefully dismissed critics who are calling for the U.S. to change or expand its military campaign against the extremists.

VINDICATOR FILES

1991: The Niles Lions Club says Mayor Joseph Parise and Safety-Service Director William Thorp are endangering Santa’s arrival in town by denying the club’s request to erect a 30-foot Christmas tree at the Safety-Service Complex. The mayor says a Christmas display is planned at the McKinley Memorial Library, and that there is no need for two downtown displays.

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Craig Wright and Andrew Douglas, once fast friends on the court, make peace after Douglas says he will not pursue assault charges against Wright, who knocked him down Nov. 5. The scuffle erupted after Wright accused Douglas’ secretary of taking confidential information from Wright’s computer files.

Jim Fisher of New Wilmington, Pa., a retired FBI agent and now an author and criminal justice professor at Edinboro University, leads a successful effort to win a pardon for Jerry Pacek, 46, who served 10 years in prison after being convicted at age 14 in the murder of a neighbor near Pittsburgh. Fisher, who came across the case while researching a book, said it was clear that the boy was coerced into confessing by detectives under pressure to solve the murder quickly.

1976: Some 2,400 members of the International Brotherhood of Pottery Workers strike three East Liverpool area potteries: Homer Laughlin China Co., Hall China Co. and Taylor, Smith & Taylor China Co.

Attorneys say U.S. District Judge Thomas Lambros appears ready to issue an order that the city of Youngstown hire more minority police officers.

The Jackson-Milton Board of Education, which closed schools until the end of the year because of a shortage of funds, will attempt to prevent schoolteachers from receiving unemployment compensation for that period.

1966: Undefeated Niles High School finishes second in the Associated Press and United Press International scholastic football polls, edged out by Columbus Watterson.

Hyman H. Bookbinder, assistant director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, will speak at the dinner launching the 1967 Jewish Federation Campaign at Squaw Creek Country Club.

Two area Boy Scouts, Robert Sims and Thomas Walters, receive Eagle awards from the Mahoning County Council in Zion Lutheran Evangelical Church.

1941: The Youngstown district registers one of the first fatalities on the opening day of hunting season when Harry Freeman, 12, is shot by a fellow hunter.

Youngstown College’s royal penguin family will be complete soon when Patricia Penguin arrives from Ocean Side, N.Y., to reign with Pete Penguin.

Turkey Day dinner will cost Youngstowners more than a year earlier. Eggs, for example, have had a 100 percent increase. Merchants suggest housewives should allow $1 more per person.

Sheakleyville, the Mercer County town of 127 people, may experience its first boom in 100 years with the War Department planning to erect a $40 million TNT plant less than 3 miles away.