YEARS AGO

Today is Saturday, Oct. 15, the 289th day of 2016. There are 77 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1783: The first manned balloon flight takes place in Paris as Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier ascends in a basket attached to a tethered hot-air balloon, rising to about 75 feet.

1914: The Clayton Antitrust Act, which expands on the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, is signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson.

1940: Charles Chaplin’s first all-talking comedy, “The Great Dictator,” a lampoon of Adolf Hitler, opens in New York.

1990: Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev is named the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

1991: Despite sexual harassment allegations by Anita Hill, the Senate narrowly confirms the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, 52-48.

VINDICATOR FIlES

1991: Four men accused of murder – including Willie J. “Flip” Williams who is charged in four Labor Day weekend drug executions – and two armed robbery suspects escape from the Mahoning County Jail, using a makeshift rope.

Youngstown Councilman David Engler is asking the FBI and U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. to help the city in its flagging efforts to fight violent crime.

Some Liberty residents complain that township trustees are not doing enough to stop the possibility of a chain store that sells pornographic videos and magazines in the township.

1976: The Mahoning County Mental Health and Mental Retardation Board says it is abandoning an effort to purchase a house for the retarded in Boardman.

A 60-man complement of Youngstown policemen will reinforce the protective Secret Service for Jimmy Carter when he appears in the city campaigning for the presidency.

Robert B. Conklin of Boardman, a member of Boy Scout Troop 46, asks Mahoning County commissioners for permission to restore the original Western Reserve boundary marker just off State Line Road.

1966: Associated Neighborhood Centers receives confirmation from U.S. Rep. Michael J. Kirwan for $324,000 for Neighborhood Peace Corps programs for 150 out-of-school youths.

Mrs. Davie Sargent of Sharon and Mrs. W.TT. Duboc of Sharpsville win the women’s pair event in the annual Eastern Ohio Bridge Tournament at the Hotel Ohio.

The Courthouse thief strikes again, taking a telephone from the office of Auditor Stephen Olenick’s office. Earlier, two typewriters, an adding machine and a stenography machine were taken.

Mrs. Mabel R. Thomas, 4616 Boardman-Canfield Road, files a lawsuit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court seeking to restrain a Niles contractor from encroaching on her land for construction of the Lake-to-River freeway.

1941: Area artists and laymen interested in art form an organization called Friends of American Art in Youngstown to educate the public in contemporary American a rt. Special lectures and events will be held at the Butler Art Institute.

The $37,000 night lighting system of the new Youngstown Municipal Airport got its first tests under murky skies and brought enthusiastic comments from airport officials and airline attaches.

The city’s new school safety patrol is brought to full authorized strength with the appointment of five more guards and now numbers 20 men, says Traffic Commissioner Clarence Coppersmith.