YEARS AGO

Today is Friday, Feb. 3, the 34th day of 2017. There are 331 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1783: Spain formally recognizes American independence.

1867: Crown Prince Mutsuhito becomes Japan’s 122nd emperor at age 14 four days after the death of his father, Emperor Komei.

1913: The 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, is ratified.

1930: The chief justice of the United States, William Howard Taft, resigns for health reasons. (He died just over a month later.)

1959: Rock-and-roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson die in a small plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

1995: The space shuttle Discovery blasts off with a woman, Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, in the pilot’s seat for the first time in NASA history.

2012: Susan G. Komen for the Cure abandons plans to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood after a three-day furor that resounded across the Internet, in Congress and among Komen affiliates.

VINDICATOR FILES

1992: U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. of Poland, D-17th, is gaining allies in Congress for his brand of protectionism and calls for re-evaluating trade policies with Japan.

Daniel J. Novello, president of the Trumbull County Convention & Visitors Bureau, says he opposes a suggestion by Youngstown Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro that the Trumbull and Mahoning visitor bureaus be merged.

Youngstown Councilman David Engler, who is running for Mahoning County commissioner, says the failure of Mahoning County commissioners to provide 911 telephone emergency service, reflects poor decision-making.

1977: Robert Pegues, superintendent of Youngstown public schools, testifies in federal court that school redistricting to achieve desegregation can’t be done in a vacuum and that rash moves by school officers could cause a “mass exodus” of whites from the city.

A 16-year-old Shehy Street youth is indicted on a charge of aggravated murder, a charge that could carry the death penalty, in the Nov. 10 stabbing death of Mustafa Abbas, 50, during a robbery at Brothers Food Market.

Gov. James A. Rhodes asks President Jimmy Carter to allocate 7 billion feet of natural gas to Ohio to avoid a crisis that would leave natural-gas providers in the state unable to provide gas to residential customers as frigid weather continues.

1967: The Mahoning County Board of Education makes formal application to the Ohio Board of Education for a $3.3 million countywide vocational school.

John M. Hudzik, 41, former Cardinal Mooney High School coach who is on the faculty of Youngstown University, is chosen city council president by Mayor Anthony Flask.

Carl T. Blumenschein is named director of purchasing for General Fireproofing Co.

1942: Mayor William Spagnola sells his home on Gypsy Lane at Selma Avenue to Fred S. Ullman, secretary of Steiner Packing Co. Spagnola is looking for a home on the South Side to be closer to relatives.

Youngstown Superintendent of Schools George Bowman says promotions within the city school district will be based on merit, not seniority and that teachers who leave the city school district and then return will not receive credit for years taught elsewhere.

Youngstown, like the rest of the state and nation, will move its clocks ahead one hour to adopt war time. It is an effort to add more daylight working hours for the war effort.