Today is Tuesday, Feb. 28, the 59th day of 2017. There are 306 days left in the year.

February 28, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1844: A 12-inch gun aboard the USS Princeton explodes as the ship is sailing on the Potomac River, killing Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Navy Secretary Thomas W. Gilmer and several others.

1861: The Territory of Colorado is organized.

1942: The heavy cruiser USS Houston and the Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth are attacked by Japanese forces during the World War II Battle of Sunda Strait; both are sunk shortly after midnight March 1 with a loss of more than 1,000 men.

1953: Scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announce they have discovered the double-helix structure of DNA.

1975: Forty-two people are killed in London’s Underground when a train smashes into the end of a tunnel.

1993: A gunbattle erupts at a religious compound near Waco, Texas, when federal agents try to arrest Branch Davidian leader David Koresh on weapons charges; four agents and six Davidians are killed as a 51-day standoff begins.

1996: Britain’s Princess Diana agrees to divorce Prince Charles.

2013: Benedict XVI becomes the first pope in 600 years to resign, ending an eight-year pontificate.

2016: One of Pope Francis’ top advisers, Australian Cardinal George Pell, testifying before an investigative commission in Sydney acknowledges that the Catholic Church had made “enormous mistakes” in allowing thousands of children to be raped and molested by priests over centuries.

VINDICATOR FILES

1992: Less than half of the students at Rayen and East high schools show up for classes amid beefed-up police patrols sparked by rumors of an imminent outbreak of violence.

A 16-year-old Youngstown youth is arrested in the shooting death of a cab driver.

The pizza business that Jim Ianazone launched in 1984 at the age of 20 with $1,500 he saved and $5,000 he borrowed from his father has expanded to 11 stores and will soon have a 12th.

1977: Ohio Edison Co., the state’s largest utility, must raise $2 billion to $2.5 billion over the next decade to enlarge its system or power shortages such as those seen in the 1976-77 winter will become more common.

A strike appears imminent at the Shenango China Division of Interpace Corp. in New Castle after 750 pottery workers reject the company’s latest offer of 99 cents an hour in wage increases over three years.

1967: Roy Ricker, Austintown fire chief from 1952 to 1954, is reappointed by township trustees, succeeding Merle Gifford.

R.J. Wean Jr. announces merger agreements signed by Wean Industries Inc. of Warren and McKay Machine Co. and Youngstown Foundry & Machine Co.

Herbert W. Estes, 82, of 3706 Loveland Road, Youngstown, dies of a heart attack after shoveling 5 inches of snow at his home.

1942: A hit-and-run driver strikes and kills William Gelderman, 11, as he walks along McGuffey Road Extension near the Youngstown line.

Work will begin shortly on construction of additional space for storage and stock atop the Strouss-Hirschberg Co. building on West Federal Street. Cost is about $30,000.

Ted Williams, 1941 batting champion of the Boston Red Sox, is advised by President Roosevelt, through Selective Service Director Lewis Hershey, that he is reclassified 3-A rather than 1-A and can report to training camp.