YEARS AGO FOR MARCH 9

Today is Thursday, March 9, the 68th day of 2017. There are 297 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1862: During the Civil War, the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimac) clash for five hours to a draw at Hampton Roads, Va.

1933: Congress, called into special session by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, begins its “hundred days” of enacting New Deal legislation.

1945: During World War II, U.S. B-29 bombers begin launching incendiary bomb attacks against Tokyo, resulting in an estimated 100,000 deaths.

1964: The U.S. Supreme Court, in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, raises the standard for public officials to prove they’d been libeled in their official capacity by news organizations.

2007: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller acknowledge the FBI had improperly used the USA Patriot Act to secretly pry out personal information about Americans.

2016: Six days before the Florida primary, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders tangle in an intense debate in Miami over who is the true friend of American Hispanics.

VINDICATOR FILES

1992: “People who don’t know the difference between a jockstrap and a diploma ought to resign,” says state Sen. Harry Meshel after Youngstown State University Trustee Mark Lyden is quoted as saying YSU would be “a second-rate community college” without an athletics program.

A $2.1 million transportation master plan commissioned by the Ohio Department of Transportation will try to determine if there is a future for passenger rail transportation in the state.

1977: James “Lucky” Thompson, 30, is fatally shot at Park Avenue and Griffith Street as he tried to escape three or more pursuers by commandeering another man’s car.

Only three Republicans file for municipal offices in Sharon, where there are seven vacancies, including the office of mayor. Eleven Democrats have filed for mayor, councilman, school board and city controller.

State Sen. Harry Meshel, D-Youngstown, is elected chairman of the Legislative Budget Committee for the 112th Ohio General Assembly.

1967: The Youngstown Health Department is criticized by members of city council for not pursuing residents’ complaints about a landfill near Albert Street.

Striking drivers of Anchor Freight Inc. end their 18-day strike and resume hauling new cars from the Lordstown General Motors complex.

Eleven of 16 industries in Trumbull County say they are opposed to a Lake Erie-to-Ohio River canal in a poll taken by Trumbull County commissioners.

Youngstown City Council will function as a committee-of-the-whole to investigate complaints of police brutality brought to council’s attention by the Youngstown Chapter of the Negro American Labor Council.

1942: Wilbur “Dusty” Rhodes, a former Mercer, Pa., star athlete, is praised by one of the 11 survivors of the torpedoed destroyer Jacob Jones as the man who restored order on the deck of the sinking ship and helped several to safety, though it cost him his life.

“Sea Disaster” by the young New York artist Albert Pels is included in his one-man show at the Butler Art Institute.

Columbiana County faces a shortage of farm help as the plowing season approaches. Job offers of $50 a month and room and board have failed to attract single men.

Winds hitting 50 mph sweep through Trumbull County, tearing the roofs from several barns.