YEARS AGO FOR MARCH 17

Today is Friday, March 17, the 76th day of 2017. There are 289 days left in the year. This is St. Patrick’s Day.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1936: Pittsburgh’s Great St. Patrick’s Day Flood begins as the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers and their tributaries, swollen by rain and melted snow, exceed flood stage; the high water is blamed for more than 60 deaths.

1941: The National Gallery of Art opens in Washington, D.C.

1942: Six days after departing the Philippines during World War II, Gen. Douglas MacArthur arrives in Australia to become supreme commander of Allied forces in the southwest Pacific theater.

1969: Golda Meir becomes prime minister of Israel.

2007: Denouncing a conflict entering its fifth year, protesters across the country raise their voices against U.S. policy in Iraq and march by the thousands to the Pentagon.

2012: Ohioan John Demjanjuk, 91, convicted of being a low-ranking guard at the Sobibor death camp, but who maintained his innocence, dies in Bad Feilnbach, Germany.

VINDICATOR FILES

1992: More than 100 parents and teachers fill the McKinley Elementary cafeteria for a hearing on complaints by some parents that claim fifth-grade teacher Kathleen Markovich is forcing her animal-rights beliefs on her students.

Absenteeism at Youngstown’s five high schools is approaching 16 percent, and the Youngstown Schools Citizens Committee wants to know what it can do to reverse the trend.

Ron Klink, a reporter and weekend anchor at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, wins the Westmoreland County Democratic Party endorsement over incumbent U.S. Rep. Joseph Kolter of New Brighton, D-4th.

1977: St. Elizabeth Hospital Medical Center applies to the state health planning authority for approval to build a $900,000 family practice training facility in connection with the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine.

Mayor Jack C. Hunter asks his department heads to study the feasibility of closing City Hall on Saturdays to conserve energy. City Hall is normally open from 8 a.m. till noon Saturdays.

The 7th District Court of Appeals affirms a lower-court ruling that restores 41 Youngstown city employees to the jobs from which they were fired in 1976 for striking in violation of the Ferguson Act.

1967: Investigators in Chicago say organized gangsters in Cleveland managed to manipulate the stock of at least one Cleveland Company – Leece Neville Corp. – in 1966.

The Mahoning Valley is covered by a 2 Ω-inch St. Patrick’s Day snow, bringing morning rush-hour traffic to a crawl.

Dr. David M. Behen, chairman of the Youngstown University history department since 1956, asks to be relieved of the chairmanship so that he can devote full-time to teaching.

The Brookfield Federation of Teachers threatens to take “drastic action” unless the Brookfield Board of Education agrees to collective bargaining and an immediate cost-of-living increase.

1942: Youngstown firemen, using air and gas masks and bound together with lines, work for three hours to control escaping ammonia fumes at the Ohio Edison building.

Dr. Earl H. Young, 1050 Wilson Ave., is unanimously elected a member of the Youngstown Board of Education to succeed Atty. T. Lamar Jackson, who resigned to become a member of the board of elections.

Considerable damage is reported to roads, bridges and low-lying farmland in Trumbull County after three days of high water.