YEARS AGO FOR DEC. 12

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 12, the 346th day of 2018. There are 19 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1787: Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

1906: President Theodore Roosevelt nominates Oscar Straus to be secretary of Commerce and Labor; Straus becomes the first Jewish Cabinet member.

1946: A United Nations committee votes to accept a six-block tract of Manhattan real estate offered as a gift by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to be the site of the U.N.’s headquarters.

1977: The dance movie “Saturday Night Fever,” starring John Travolta, premieres in New York.

1995: By three votes, the Senate kills a constitutional amendment giving Congress authority to outlaw flag burning.

2000: George W. Bush becomes president-elect as a divided U.S. Supreme Court reverses a state court decision for recounts in Florida’s contested election.

2013: The House votes to ease across-the-board federal spending cuts and head off future government shutdowns.

2017: Democrat Doug Jones wins Alabama’s special Senate election over Republican Roy Moore, who has denied accusations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls.

VINDICATOR FILES

1993: On a snow-covered field at the “Ice Castle,” Youngstown State University Penguins engineer a come-from-behind 35-16 victory over the University of Idaho in front of 9,644 freezing fans. The Penguins will face Marshall in the NCAA Division I-AA championship game.

After more than a decade of work and political wrangling by U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. and his predecessor, Lyle Williams, a $6.3 million federal building and courthouse will be dedicated on the site of the old Voyager Motel in downtown Youngstown.

Cleveland and Columbus are vying to be the site of a 311-foot sculpture of Christopher Columbus by Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli. New York turned the offer down because it would be 6 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty.

1978: In the latest action in an investigation by Warren police and the FBI into the Warren-Trumbull Community Services Agency, Trumbull County Prosecutor J. Walter Dragelevich seals the offices and files of the agency.

The Metropolitan Savings & Loan Co. will raise its interest rate to 6 percent on regular passbook savings effective Dec. 25, says President David R. Jones.

Nearly 350 people at a stormy meeting of the Newton Falls Board of Education greet the board’s renewal of Superintendent Harry Benetis’s contract for one year with cheers and applause.

1968: The Springfield Local Board of Education approves pay increases of $300 a year for teachers, bringing the starting salary for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree to $5,600.

Unseasonably warm weather is in the offing for Youngstown district residents as weathermen predict highs of 48 and 55. The spring-like temperatures are caused by a low pressure system over Nebraska.

Christmas mail volume at the Youngstown Post Office is down 33 percent from 1967 and postal officials fear a late avalanche. Mail volume Nov. 30 through Dec. 11 is down 700,000 pieces from the same period a year earlier.

1943: Worn out tanks are being shipped on flat cars to Federal Machine & Welding Co. in Warren for remanufacturing and return to the battlefield.

An estimated 6,000 people in Mahoning County are suffering from influenza although the disease has been fairly mild so far. Sick people should stay in bed to recover quickly.

Piloting a new Thunderbolt fighter, Flight Officer William Aggers of Hubbard shoots down a Nazi plane over Emden. He is one of four brothers serving overseas.