YEARS AGO FOR DEC. 19

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 19, the 353rd day of 2018. There are 12 days left in the year.

Associated Press

On this date in:

1777: During the American Revolutionary War, Gen. George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pa., to camp for the winter.

1907: 239 workers died in a coal mine explosion in Jacobs Creek, Pa.

1950: Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was named commander of the military forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

1972: Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, winding up the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.

1975: John Paul Stevens was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1998: President Bill Clinton was impeached by the Republican-controlled House for perjury and obstruction of justice (he was subsequently acquitted by the Senate).

2001: The fires that had burned beneath the ruins of the World Trade Center in New York City for the previous three months were declared extinguished except for a few scattered hot spots.

2008: Citing imminent danger to the national economy, President George W. Bush ordered an emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry.

2013: Discount retailer Target announced that data connected to about 40 million credit and debit card accounts had been stolen as part of a breach that began over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Vindicator files

1993: The Youngstown State University Penguins score their first touchdown in 33 seconds on their first possession and score a second touchdown on their next possession to cement a 7-5 victory over Marshall University in the Division 1-AA national championship game. Kicker Jeff Wilkins added 3 more points to end his career at YSU and likely will be going into the pros.

Discovery Zone Inc., the nation’s largest owner-operator of indoor playgrounds, will build a facility on the east side of the Shops at Boardman Park.

Thiel College’s Phi Theta Phi fraternity raises $40,782 for Children’s Hospital, Pittsburgh, in its annual 100-mile walk from Greenville, Pa., to Three Rivers Stadium.

1978: The Ohio Edison Co. will begin construction in the spring on a $29.7 million air-pollution-control project designed to eliminate 90 percent of the fly ash from its Niles generating plant.

Youngstown city council approves the vacation of Leo and Riblett avenues on the West Side to clear the way for construction of a bitterly opposed, 124-unit federal housing project.

Lordstown Village Council disregards petitions signed by 400 people opposed to renaming Atty. Mitchell Shaker as village solicitor and approves a new contract with Shaker by a 5-1 vote.

The Youngstown Post Office handled more than 600,000 pieces of mail the night of Dec. 18, more than any other night in its history.

1968: Boardman Township trustees agree to increase the hourly pay of volunteer firemen by 50 cents, to $3.50 an hour.

Edwin H. Gott, who began his career with U.S. Steel Corp. as an industrial engineer at the Ohio Works in Youngstown in 1937, and returned later as general superintendent of the Youngstown district, will be new chairman and chief executive officer of the giant steel firm.

Mayor Anthony Flask submits to city council a 1969 city budget totaling $20,431,699, including $12 million for the general fund.

1943: A survey of Mahoning Valley poultry markets indicates that it will probably be chicken rather than duck, goose or turkey for Christmas dinner.

A search for a treasure left by James R. Barr, Lisbon school teacher, turns up $10,000 in $50 and $100 bills buried in a tin can in the basement of his home.

The Loeb Classical Library, containing 328 volumes of Greek and Latin works representing centuries of culture, is added to the stacks of the Public Library.