YEARS AGO FOR FEB. 7

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 7, the 38th day of 2018. There are 327 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1497: “The Bonfire of the Vanities” takes place in Florence, Italy, as followers of Dominican friar Girolama Savonarola burn a huge pile of items considered to be sinful distractions, such as books, artwork, fine clothing and cosmetics.

1817: America’s first public gas street lamp is lighted in Baltimore at the corner of Market and Lemon streets (now East Baltimore and Holliday streets).

1857: A French court acquits author Gustave Flaubert of obscenity for his serialized novel “Madame Bovary.”

1943: The government abruptly announces that wartime rationing of shoes made of leather would go into effect in two days, limiting consumers to buying three pairs per person per year. (Rationing was lifted in October 1945.)

1962: President John F. Kennedy imposes a full trade embargo on Cuba.

1971: Women in Switzerland gain the right to vote through a national referendum.

1998: The Winter Olympic Games open in Nagano, Japan.

2008: John McCain effectively seals the Republican presidential nomination as chief rival Mitt Romney suspends his campaign.

2013: CIA Director-designate John Brennan strongly defends anti-terror attacks by unmanned drones.

2017: Charter school advocate Betsy DeVos wins confirmation as U.S. education secretary.

VINDICATOR FILES

1993: Goodwill Industries, which was founded as Christ Mission Settlement in 1893, is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

Atlantic City casino mogul Donald Trump wants to expand his gambling empire into Ohio, Lorain County developer Alan Spitzer says. Spitzer has long advocated for legalizing gambling in Ohio.

1978: Farmers in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties suffered more than $1.1 million in losses to buildings, equipment and livestock as a direct result of a blizzard that hit Ohio Jan. 26.

Trumbull County Commissioner Anthony Bernard asks Domestic Relations/Juvenile Court Judges Peter Panagis and John DePietro to withdraw their journal entry granting pay raises totaling $15,000 to eight court employees.

Despite objections of 100 residents, Borough Council gives approval to undertaking a feasibility study that could ultimately lead to the abolition of the Sharspville Police Department.

1968: Two New Castle, Pa., men are killed in the crash of a single-engine Cessna 150 near New Castle, Pa., while they were attempting to locate a model airplane that had been lost. Killed were Michael Dachko, 48, the pilot, and William C. Smiley, 27.

A resolution to put representatives of minority groups on all public boards, committees and commissions is under study by the Mayor’s Human Relations Commission. The proposal was made by J. Ronald Pittman.

1943: Four workmen who rescued John Edwards, 25, after he fell into a gas-filled furnace in September are honored at Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. Cited for heroism are George T. Sinkovich, 28, Clifford L. Harmon, 39, Stanley Kaczowski and Leroy Jennings, 34.

Kenneth M. Lloyd, secretary of the Mahoning Valley Resources Committee, urges immediate construction of the $3.4 million Mosquito Creek project as a war measure to control flooding.

Robert Cunningham of Lowellville, a former Vindicator reporter, is commissioned a first lieutenant at Morrison Field, West Palm Beach, Fla. Cunningham is a graduate of Ohio University.