YEARS AGO FOR FEB. 17

Today is Sunday, Feb. 17, the 48th day of 2019. There are 317 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1801: The U.S. House of Representatives breaks an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, electing Jefferson president; Burr becomes vice president.

1815: The United States and Britain exchange the instruments of ratification for the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812.

1864: During the Civil War, the Union ship USS Housatonic is rammed and sunk in Charleston Harbor, S.C., by the Confederate hand-cranked submarine HL Hunley in the first naval attack of its kind; the Hunley also sank.

1865: During the Civil War, Columbia, S.C., burns as the Confederates evacuate and Union forces move in.

1897: The forerunner of the National PTA, the National Congress of Mothers, convenes its first meeting in Washington.

1933: Newsweek magazine is first published under the title “News-Week.”

1944: During World War II, U.S. forces invade Eniwetok Atoll, encountering little initial resistance from Imperial Japanese troops.

1947: The Voice of America begins broadcasting to the Soviet Union.

1972: President Richard M. Nixon departs the White House with his wife, Pat, on a historic trip to China.

1996: World chess champion Garry Kasparov beats IBM supercomputer “Deep Blue,” winning a six-game match in Philadelphia (however, Kasparov lost to Deep Blue in a rematch in 1997).

2009: President Barack Obama signs a mammoth, $787 billion economic stimulus package into law in Denver.

2014: Jimmy Fallon makes his debut as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show.”

VINDICATOR FILES

1994: Youngstown City Council approves payment of $38,000 to demolish bleachers at the Rayen School stadium on the condition that the school board develop a plan for school building demolition or reuse.

A proposed health clinic at Austintown Fitch High School will not be forced to distribute condoms or information on abortion, as some parents fear.

An Alliance minister wanted for questioning in the shooting death of Pamela West, 38, of Farrell, Pa., crashes his car into a pole near Westlake Terrace while being pursued by Youngstown police. The Rev. Clyde G. Crooks, 50, appeared to drive into the pole on purpose.

1979: Youngstown State University geologist Ann Harris warns that the possibility of mine cave-ins threatens Forest Ridge Apartments, a 50-unit development being constructed on Orchard Drive in Mineral Ridge.

St. Elizabeth Hospital Medical Center and Youngstown Osteopathic Hospital are gearing up as the Youngstown Hospital Association reduces its operations in anticipation of a nurses’ strike.

The Rayen basketball team rolls to its first unbeaten season (18-0) in at least 40 years, crushing South, 86-32, and wrapping up a City Series championship.

1969: Youngstown 4th Ward Councilman Corry Dama requests legislation to increase the size of the city’s detective bureau from 33 to 40 members.

Mahoning County commissioners adopt a resolution of intent to form a Council of Governments in conjunction with the cities of Youngstown and Warren and with Trumbull County

Howley James, 65, of Seifert Avenue, is pronounced dead at South Side Hospital after his car left Jacobs Road, struck a culvert and ran into a ditch. Six other people were injured in three other area accidents.

1944: Louis Ruthenberg, president of Servel Inc. of Evansville, Ind., says a Lake Erie-Ohio River waterway “would be of great benefit to Youngstown, particularly in reducing the costs of ore transportation.”

Don’t burn your Vindicator. The newspaper will pay 75 cents per 100 pounds for used Vindicators, which are needed to wrap bundles of papers sent to dealers and carriers. When you have a pile as tall as a broom, call, and a truck will pick them up.

Sgt. J. W. Brooks of Girard, a turret gunner on a Flying Fortress, is reported missing in action after his plane was forced down behind enemy lines.