YEARS AGO FOR FEB. 19

Today is Tuesday, Feb. 19, the 50th day of 2019. There are 315 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1473: Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus is born in Torun, Poland.

1881: Kansas prohibits the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.

1942: During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, which paves the way for the relocation and internment of people of Japanese ancestry, including U.S.-born citizens.

1945: Operation Detachment begins during World War II as some 30,000 U.S. Marines begin landing on Iwo Jima, where they commence a successful monthlong battle to seize control of the island from Japanese forces.

1968: The children’s program “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” created by and starring Fred Rogers, makes its network debut on National Educational Television, a forerunner of PBS, beginning a 31-season run.

2008: An ailing Fidel Castro resigns the Cuban presidency after nearly a half-century in power; his brother Raul is later named to succeed him.

2018: Syrian government forces begin a bombing campaign in the northeastern suburbs of Damascus, the last major stronghold for rebels in the area of the capital; the campaign leaves hundreds dead.

VINDICATOR FILES

1994: Paul Dutton of Youngstown, chairman of the Ohio Board of Regents, says that he sees nothing unfair about guidelines that set minimum percentages of time professors at state universities must spend in the classroom rather than on research.

Mahoning County Treasurer George M. McKelvey says he’s in the race for state treasurer, despite a suggestion by Ohio’s Democratic Party chairman, Harry Meshel of Youngstown, that he withdraw in favor of Barbara Sykes of Akron.

Michael Leschinsky, a senior at Cardinal Mooney High School, places third in the Ohio Veterans of Foreign Wars Voice of Democracy Scriptwriting Contest. He will receive a $3,000 scholarship for his speech, “My Commitment to America.”

1979: Salem city service workers refuse to respond to a work call, leaving top city officials to fill in. Mayor Frank Dauria ran a snow plow.

Niles McKinley has a new head football coach for the second time in three weeks. Frank Thomas, defensive coordinator at Massillon, replaces Richard Derschbaum who was named to replace Tony Napolet, but decided after two weeks to remain at North Ridgeville.

Youngstown State sophomore Wanda Grant scores 30 points to lead the Penguins to a 63-50 victory over Wright State for the team’s 17th-consecutive victory.

1969: Youngstown State begins laying the groundwork for a new master plan of academic and physical expansion of its campus to accommodate about 25,000 students by 1980. Current enrollment is 14,500.

Patrolman Kenneth M. Garloch of the Ohio Highway Patrol’s Canfield Post is named outstanding patrolman of District 4, a seven-county area.

A Coast Guard helicopter from Detroit picked up two Ashtabula men who were trying to walk across frozen Lake Erie to Canada. The Coast Guard said the lake was not frozen all the way across.

1944: The possibility of Pennsylvania Central Airlines extending its routes from Buffalo, N.Y., through Youngstown to Columbus and points south is discussed at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce Airport Committee.

In a pastoral letter read in all churches in the Youngstown Diocese, Bishop James A. McFadden asks Catholics to help the Red Cross “not only financially, but as volunteers.”

Two Youngstown women are slightly injured when about 30 panic-stricken passengers on a Camp Reynolds-Sharon, Pa., bus attempted to get out of the bus when its motor caught fire.