WFMJ archives / February 19,  1983 | Mahoning County Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr., who was sentenced by Judge Charles Bannon to 100 days in jail for contempt of court, was released after two days by the 7 th District Court of Appeals. A condition of his release was that he sign foreclosure papers, which Traficant began doing after returning to his office 40 years ago.

 February 19 

1998: Mahoning County school officials say the state has not responded to a Supreme Court ruling that Ohio's school funding system is unconstitutional. "If I ran the schools the way legislators run the Legislature, I'd lose my job," says Poland Supt. Robert Zorn. 

Stadium Drive Elementary School fourth graders shave the head of teacher Terry O'Halloran after they read 803 books to meet O'Halloran's reading challenge. 

Columbus-based Limited stores, once the darling of Wall Street, will close at least 200 of its struggling stores and will spin off its Abercrombie & Fitch chain. 

1983: Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr. is released from City Jail after he reluctantly agrees to sign foreclosure deeds. One of the first things he does after returning to his office is sign ten deeds.

About 1,200 people pay $500 each at a fund-raiser in Columbus for U.S. Sen. John Glenn's presidential campaign. That's the most ever collected at a single political event in Ohio. 

In a 4-1 vote, New Castle City Council raises the annual salary of the mayor from $15,500 to $20,000, effective January 1984.

1973: A 26-year-old Euclid man kills himself rather than be captured by Trumbull County deputies after holding up an all-night service station in Champion Township. 

Some 100 neighborhood children in LaJolla, Calif.,  greet New Castle native Cmdr. Robert Shumaker as he arrives home. The Navy aviator had been a prisoner of war for eight years. 

The latest addition to the Lordstown General Motors product line is a Vega station wagon that has begun arriving in Chevrolet showrooms. 

1948: U.S. Rep. Michael J. Kirwan sits at the head table with President Harry Truman and his cabinet during the Democratic Party's Jefferson Day banquet in Washington, D.C.

The sap is flowing, and 25,000 buckets are coming out of storage in approximately 200 sugar camps in Mahoning, Trumbull, and Columbiana counties. 

The Youngstown Rotary Club sends 100 CARE packages that will be sent to the Rotary Club in Aarhus, Denmark.