WFMJ archives / February 22,  1983 | Thomas Cleary, left, general chairman of the Camp Fitch Capital Improvement Campaign 40 years ago, looked over plans for the $825,000 drive at the annual YMCA Board of Trustees meeting. Looking on, from left, Ken Wilson, Jack McPhee, and A.P. Bud Dearing.

February 22 

1998: After two years, the expenditure of $269,190, two special prosecutors, and nine indictments, the Mahoning County Fraud Task Force is wrapping up its corruption probe. County Prosecutor Paul Gains says he's confident his office can take over. 

The Catholic Diocese of Erie announces a tuition assistant plan that will help Mercer County's four elementary schools,  Msgr. Geno Monti, St.  Joseph, St. Michael, and Notre Dame, which have a combined enrollment of 855 students. 

Warner Bros. Studios announce plans to celebrate its 75th anniversary at its Burbank studios, but there are no plans to include New Castle or Youngstown, where the brothers got their start, in the festivities.

1983: James A. Weitzel, 46, is injured when his ultra-light plane crashed while taking off at Green Acres Lake Park campgrounds at Lake Milton. 

The flu that closed several schools in the area has been identified as the "A-Bangkok" virus.   

About 175 area senior high students participate in Career Civic Day, sponsored by the Boardman Rotary Club. 

1973: A 22-year-old Louisiana woman is charged by the FBI with attempted murder in connection with the abandonment of a newborn baby on United Airlines flight between Washington and Youngstown. Only the baby's head and one arm were exposed when she was discovered by maintenance workers in the Boeing 707's toilet. 

William T. Owens, 47, an employee of the Poland Village street department, is killed when the bed of a slag truck that was stuck in an up position suddenly fell, crushing him. 

Youngstown City Council approves payment of a 7.5 percent pay raise to city police officers and firemen. 

1948: Card playing has been ruled off the list of pastimes Sharon city firemen can use to fill idle hours during their 9-hour day turns or 15-hour night turns. 

The U.S. Weather Bureau announces it will begin a 10-minute daily televised weather report on the Dumont Television Network, the first serious experiment in daily weather broadcasts. 

Emma Debeljak, 32, who was born in Farrell, Pa., but left for Yugoslavia as a child, is sentenced to 10 years at hard labor for "sheltering enemy of the state" and is a member of the Ustachi. She could have faced the death penalty.