21 WFMJ  archives / January 1978 | Julia Syvanych used a pickaxe to break up the ice at the base of her driveway on Four Mile Run Road during the blizzard of 1978. She paused just long enough to answer photographer Bob Yosay’s questions and then said, “I have to get back to work.”

January 27

2001: During a speech to the City Club in Cleveland, U.S. Rep. James A Traficant Jr. claimed that some members of a Mahoning County delegation to a United Nations conference on organized crime in Sicily had themselves taken mob money in the past.  Members of the group challenged Traficant to release the names of donors and recipients. 

Edward Caine, president of WCI Steel in Warren, rejects a suggestion that his company might buy CSC Ltd., the former Copperweld Steel, which is in bankruptcy. Caine says the two companies' products and customer bases are too far apart to make a buyout feasible. 

Youngstown State University is honored by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources for recycling more than 120 tons of materials, including paper and metals. 

 

1986: After meeting with federal officials in Washington, Youngstown Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro is optimistic that the city can move ahead with a plan to provide lower interest rates for first-time homebuyers. 

More than 200 school districts in Ohio have received requests from parents to withdraw their children from public schools and to homeschool. The Mahoning County Board of Education has received its first applications.  

Writing from New Orleans in advance of Super Bowl XX, Vindicator Sports Editor Chuck Perazich says scalpers are getting $800 for a $75 ticket, Las Vegas casinos are taking $100,000 bets from high rollers, and NBC-TV is getting $1.1 million for a one-minute commercial. 

 

1976: Fifty-three women graduate from the Choffin School of Practical Nursing. Principal Pat Sebastian presided over the commencement. 

Nearly 75 Youngstown employees, members of Associated Trades and Crafts, Local 14, who stayed off the job for two days, were fired by Mayor Jack C. Hunter. 

Northwest Industries Inc. plans to offer $80 million in cash for all outstanding stock of Microdot Inc., the parent company of Valley Mould and Iron Co. in Hubbard. 

 

1951: Charles N. Crandall, 274 Broadway, philanthropist and member of one of Youngstown's most prominent families, makes a gift of $110,000 to Mount Union College, the largest single gift ever received by the college.

State liquor enforcement officers raid the Poland Country Club, seizing gambling equipment and liquor. Mahoning County Sheriff Paul Langley was kept in the dark until the raid was over. 

Because of its strategic position, Youngstown Municipal Airport is being considered as the site of an Air Force base, officials in Washington say.