Today is Thursday, July 3, the 184th day of 2003. There are 181 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, July 3, the 184th day of 2003. There are 181 days left in the year. On this date in 1863, the three-day Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., ends in a major victory for the North as Confederate troops retreat.
In 1608, the city of Quebec is founded by Samuel de Champlain. In 1775, Gen. George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Mass. In 1890, Idaho becomes the 43rd state of the Union. In 1898, the U.S. Navy defeats a Spanish fleet in the harbor at Santiago, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War. In 1930, Congress creates the U.S. Veterans Administration. In 1962, Algeria becomes independent after 132 years of French rule. In 1971, singer Jim Morrison of The Doors dies in Paris at age 27. In 1986, President Reagan presides over a gala ceremony in New York Harbor that sees the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty. In 1987, British millionaire Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand become the first hot-air balloon travelers to cross the Atlantic, jumping into the sea as their craft goes down off the Scottish coast.
July 3, 1978: The Supreme Court of the United States strikes down as unconstitutional Ohio's death penalty laws, finding that the state laws do not allow the proper consideration of individual defendants.
Behind the tall and dreary walls of Pennsylvania's largest prison at Graterford, some 400 Black Muslim inmates worship in a handsome, arched mosque installed in the prison basement. It is the first of its kind in the United States.
Raindrops fell on the heads of Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash as they performed at the Trumbull County Fair over the weekend, but fair officials say they haven't yet determined what effect weekend showers had on fair attendance.
Steelworkers who stand to lose their jobs when Jones & amp; Laughlin Steel takes over Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co.'s Brier Hill Works ask for a meeting with Thomas Graham, J & amp;L president.
July 3, 1963: Violent thunderstorm with heavy lightning, high winds and driving rain rip across the Mahoning Valley, downing trees and utility lines in Youngstown. Niles is hit by mothball size hail.
A 1963 general fund budget of $336,849 is submitted to Salem City Council, an increase of $13,195 over the previous year.
U.S. Rep. Michael J. Kirwan recommends the appointment of Philip J. Ragazzo, an assistant football coach at Niles McKinley High School, to be Niles postmaster. He was a four-year letterman a Niles McKinley, and a multi-sport athlete at Western Reserve University, from which he graduated in 1938.
July 3, 1953: President Eisenhower awards the Medal of Honor posthumously to Pfc. John D. Kelly, a Marine private who was born in Youngstown in 1918 and was killed in action on the Korean front May 28, 1952. The award was granted for exceptional gallantry during furious action on the front.
The heavy flow of Fourth of July traffic over Route 224 in Poland will move more smoothly with the opening of the new $450,000 bridge and project near Poland cemetery.
Victor H. Morgan of Pittsburgh is named manager of the Sears-Roebuck & amp; Co. store at 101 Market St., succeeding C.W. Ruther, who has been transferred to a larger store in Steubenville.
July 3, 1928: Two Youngstown radio stations, WKBN and WMBW, are merged and will be operated as a civic enterprise after owners of the stations sign over their stock to the YMCA. The stations were among 162 nationwide that were in danger of losing their licenses in a reduction of broadcast outlets pursued by the Federal Communications Commission.
The Mahoning County Bar Association is investigating charges of extortion against a local attorney who asked for "sugar money" from his client, who was facing a drunken driving charge.
Russel E. Sigel, 35, of Hubbard-Youngstown Road, is indicted for murder in the shooting death of a boarder whom he found sleeping in bed with his wife. Sigel intends to plead the unwritten law as his defense.