Today is Saturday, May 3, the 123rd day of 2003. There are 242 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Saturday, May 3, the 123rd day of 2003. There are 242 days left in the year. On this date in 1978, "Sun Day" falls on a Wednesday as thousands of people extolling the virtues of solar energy held events across the country.
In 1916, Irish nationalist Padraic Pearse and two others are executed by the British for their roles in the Easter Rising. In 1921, West Virginia imposes the first state sales tax. In 1933, Nellie T. Ross becomes the first female director of the U.S. Mint. In 1944, U.S. wartime rationing of most grades of meats ends. In 1945, Indian forces capture Rangoon, Burma, from the Japanese. In 1948, the Supreme Court rules that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks or members of other racial groups are legally unenforceable. In 1971, anti-war protesters begin four days of demonstrations in Washington. D.C.. aimed at shutting down the nation's capital.
May 3, 1978: An ordinance establishing a 35 mph speed limit for trains within the municipality of Columbiana is passed by village council. The action comes following a number of recent derailments.
Youngstown firefighters used three pumpers and a ladder truck to battle a two-alarm blaze that erupted in the third story apartments above the Guys & amp; Dolls Lounge downtown. Fire Chief Rocky Russo, on his second day as chief, was walking out of City Hall when a passerby pointed out smoke rising from the building. He called in the alarm. Police Lt. Ed Zaccone was treated for smoke inhalation after he ran through the building rousing tenants.
May 3, 1963: A 70-year-old South Side man is near death in South Side Hospital after repeatedly striking himself on the head with a hatchet at his home. The man's wife left the home for about three hours, and found him in the basement, bleeding profusely, when she returned.
Demand for steel products will boost Youngstown district steelmaking operations by two more points, bringing it to 78 percent. Twelve blast furnaces, 49 open hearths, one basic oxygen converter and one Bessemer plant will be in operation.
Prosecuting Atty. Clyde W. Osborne says he will investigate alleged interference with the casting of absentee ballots in Mahoning County. A number of disabled voters say they applied for absentee ballots but have not received them.
May 3, 1953: The primary election vote in Mahoning County is expected to drop to about 20,000, the lowest in more than 25 years. Observers predict that party organizations will control the outcome in Youngstown.
An estimated $10 million will be spent in 1953 and early 1954 on school construction in four western Pennsylvania counties, Mercer, Crawford, Lawrence and Venango.
Maj. Gen. Homer L. Sanders, an expert on tactical air warfare, will be in Youngstown for observance of Armed Forces Day. He will speak at a luncheon at the YMCA.
May 3, 1928: Mahoning Valley industry has suffered "a very serious setback, but we are going to stay in the steel business," A.E. Adams, president of the First National and Dollar Banks, tells the Trumbull County Manufacturers' Association.
Eleven prominent members of two New England chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution resign in protest over the blacklisting of speakers. A list has emerged on which appear the names of many prominent persons in the country who have been barred from addressing DAR meetings because they have been deemed "unpatriotic."
A Grandview Ave. man is fined $200 and sentenced to six months in county jail after accidentally slashing his 13-month-old with a razor while chasing after the child's mother (the man's daughter). The child was not seriously injured.