Today is Thursday, May 15, the 135th day of 2003. There are 230 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, May 15, the 135th day of 2003. There are 230 days left in the year. On this date in 1963, astronaut L. Gordon Cooper blasts off aboard Faith 7 on the final mission of the Project Mercury space program.
In 1602, Cape Cod is discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold. In 1886, poet Emily Dickinson dies in Amherst, Mass. In 1911, the Supreme Court orders the dissolution of Standard Oil Co., ruling it is in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. In 1918, U.S. airmail begins service between Washington, Philadelphia and New York. In 1930, Ellen Church, the first airline stewardess, goes on duty aboard a United Airlines flight between San Francisco and Cheyenne, Wyo. In 1940, nylon stockings go on general sale for the first time in the United States. In 1942, gasoline rationing goes into effect in 17 states, limiting sales to three gallons a week for nonessential vehicles. In 1970, Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two black students at Jackson State University in Mississippi, are killed when police open fire during student protests. In 1972, George C. Wallace is shot by Arthur Bremer and left paralyzed while campaigning in Laurel, Md., for the Democratic presidential nomination. In 1991, French President Francois Mitterrand appoints Edith Cresson to be France's first female premier.
May 15, 1978: To say that Mother's Day weekend was a washout in Youngstown would be an understatement, with more than a half-inch of rain falling over the weekend, bringing the month's total to 2.73 inches at the halfway point.
The Mahoning County Budget Commission is ordered to raise the tax millage for the Jackson-Milton School District to whatever figure is necessary to ensure raising $300,000 annual under provisions of a new state law to provide emergency relief for financially troubled school districts.
A new Fazio's grocery store opens at 2061 Elm Road in the Warren Plaza, with Al Lacivita as manager and Ron Jackson as co-manager.
May 15, 1963: Five busloads of members of District 26, United Steelworkers of America, leave Youngstown for Columbus to take part in an AFL-CIO mass demonstration protesting changes in unemployment and workmen's compensation laws before the Ohio Legislature.
A flying tackle by a patrolman brings down a 31-year-old burglar minutes after he fled from the Mahoning Valley Restaurant at 410 N. Walnut St.
A frightening path lies ahead for the nation if there is not more respect for the law, Warren Municipal Judge James Ravella declares at the Peace Officers Memorial Day ceremony on Youngstown's Central Square.
May 15, 1953: Demands for substantial general wage increases of 18 to 25 cents an hour are submitted by the United Steelworkers of America to Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co. on behalf of 25,000 employees in Youngstown and Chicago.
A huge six-year capital improvement program, costing an estimated $9 million and financed by the sale of voted bonds, is proposed by Pace Associates in its ninth report to the city. About $6 million would be used for street and road improvements.
If the weather is favorable, Air Force and Navy planes will roar over Youngstown to celebrate Armed Forces day.
A strike by 900 employees of the chair division of General Fireproofing Co. ends after the company agrees to defer a reclassification of jobs that would have reduced pay.
May 15, 1928: Youngstown has its first woman airplane owner. Mrs. Peter Hincy, 1349 Bryson St., a music teacher, takes delivery of her new Waco-10 biplane at Watson Field.
Miss Elsa Brody, 15, has set a high scholastic record at Rayen School, according to publication of the annual honor roll. She is credited with 100 Es and one G. The E represents 90 to 100 percent perfection, while the G is the second best mark. It had earlier been reported that Nettie Tarasuk, 15, had set the scholastic record. She actually earned 89 Es and one G.
State examiners report that the records kept by William H. Peterson, former Youngstown plumbing inspector, reveal a shortage of $13,408 for eight years, beginning in 1919 and ending in 1927, after Mayor Joe Heffernan was elected.