Today is Wednesday, Nov. 12, the 316th day of 2003. There are 49 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 12, the 316th day of 2003. There are 49 days left in the year. On this date in 1942, the World War II naval Battle of Guadalcanal begins. The Americans end up winning a major victory over the Japanese.
In 1920, baseball gets its first "czar" as Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis is elected commissioner of the American and National leagues. In 1927, Josef Stalin becomes the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Communist Party. In 1929, Grace Kelly -- future movie star and Princess of Monaco -- is born in Philadelphia. In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and several other World War II Japanese leaders are sentenced to death by a war crimes tribunal. In 1977, the city of New Orleans elects its first black mayor, Ernest "Dutch" Morial. In 1982, Yuri V. Andropov is elected to succeed the late Leonid I. Brezhnev as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee. In 1985, Xavier Suarez is elected Miami's first Cuban-American mayor. In 1990, Japanese Emperor Akihito formally assumes the Chrysanthemum Throne.
November 12, 1978: Toyota, the largest Japanese automaker, is apparently serious about setting up its own U.S. car assembly plant, but Youngstown and northern Ohio will have some rough competition to land it. "But at least we'll make a determined try for it," says N. Laird Eckman, executive director of the Youngstown Area Chamber of Commerce.
Youngstown's Federal Plaza comes alive in a festival of fitness and patriotism, as thousands line the plaza for a Veterans Day ceremony and the running of the International Peace Race. Randy Thomas of Boston and Malcolm East of London, England, cross the finish line together, holding hands and setting a record of one hour, 17 minutes and 38 seconds for the 25-kilometer race.
The Father John Roach Society Inc. begins the realization of a yearlong dream, a church building of its own, despite the disapproval of Youngstown Diocese Bishop James Malone. Worship in the Queen of the Holy Rosary Chapel will be in the traditional style, with Mass recited in Latin.
November 12, 1963: Youngstown honors its war veterans as reservists and former servicemen march in the annual Veterans Day parade. Police Chief William Golden estimates attendance at 20,000.
The Youngstown Society for the Blind places 27 of its new racks displaying products made by the blind in Youngstown area stores. The society provides employment for 17 persons making a variety of household goods.
November 12, 1953: The Boardman Transit Co. notifies Youngstown officials that the company is not seeking a general bus franchise in the city but wants to meet with city officials to discuss permission to pick up passengers within the city on the far South Side.
Full service of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County will be restored if the library is granted its request for a 1954 allocation of $475,000 from the county's intangible personal property tax fund.
U.S. District Court Judge Allan K. Grim upholds the National Football League's right to restrict television broadcasts of games into a club's home territory when the club is playing at home. However, he ruled illegal any restrictions by the league on radio broadcasts.
November 12, 1928: Youngstown radio listeners spend a frustrating day hunting for their favorite radio stations after the Federal Radio Commission reallocates wave-lengths. WKBN, Youngstown, was shifted from the bottom of the dial to the top. Its morning broadcast from Plymouth Congregational Church was well received.
Youngstown expands by about eight square miles and gains 12,000 citizens with the official annexation of the Scienceville district of Coitsville Township to the city.
Steubenville police and postal authorities are attempting to trace the fingerprints of six men found on a battered safe from which the safecrackers stole nearly $40,000 from the Steubenville Post Office.