Today is Monday, Oct. 20, the 293rd day of 2003. There are 72 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Monday, Oct. 20, the 293rd day of 2003. There are 72 days left in the year. On this date in 1803, the U.S. Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.
In 1892, the city of Chicago dedicates the World's Columbian Exposition. In 1903, a joint commission rules in favor of the United States in a boundary dispute between the District of Alaska and Canada. In 1944, during World War Two, General Douglas MacArthur steps ashore at Leyte in the Philippines, two and a half years after he'd said, "I shall return." In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee opens hearings into alleged Communist influence and infiltration within the American motion picture industry. In 1964, the 31st president of the United States, Herbert Hoover, dies in New York at age 90. In 1967, seven men are convicted in Meridian, Miss., of violating the civil rights of three murdered civil rights workers. In 1968, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. In 1973, in the so-called "Saturday Night Massacre," special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox is dismissed and Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus resigns. In 1973, the Sydney Opera House in Australia is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. In 1977, three members of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd are killed in the crash of a chartered plane near McComb, Miss.
October 20, 1978: Four Youngstown Diocese Catholic priests get a rousing send-off from children at St. Joseph the Provider School in Campbell as they leave from Rome and the installation of Pope John Paul II. The priests are the Rev. Leon Dobosiewicz, the Rev. Edward Neroda, the Rev. Paul Tobin and the Rev. Michael Gawron.
Weekend homecoming festivities at Youngstown State University are launched in a big way. The huge Budweiser hot air balloon is floating above campus, held by a tether, and visible from anywhere on campus and from much of the North Side.
Oscar-winning actor Gig Young, 60, kills his 31-year-old wife of three weeks, Kim Schmidt, and them himself in their Manhattan apartment. No note was found and police have no explanation for the deaths.
October 20, 1963: Work begins on a new office and union hall for Teamsters Local 377 in the W. Federal urban renewal area. B & amp;B Construction Co. is general contractor for the Teamsters, with a contract of $219,000.
Three Youngstown district residents, James and Muriel Monzi of East Palestine, and Martha Smith of Warren, are among 37 passengers injured when the Santa Fe Chief slams into a freight train near Willow Springs, Ill.
The $6.1 million P.L. Strait and Michael J. Kirwan homes are dedicated in ceremonies conducted by the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority. Both Rep. Kirwan and Strait, retired YMHA director, are honored at a banquet at St. Joseph the Provider Church Hall in Campbell.
October 20, 1953: Youngstown Police Chief Edward Allen says The Ranch, a Mahoning County joint raided by state agents, is a hangout for prostitutes, ex-convicts, racketeers and other underworld hoodlums. The raid interrupted a high-limit dice game at the hall on Route 422 near the Pennsylvania line.
Youngstown motorists are hit with another increase in automobile insurance premiums, a 6.8 percent boost in the cost of collision coverage.
Pope Pius XII urges nations to consider outlawing "ABC War," a reference to atomic, biological and chemical weapons. He criticized the use of science to develop methods of hurting others as perverse.
October 20, 1928: Three Youngstown detectives are named to vice squad duty and former detective David Thomas is named to the squad as part of a campaign to rid the city of vice and bootlegging.
With one more day to go, all records for voter registration are smashed in Youngstown when 10,281 more people are enrolled, making the total 47,421 for three days.
The feasibility of advertising to sell Youngstown's advantages to the world is being considered by the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce.
D.J. Fox, adjutant of the Lt. Frederick Kahn Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars, asks the mayor and city council to see to it that the Civil War memorial statue on Central Square be cleaned before Armistice Day.