Today is Monday, Sept. 15, the 258th day of 2003. There are 107 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Monday, Sept. 15, the 258th day of 2003. There are 107 days left in the year. On this date in 1963, four black girls are killed when a bomb goes off during Sunday services at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala. (Three Ku Klux Klansmen are eventually convicted for their roles in the blast.)
In 1776, British forces occupy New York City during the American Revolution. In 1821, independence is proclaimed for Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador. In 1857, William Howard Taft -- who served as president of the United States and as U.S. chief justice -- is born in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1917, Russia is proclaimed a republic by Alexander Kerensky, the head of a provisional government. In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws deprive German Jews of their citizenship and make the swastika the official symbol of Nazi Germany. In 1940, during the Battle of Britain in World War II, the tide turns as the Luftwaffe sustains heavy losses inflicted by the Royal Air Force. In 1950, during the Korean conflict, United Nations forces land at Inchon in the south and begin their drive toward Seoul. In 1959, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev arrives in the U.S. to begin a 13-day visit. In 1982, Iran's former foreign minister, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh is executed after he is convicted of plotting against the government.
September 15, 1978: Youngstown Police chief Stanley Peterson says a "thorough investigation" has cleared two Youngstown policemen of allegations they beat a Bettman Street man and members of his family when he was arrested Aug. 30 during a burglary investigation.
A report by engineering consultants recommends that 12 new interchanges be built on the Ohio Turnpike, including two in Mahoning County, one with Route 45 north of North Jackson, and one with Route 11, just east of Canfield.
The first black woman to serve in the Ohio General Assembly is sworn in to fill the unexpired term of her late husband. Rep. Helen Rankin, a Cincinnati Democrat, 42, will seek election to a full term to the 25th district seat held by her husband, James W. Rankin, until his death in June.
September 15, 1963: With the expectation that 1963 will be the steel industry's best year in six years, U.S. steel producers, including those in the Mahoning Valley, are stepping up spending for plant and equipment improvements and expansions.
With the federal government spending $15 billion a year on research, U.S. Rep. Michael Kirwan, D-Youngstown, wonders how so many things were invented before Uncle Sam began feeling obliged to help.
Speaking at a $100-a-plate dinner honoring U.S. Sen. Stephen Young, D-Ohio, in Cleveland, former President Harry S. Truman says that "if Northern busybodies would stay at home and clean up their own backyards, the rest of the country would obey its laws." Truman said, "the argument on civil rights is being stirred up by New England demagogues just as the war between the states was brought about by Harriet Beecher Stowe and William Lloyd Garrison."
The slayer of a Youngstown mother and her teenage son returned to his abandoned homestead near Lisbon and ended his own life. The body of Donald W. George, 37, was found slumped behind the wheel of his car 37 hours after he gunned down Beatrice Knight, 32, and her son, Thomas, 15.
September 15, 1953: A 25-year-old AWOL Boardman soldier eludes the bullets of a Youngstown policeman after trying to pass a stolen check in a W. Federal St. Store, but is captured in Hubbard after a clerk from the store spotted him by chance outside Bud's Diner.
Youngstown records its 83rd day without a traffic fatality, setting a new mark for "deathless days" since such statistics were kept.
A $100-a-plate fund-raising dinner in Chicago has cut in half the Democratic National Committee's reported deficit of $250,000. Some 1,600 Democrats jammed the grand ballroom of the Conrad Hilton Hotel. The hotel said the dinner tab was about $6.50 per person.
September 15, 1928: Mr. and Mrs. A.F. Andrews, prominent Canfield residents, are killed when the automobile in which they were riding skids into a ditch near Diamond, in Portage County, hurling the Andrewses from the car and into a telephone pole.
Harry D. Silver, Ohio Republican state campaign manager, denies an accusation by State Sen. George H. Bender of Cleveland that the Republican organization has "bought" the support of the Anti-Saloon League by giving employment to relatives of the league's leaders.
The schedule for mills in the Youngstown district is the best so far in 1928 and is approaching capacity operation on nearly all lines.