Today is Monday, Aug. 2, the 215th day of 2004. There are 151 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Monday, Aug. 2, the 215th day of 2004. There are 151 days left in the year. On this date in 1943, during World War II, a Navy patrol torpedo boat, PT-109, commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, sinks after being rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri off the Solomon Islands. (The future president is credited with saving members of the crew; he is awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for heroism, and also receives the Purple Heart for injuries he'd suffered.)
In 1876, frontiersman "Wild Bill" Hickok is shot and killed while playing poker at a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory. In 1921, opera singer Enrico Caruso dies in Naples, Italy. In 1923, the 29th president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, dies in San Francisco. In 1934, German President Paul von Hindenburg dies, paving the way for Adolf Hitler's complete takeover. In 1939, Albert Einstein signs a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program. In 1964, the Pentagon reports the first of two attacks on U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin.In 1990, Iraq invades Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. (The Iraqis are later driven out in Operation Desert Storm.)
August 2, 1979: Local 2804 of the American Federal of State, County and Municipal Employees, representing 670 nonprofessional workers at Trumbull Memorial Hospital, strike the hospital at midnight when their contract expired.
Giant Eagle Market Inc. has completed negotiations to open three former A & amp;P stores in the Youngstown area. Other A & amp;P stores have been reopened as Valu King supermarkets.
A survey shows some local businesses are backsliding on President Carter's order that thermostats beset no lower than 78 degrees in an effort to conserve energy. Meanwhile the House of Representatives has passed a bill that would exempt energy-efficient buildings from the Carter rule.
August 2, 1964: More than 250 farmers from throughout Ohio attend the annual picnic of the Ohio Jersey Breeders Association, which is held at Green Pastures Farm of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Brickley on Tibbets-Wick Road in Liberty Township.
The Human Engineering Institute Inc. will build a $350,000 training center on 15 acres at 6650 South Ave. Ext. The 14-classroom center will be able to offer retraining to 2,000 workmen annually.
Rabbi Sheldon E. Elster, who has completed a two-year tour of duty as a Jewish chaplain at Fort Lee, Va., is named rabbi of Ohev Tzedek Temple.
August 2, 1954: Rep. William L. Dawson of Chicago, the only Negro ever to serve as chairman of a congressional committee, will attend the two-day conclave of the Jeffersonian Club that is to be held in Mahoning County.
The parents of the "Dynamite Kid" are released after spending three days in City Jail with a warning from Police Chief Paul Cress that they will be charged with harboring a fugitive if it is found that they are giving any aid to their son. Police are still search for the "Kid," who is wanted for questioning in a series of robberies.
An explosion damages a car belonging to Elman Burnett of New Castle while it was parked outside his home. Meanwhile, Niles Mayor Edward P. Lenney says the Mahoning-Trumbull Mayors Association should ask for a full-scale federal investigation of the outbreak of mysterious dynamite bombings in the area, which number about 30.
August 2, 1929: Seventeen men arrested in a crackdown on liquor joints in Campbell plead not guilty when they appear before U.S. Commissioner Huston J. Cochrane in Cleveland. He sets bond for the single men at $2,500 and for married men at $1,500.
A new air-passenger service linking Youngstown with Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Washington and Baltimore will be launched in Youngstown Aug. 25 by Aerial Rapid Transit Inc, which includes many prominent Youngstowners among its backers. Seven big six-place Stinson-Detroiter monoplanes are being constructed for the new airline.