Today is Shrove Tuesday, Feb. 5, the 36th day of 2008. There are 330 days left in the year. On this

Today is Shrove Tuesday, Feb. 5, the 36th day of 2008. There are 330 days left in the year. On this date in 1631, the co-founder of Rhode Island, Roger Williams, and his wife, Mary, arrive in Boston from England.

In 1783, Sweden recognizes the independence of the United States. In 1811, George, Prince of Wales, is named the Prince Regent due to the insanity of his father, Britain’s King George III. In 1887, Verdi’s opera “Otello” premieres at La Scala. In 1897, the Indiana House of Representatives passes, 67-0, a measure redefining the method for determining the area of a circle, which includes altering the value of pi. (The bill dies in the Indiana Senate.) In 1917, Congress passes, over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto, an immigration act severely curtailing the influx of Asians. In 1917, Mexico’s constitution is adopted. In 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt proposes increasing the number of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court; critics accuse Roosevelt of attempting to “pack” the high court.

February 5, 1983: A waterline break on Mahoning Avenue douses underground telephone cables, knocking out long-distance service to most of Columbiana County and portions of Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

A federal judge rules that an admission by Mahoning County Sheriff James A. Traficant Jr. and tapes of his conversations with reputed Mafia figures may be admitted as evidence at his trial.

February 5, 1968: Fire destroys the 120 -year-old Leslie Hotel at 34 E. Washington St. in New Castle, Pa., leaving 34 residents homeless.

An East Side father, James Price, carries one child through the blazing kitchen while the mother, Margaret, led three other children outdoors when fire swept through their frame dwelling at 2833 Guss St. in Youngstown.

Dr. Hunsdon Cary Jr., rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Youngstown since 1957, resigns to become rector of the church of Bethesda by the Sea in Palm Beach, Fla.

February 5, 1958: J.L. Mauthe, board chairman of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., warns that, “We have been maintaining our present high level of prosperity out of what we have been borrowing — governmental, industrial and individual borrowing.” Speaking before the Rotary Club, Mauthe says that sooner or later what has been borrowed will have to be repaid.

Fear of publicity stops some serious crimes, Dr. Samuel R. Gerber, Cuyahoga County coroner since 1937, tells members of the Youngstown Crime Clinic during their monthly meeting in the Mural Building.

Youngstown and Mahoning County planning commissions will cooperate in a 13-county regional planning effort proposed in Ravenna when northeast Ohio planning officials meet with Ohio Department of Highways representatives.

February 5, 1933: Amid complaints from various sources about the quality of local relief work in Niles, a state official announces that a man will be sent from Columbus to take charge of relief efforts in Niles.

Youngstown police are investigating the case of an as-yet-unidentified hanger-on at city hall who is selling forged slips promising a week’s work in the city water department for $3 to unemployed men looking for work.

Dennis T. Murphy, Youngstown railroad man who rose from waterboy to general agent for the New York Central Railroad and chairman of the board of the Lake Erie and Eastern Railroad, dies at his home at 46 Lauderdale Ave. of a heart attack. He was 78 years old.