Today is Saturday, Feb. 23, the 54th day of 2008. There are 312 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Saturday, Feb. 23, the 54th day of 2008. There are 312 days left in the year. On this date in 1945, during World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima capture Mount Suribachi, where they raise the American flag.

In 1633, English diarist Samuel Pepys is born in London. In 1836, the siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio. In 1847, the Battle of Buena Vista takes place during the Mexican-American War. U.S. troops led by Gen. Zachary Taylor fight Mexican Gen. Santa Anna’s forces, who end up withdrawing. In 1848, the sixth president of the United States, John Quincy Adams, dies in Washington, D.C., at age 80. In 1861, President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington to take office, following word of an assassination plot in Baltimore.

In 1870, Mississippi is readmitted to the Union. In 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine begins in Pittsburgh. In 1981, an attempted coup begins in Spain as 200 members of the Civil Guard invade the Parliament, taking lawmakers hostage. (However, the attempt collapses 18 hours later.) In 1997, scientists in Scotland announce they have succeeded in cloning an adult mammal, producing a lamb named Dolly. (Dolly, however, is later put down after a short life marred by premature aging and disease.)

February 23, 1983: Downtown Youngstown Realtor Dan Lewis is working on a $1 million proposal to convert the badly deteriorated Youngstown Hotel into condominium apartments.

Thomas J. Travers, chairman of Commercial Shearing Inc. in Youngstown, says high, uncompetitive wage rates in the Youngstown district are hampering efforts at economic diversification in the Mahoning Valley and threatening existing industry.

February 23, 1968: Two fires cause about $600 damage and drive 50 tenants from the Tod Hotel on Market Street.

John Penney and his wife, Patricia, miraculously escape injury when an explosion of natural gas blows out plate glass windows and causes the ceiling to collapse at the Peek’s Cleaners, 83 E. Midlothian Blvd.

General Motors unveils a new electric vehicle, an experimental Army truck that can climb a 60 percent grade and presumably traverse many of Vietnam’s mountains while carrying two tons of supplies.

February 23, 1958: There is considerable evidence that the ailing basic steel industry has just about hit bottom, writes Vindicator Industrial editor George R. Reiss.

Two gunmen answering the description of robbers who held up the Oak Hill Gardens strike the Central Bar on Hubbard Road several hours later, taking money from the wallets of seven patrons and cash from the cash register.

Five thousand volunteers are set to visit every home in the tri-county area seeking contributions for the Youngstown Area Heart Association.

February 23, 1933: The Ohio Senate adopts by a vote of 22 to 9 the Smolka resolution that would place a referendum on Ohio’s repeal of a state constitutional amendment prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages.

B.E. Fulton, manager of the Akron airport and a nationally known airport expert, tells the South Side Merchants & Civic Association that Youngstown needs a new airport if it is going to maintain its place in the aeronautical world.