Today is Sunday, March 2, the 62nd day of 2008. There are 304 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Sunday, March 2, the 62nd day of 2008. There are 304 days left in the year. On this date in 1958, a multinational expedition led by British geologist and explorer Vivian Fuchs completes the first overland crossing of Antarctica by way of the South Pole in 99 days.

In 1877, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes is declared the winner of the 1876 presidential election over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, even though Tilden had won the popular vote. In 1899, Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state is established. In 1917, Puerto Ricans are granted U.S. citizenship as President Wilson signs the Jones-Shafroth Act. In 1933, the motion picture “King Kong” has its world premiere in New York. In 1939, Roman Catholic Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope on his 63rd birthday; he takes the name Pius XII. In 1965, the movie version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical “The Sound of Music” has its world premiere at New York’s Rivoli Theater.

March 2, 1983: Sharon police say they have a few leads but no definite suspects in the beating death of Diane Green, 19, and two of her three children in an apartment at Quinby Street and New Castle Avenue. A four-year-old son survived and is at Tod Children’s Hospital in Youngstown.

Robert L. Loughhead, president to Copperweld Steel Corp. in Warren, sends a letter to employes saying the company is in desperate need of controlling its labor costs to halt serious losses and allow it to modernize and become competitive again.

U.S. Rep. Lyle Williams, R-17th, is putting together a list of brick-and-mortar projects in the Mahoning Valley that might qualify for funding under the $4.6 billion recession-relief bill working its way through Congress.

March 2, 1968: The FBI and Columbiana County authorities are pressing a search for two men who escaped amidst gunfire during a robbery at the New Waterford Bank. They got nearly $11,000 during the noon-time heist.

George Amreihn, president of Local 70, Theatrical and Stage Employees Union, says union members will picket construction of the new Fitch High School in a dispute over a minstrel show being staged by Austintown Kiwanis at the old high school which is not hiring professional stagehands.

March 2, 1958: February 1958 was the coldest February in the Youngstown area in 16 years, and Feb. 17, when the temperature dropped to minus 9 and never climbed above 5 degrees, was the coldest day in the area since 1936.

A decision by some major manufacturers to drop fair trade pricing methods has touched off a wave of price cuts and a spurt in store sales in the Youngstown market.

March 2, 1933: Archbishop Edward A. Mooney of Tokyo, back home in Youngstown for the first time in three years, chats about the scenic beauty of Japan and the courtesy of its people, but won’t discuss politics. He was interviewed at the Illinois Avenue home of his brother, Charles.

Youngstown Mayor Mark E. Moore leaves for Washington, D.C, where he will attend a director’s meeting of the National Rivers and Harbors Congress and then stay over for the inauguration of President Roosevelt.