Today is Saturday, May 3, the 124th day of 2008. There are 242 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Saturday, May 3, the 124th day of 2008. There are 242 days left in the year. On this date in 1948, the Supreme Court, in Shelley v. Kraemer, rules that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks or members of other racial groups are legally unenforceable.

In 1654, a bridge in Rowley, Mass., is permitted to charge a toll for animals, while people cross for free. In 1802, Washington, D.C., is incorporated as a city. In 1916, Irish nationalist Padraic Pearse and two others are executed by the British for their roles in the Easter Rising. In 1933, Nellie T. Ross becomes the first female director of the U.S. Mint. In 1944, U.S. wartime rationing of most grades of meats ends. In 1945, during World War II, Allied forces capture Rangoon, Burma, from the Japanese. In 1947, Japan’s postwar constitution takes effect. In 1948, Pulitzer Prizes are awarded to playwright Tennessee Williams for “A Streetcar Named Desire” and to novelist James Michener for “Tales of the South Pacific.” In 1978, “Sun Day” falls on a Wednesday as thousands of people extolling the virtues of solar energy held events across the country. In 1986, in NASA’s first post-Challenger launch, an unmanned Delta rocket loses power in its main engine shortly after liftoff, forcing safety officers to destroy it by remote control.

May 3, 1983: Youngstown Mayor George Vukovich vetoes an ordinance that would have abolished the rank of lieutenant in the police department. Earlier, Vukovich had said he wouldn’t sign the legislation, which would have allowed it to become law within 10 days.

Republic Steel Corp. announces that it has put most of its planned improvements in the Mahoning Valley on the back burner.

Tornadoes batter northern Ohio, killing four people. High winds in the Youngstown area knock down some trees and topple utility poles.

May 3, 1968: Two officers of the Youngstown State University Young Republicans Club, Edward Czopur and Peter Wilms, accept the Herbert Hoover Trophy at the Midwest Federation of College Republican Clubs in Chicago. The Youngstown club edged out Missouri, Michigan and Indiana for the trophy.

Ray Charles Fryer, 35, of Warren is crushed beneath a piano after slipping about halfway down a stairway at the Clarence Robinson Center on Oak Hill Avenue.

Young winners in the annual piano competition sponsored by the Youngstown Symphony Society are Jim Byo, Lilli Paul, John Sposato, John Dendiu, Annette Garvey, Jayne Kostecki, Elaine Joachim, James Denovchek and Frank Mento.

May 3, 1958: Preliminary construction work begins on the 154-unit McGuffey Terrace housing project after final papers clearing the way for construction are signed in the Federal Housing Administration office in Cleveland.

Darlene Denmeade, a student at St. Joseph School, wins The Vindicator’s 25th annual spelling bee, spelling “obeisance.”

A construction worker, Doral Constable, 52, of Mercer, is crushed to death by a falling crane boom at the Pittsburgh Lake Erie Railroad yard adjacent to Youngstown Sheet Tube Co. in Campbell.

May 3, 1933: The Ohio Works of Carnegie Steel Co. receives orders that will keep it in operation at a 31 percent rate of capacity.

The Allied Council reinstates 14 of 15 stores stricken off the list of accepted dealers for poor relief orders after the stores are inspected by Food Inspector Christ Diebel.

Water Commissioner Dan Parish adopts a plan to allow men to work off delinquent water bills.