Today is Wednesday, Oct. 22, the 296th day of 2008. There are 70 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 22, the 296th day of 2008. There are 70 days left in the year. On this date in 1962, President Kennedy announces a quarantine of all offensive military equipment shipped to Cuba, following the discovery of Soviet-built missile bases on the island.

In 1746, Princeton University is first chartered as the College of New Jersey. In 1797, French balloonist Andre-Jacques Garnerin makes the first parachute descent, landing safely from a height of about 3,000 feet over Paris. In 1836, Sam Houston is inaugurated as the first constitutionally elected president of the Republic of Texas. In 1883, the original Metropolitan Opera House in New York holds its grand opening with a performance of Gounod’s “Faust.”

October 22, 1983: Rosalie Grant is sentenced to death in the slayings of her young sons. If the sentence is carried out, she would be the first Mahoning County woman to die in the electric chair.

More than 200 people attend a union service marking the 100th anniversary celebration of B’Nai B’rith Lodge 339 of Youngstown at Temple El Emeth.

Mary Ellen Patton, a Youngstown Hospital Association staff nurse and executive director of District 3 of the Ohio Nurses Association, is elected ONA treasurer for the 1983-85 biennium.

October 22, 1968: Woodrow Zinzer, superintendent of Youngstown City School District, says failure of the 12-mill school levy would force Youngstown public schools to close Nov. 27 for the rest of 1968.

Navy Capt. Richard M. Palkovic, a Woodrow Wilson High School 1943 graduate, is a member of the official greeting party that welcomed Capt. Walter Shirra, Maj. Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunnningham aboard the aircraft carrier Essex after their Apollo 7 capsule splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean.

Cmdr. Thomas Petzinger of Boardman takes command of the Naval Reserve Group 4-35 at the Naval Reserve Training Center on E. LaClede Avenue.

October 22, 1958: Former President Harry S. Truman predicts the biggest Democratic landslide since 1932 in an address before a capacity crowd of 2,000 who paid $10 a plate at a Democratic rally at the Cathedral Building in New Castle, Pa.

The third new byproducts coke battery built in recent years at Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co.’s Campbell Works is lighted in anticipation of a continued improvement in the steel business.

The body of Richard J. Brown, 22, of Mineral Ridge is pulled from Cedar Lake in Lordstown Township, three days after he disappeared.

October 22, 1933: Bill Renner of Youngstown scores the first touchdown for Michigan in its 13-0 victory over Ohio State at Ann Arbor. The loss shattered the hopes of the Buckeyes for a Big Ten championship, while keeping Michigan’s hopes alive.

Youngstown has a diminishing number of empty houses and rents are increasing, up by about 20 percent from the summer.

The city of Niles agrees to advance $250 to send Emil Villecco, 6, to Philadelphia, where he will undergo a delicate operation to remove a small screw from his lung that is endangering his life. An uncle of the boy has told city officials that he has an account in a now-closed Niles bank and that he will reimburse the city as soon as the bank reopens.