Today is Sunday, Sept. 14, the 258th day of 2008. There are 108 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Sunday, Sept. 14, the 258th day of 2008. There are 108 days left in the year. On this date in 1814, Francis Scott Key is inspired to write his poem “The Star-Spangled Banner” after witnessing how Fort McHenry in Maryland had endured British bombardment during the War of 1812.

In 1812, the Russians set fire to Moscow in the face of an invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte’s troops. In 1847, U.S. forces under Gen. Winfield Scott take control of Mexico City. In 1901, President William McKinley dies in Buffalo, N.Y., of gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeds him. In 1927, modern dance pioneer Isadora Duncan dies in Nice, France, when her scarf becomes entangled in a wheel of the sports car she was riding in. In 1948, a groundbreaking ceremony takes place in New York at the site of the United Nations’ world headquarters. In 1959, the Soviet space probe Luna 2 becomes the first man-made object to reach the moon as it crashes onto the lunar surface. In 1964, Pope Paul VI opens the third session of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, also known as Vatican II. (The session closes two months later.) In 1975, Pope Paul VI declares Mother Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton the first U.S.-born saint. In 1982, Princess Grace of Monaco, formerly actress Grace Kelly, dies at age 52 of injuries from a car crash the day before; Lebanon’s president-elect, Bashir Gemayel is killed by a bomb. In 1988, Hurricane Gilbert slams into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula after forcing thousands of residents to flee.

September 14, 1983: The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio grants the Ohio Edison Co. a $101.9 million rate hike and allows the company to increase its monthly service charge by 25 cents.

Mahoning County commissioners approve water system improvements that could spark development in Craig Beach. A water tank will be replaced and the water plant upgraded at a cost of $700,000.

A group of several dozen parents from the Woodrow Wilson High School area appear at a meeting of the Youngstown Board of Education to express their opposition to the possible closing of Wilson as the school district closes buildings.

September 14, 1968: A consultant will be hired to work out a dispute between Youngstown State University, Kent State University and the University of Akron over which school will get an educational television station.

Keith L. Ware, who rose from draftee to major general and won the Medal of Honor for bravery in World War II, dies with seven others in a helicopter crash near Saigon.

“This rash of burglaries and vandalism in public schools must be stopped,” Judge Elwyn Jenkins tells a 19-year-old man caught inside Covington School. Jenkins orders the man to jail until Jan. 1.

September 14, 1958: A record enrollment of 5,742 Youngstown University students begin classes. There are 1,058 freshmen.

More than 300 apprentices in construction industries of the Youngstown area graduate as journeymen in ceremonies in the Hotel Pick Ohio.

Mary Martin, first lady of the musical comedy stage, will star in a variety program of songs and music when she presents “Music with Mary Martin” at the Stambaugh Auditorium.

September 14, 1933: Children under 16 years old are barred from churches, Sunday schools, theaters and all public gatherings and schools will remain closed after four more cases are reported in the infantile paralysis epidemic in the Youngstown area.

Police Chief Leroy Goodwin says Municipal Judge P.B. Mulholland has called the police crackdown on vice “crap” and is suspending sentences on gamblers without notice.

The Ohio Legislature is considering a bill that would enact a 1 percent sales tax for public school operations and would appropriate $4 million in aid to parochial schools.