Today is Saturday, Sept. 20, the 264th day of 2008. There are 102 days left in the year. On this

Today is Saturday, Sept. 20, the 264th day of 2008. There are 102 days left in the year. On this date in 1519, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan and his crew set out from Spain on five ships on a voyage to find a western passage to the Spice Islands in Indonesia. (Magellan is killed enroute, but one of his ships eventually circles the world.)

In 1870, Italian troops take control of the Papal States, leading to the unification of Italy. In 1873, panic sweeps the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in the wake of railroad bond defaults and bank failures. In 1881, Chester A. Arthur is sworn in as the 21st president of the United States, succeeding the assassinated James A. Garfield. In 1947, former New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia dies. In 1958, civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is seriously wounded during a book signing at a New York City department store when a black woman, Izola Curry, stabs him in the chest. (Curry is later found mentally incompetent.) In 1962, black student James Meredith is blocked from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by Gov. Ross R. Barnett. (Meredith is later admitted.) In 1967, the Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 is christened by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in Clydebank, Scotland. In 1973, in their so-called “battle of the sexes,” tennis star Billie Jean King defeats Bobby Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, at the Houston Astrodome. In 1978, John Vorster, prime minister of white-ruled South Africa since 1966, announces his resignation. In 1984, a suicide car bomber attacks the U.S. Embassy annex in north Beirut, killing a dozen people.

September 20, 1983: Commissioners from Mahoning, Trumbull, Ashtabula and Cuyahoga counties will meet to discuss federal plans to ship high-level radioactive wastes through the Youngstown and Cleveland areas.

United States Steel Corp. will dismiss about 4,000 office workers, nearly a quarter of its white collars work force, but won’t say whether it plans to close more aging steel mills.

Youngstown State University officials are projecting record enrollment for the fall quarter, exceeding the high point of 15,898 set in 1976.

September 20, 1968: The Youngs-town chapter of the Association of Industrial Advertisers pledge their talents to promoting the 12-mill Youngstown school operating levy Nov. 5.

Major crime across the United States increased 21 percent in the first six months of 1968 compared to a year earlier, but Youngstown’s rate of increase was a much lower 6.6 percent.

Team captain Clifton Knox leads North High to a 36-6 rout of East High. It is the first time North beat East since 1954 and it is the largest margin of victory in the history of the series.

September 20, 1958: A second group of 14 Indian engineers arrive in Youngstown to study in a training program at Youngstown University and Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co.

South High School beats Wilson 12-0 before 5,500 fans at South Stadium and Rayen and Struthers battle to a 0-0 tie.

September 20, 1933: Friends of parochial education in the Ohio General Assembly are defeated in their first attempt to obtain $4 million in state aid for parochial education. They say they will introduce another bill to get state funds for Catholic schools.

Atty. J. Nelson Whiteside Jr., a prominent Democrat and assistant secretary of the city’s sinking fund, dies of a heart attack while working at City Hall. He was 43.

Although the steel industry had been given until Nov. 1 to make the change, Youngstown steel mills have all cut their work day from 10 hours to eight hours.