Today is Thursday, April 2, the 92nd day of 2009. There are 273 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, April 2, the 92nd day of 2009. There are 273 days left in the year. On this date in 1792, Congress passes the Coinage Act, which authorizes establishment of the U.S. Mint.

In 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon lands in present-day Florida. In 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet flee the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va., because of advancing Union forces. In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” (Congress declares war four days later.) In 1932, aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and John F. Condon go to a cemetery in the Bronx, N.Y., where Condon turns over $50,000 to a man called “John” in exchange for Lindbergh’s kidnapped son. (The child, who was not returned, was found dead the following month.) In 1968, the influential science-fiction film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, has its world premiere in Washington. In 1982, several thousand troops from Argentina seize the disputed Falkland Islands, located in the south Atlantic, from Britain. (Britain seizes the islands back the following June.) In 2005, Pope John Paul II, who’d led the Roman Catholic Church for 26 years, dies in his Vatican apartment at age 84.

April 2, 1984: A story in an Akron newspaper detailing a hypothetical account of what would happen if the Milton Dam failed has downstream residents asking questions about their safety. City officials say the dam is safe and the possibility of a 20-inch rainfall as described in the reporter’s story is beyond remote.

One of downtown Youngstown’s landmarks, the Realty Building, is getting a multi-million-dollar facelift and a new name, Renaissance Square, from its owner, the Cafaro Co.

Gov. Richard F. Celeste reappoints Michael Del Bane to a new five-year term as chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, saying Del Bane has slashed the percentage of rate hike requests granted by the PUCO from 64 percent in 1982 to 40 percent in 1983.

April 2, 1969: Classes resume in Struthers public schools as the Struthers Education Association accepts a school board offer of salary increases and fringe benefits if a May operating levy is approved.

Trumbull County Probate Court Judge Reed Battin issues an order that clears the way for the annexation of the new Eastwood Mall to the city of Niles.

The Youngstown Board of Control authorizes the sale of 18 lots in Covingon and Harmony streets to the Child and Adult Mental Health Center Inc. for development of part of the Youngstown Health Center Urban Renew Project.

April 2, 1959: Mahoning County commissioners gain a host of allies in the fight against starlings from the owners of downtown’s largest buildings. They will share the cost of bringing Otto Standke, the 71 year-old nemesis of the birds, to Youngstown. He has successfully rid buildings in Indianapolis, Wichita and Great Bend ., Kansas of the birds.

Consolidated Freightways Co. of Menlo Park, Calif, is seeking to acquire the Youngstown Steel Car Corp. of Niles.

April 2, 1934: Youngstown’s City Trust & Savings Bank and Dollar Savings & Trust announce payment of $5.3 million to the Reconstruction Finance Corp. and hint that deposits, which have been restricted at both banks since reopening, may soon be released.

Easter in Youngstown turns out to be the warmest Sunday so far in 1934 and the fine weather brought out an estimated 40,000 worshippers to Protestant and Catholic churches in the city.