Today is Monday, Feb. 2, the 33rd day of 2009. There are 332 days left in the year. This is

Today is Monday, Feb. 2, the 33rd day of 2009. There are 332 days left in the year. This is Groundhog Day. On this date in 1943, the remainder of Nazi forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrender in a major victory for the Soviets in World War II.

In 1653, New Amsterdam — now New York City — is incorporated. In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War, is signed. In 1876, the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs is formed in New York. In 1897, fire destroys the Pennsylvania state capitol in Harrisburg. (A new statehouse is dedicated on the same site in 1906.) In 1948, President Harry S. Truman sends a 10-point civil rights program to Congress, where the proposal runs into fierce opposition from southern lawmakers. In 1969, actor Boris Karloff dies in Midhurst, England, at age 81.

February 2, 1984: Mobster Joseph Naples Jr. — the biggest fish hooked so far in the government’s assault on organized crime in the Mahoning Valley — is sentenced to six months in prison for violating federal law by possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony.

Decrying huge deficits in his own budget, President Reagan says he’ll submit a plan to eventually dry up every drop of red ink, but not until next year, after November’s election.

FBI agents arrest six Youngstown area men and confiscate 35 pounds of cocaine and $130,000 in cash during raids aimed at breaking up a multi-million dollar drug ring.

February 2, 1969: Analysts say a proposed merger of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. and Lykes Corp. promises substantial benefits to shareholders of both companies.

State Sen. Charles J. Carney takes a leave of absence from his job as staff representative for District 26 of the United Steelworkers of America, after being appointed Senate minority leader in the current General Assembly.

Forty members of the Youngstown Ski Club leave on a United Airlines flight from the Youngstown Municipal Airport for a week of skiing at Vail and Aspen, Colo., where the snow base is reported at 75 inches.

February 2, 1959: A 45-year-old Detroit man is sentenced to 1 to 20 years in the Ohio Penitentiary after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter in a head-on crash that killed seven people on the Ohio Turnpike. He was driving the wrong way on the turnpike.

Some 180 Campbell football fans pay tribute to Andy Cverko, the All-American Northwestern University tackle, at the Holiday House.

A 47-year-old Rexford Avenue man overcome by carbon monoxide while working on his car with the motor running in a closed garage is saved by a neighbor and a traffic patrolman who administered artificial respiration.

February 2, 1934: Steel output in the Youngstown district jumps to about 45 percent with the lighting of several additional open hearth furnaces by the Republic Steel Corp. and Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co.

Pittsburgh industrial interests are mounting a campaign to oppose the proposed Mahoning-Beaver River canal to the Ohio River. They support a canal that would be cut all the way to Lake Erie.

J.C. Argetsinger is elected president of the board of trustees of the Reuben McMillan Free Library to succeed the late J.P. Wilson.

2008, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.