Today is Wednesday, Feb. 4, the 35th day of 2009. There are 330 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 4, the 35th day of 2009. There are 330 days left in the year. On this date in 1789, electors choose George Washington to be the first president of the United States. (However, the results of the balloting are not counted in the U.S. Senate until two months later.)

In 1783, Britain declares a formal cessation of hostilities with its former colonies, the United States of America. In 1932, New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt opens the Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid. In 1938, the Thornton Wilder play “Our Town” opens on Broadway. In 1974, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst is kidnapped in Berkeley, Calif., by the Symbionese Liberation Army. In 1976, more than 23,000 people die when a severe earthquake strikes Guatemalay. In 1998, more than 2,300 people are killed when an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 hits northeast Afghanistan, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

February 4, 1984: Two Niles companies fall to competition, both domestic and foreign: Lake Eastern Steel Division of the Gibraltar Steel Co. on Hunter Street and Valley Steel Erectors.

The Mahoning County Soldiers Relief Commission will run out of money to pay benefits to needy veterans in nine months if it continues to spend at its present rate to meet increasing demands.

February 4, 1969: After Youngstown Mayor Anthony B. Flask announces he’ll run for a fourth term, two Republicans, Councilman Jack C. Hunter and Donald J. Lewis, and two Democrats, former Mayor Frank X. Kryzan and former Judge Don L. Hanni Jr., file their election petitions.

The lifeguard and the physical education director of the Jewish Community Center are credited with saving the life of Larry Gayles, 16, who nearly drowned in the center’s pool. Rose Gaudio pulled the boy from the pool and she and Alex Rosenthal alternated in performing artificial respiration.

February 4, 1959: The Mahoning County grand jury issues a mild reprimand to Sheriff Paul J. Langley after refusing to indict him for misconduct in office for allowing special privileges to Joseph “Sandy” Naples while Naples was serving a six-month jail term for gambling.

After four years of appeals, Peter Fetchet, Youngstown numbers figure, faces a 30-day jail term after the Ohio Supreme Court refuses to review his conviction in Youngstown Municipal Court.

February 4, 1934: Youngstown Mayor Mark E. Moore will go to Washington to try to induce Public Works Administration officials to restore a $106,000 loan for repair of the Lake Milton dam.

Executives of Youngstown’s larger downtown stores say January trade was 50 to 75 percent ahead of that of 1933, indicating Youngstown is on the road to better times.