Today is Sunday, Jan. 4, the fourth day of 2009. There are 361 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Sunday, Jan. 4, the fourth day of 2009. There are 361 days left in the year. On this date in 1809, Louis Braille, inventor of the Braille raised-dot reading system for the blind, is born in Coupvray, France.

In 1821, the first native-born American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, dies in Emmitsburg, Md. In 1904, the Supreme Court, in Gonzalez v. Williams, rules that Puerto Ricans are not aliens and can enter the United States freely; however, the court stops short of declaring them U.S. citizens. In 1948, Burma (now called Myanmar) becomes independent of British rule. In 1951, during the Korean War, North Korean and Communist Chinese forces recapture the city of Seoul. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson outlines the goals of his “Great Society” in his State of the Union Address. Poet T.S. Eliot dies in London at age 76. In 1974, President Richard M. Nixon refuses to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. In 2007, Nancy Pelosi is elected the first female speaker of the House as Democrats take control of Congress.

January 4, 1984: As one of his first actions, Youngstown Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro announces a ban on vacation buy-backs for city employees and he is looking for city jobs that can be eliminated.

Twenty-eight of the 42 Youngstown Area United Way agencies will receive increases in their allocations for 1984, while the other 14 will get the same amounts as last year.

Vincent L. Santangelo resigns as Mayor Patrick J. Ungaro’s fire chief before ever taking office. Gerald Kernan, a 27-year veteran of the Fire Department, is named chief.

January 4, 1969: The Youngs-town Area Chamber of Commerce recommends that garbage and trash collection in the city be turned over to private contractors, noting that the city sanitation department costs more to operate and has the highest overtime rate of any city department.

Robert Summers, 21, is killed and three others injured in a spectacular crash in W. Rayen Avenue near Westlake’s Crossing when a sports car traveling at high speed slides into a utility pole.

St. Elizabeth Hospital increases the charge for all rooms by $5 per day. Private rooms will be $51; semi-private, $45.

Faculty and students at Volney Rogers Junior High School pay tribute to Frank E. Platenak, a teacher who was killed in an Air Force Reserve C119 crash in Puerto Rico Dec. 14. A memorial service is held at the school and a scholarship fund established in his name.

January 4, 1959: The Home Savings & Loan Co. celebrates its 70th anniversary by opening its fourth branch office, in Austintown, and by spending at least $700,000 to remodel the downtown office.

Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Frank R. Franko, who publicly sentenced a Boardman man to 30 days in jail for assaulting a Youngstown police officer, quietly orders the man released on a Saturday afternoon after the man served five days.

Youngstown department store sales in the Christmas week jumped 24 percent over the corresponding week a year ago, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

January 4, 1934: Cyrus Neff, Canfield merchant, abandons his legal fight to overturn his conviction and life sentence for the slaying of his wife. Each of Neff’s lawyers received a short letter telling them not to appeal his case to the supreme court.

Guy T. Ohl, president of the Youngstown Board of Education since May 1931, is re-elected by unanimous vote of the new board.

A mysterious explosion destroys a house at 93 Prospect St. and damages two other houses. Damage is estimated at $7,400. The vacant house is owned by Dollar Savings & Trust Co.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt presents Congress with a plan to spend more than $9 billion over two years for recovery, but says the nation should be on a pay-as-you-go basis by 1936.