Today is Saturday, Jan. 31, the 31st day of 2009. There are 334 days left in the year. On this date

January 31, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Saturday, Jan. 31, the 31st day of 2009. There are 334 days left in the year. On this date in 1958, the United States enters the Space Age with its first successful launch of a satellite into orbit, Explorer I.

In 1606, Guy Fawkes, convicted of treason for his part in the “Gunpowder Plot” against the English Parliament and King James I, is executed. In 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee is named general-in-chief of all the Confederate armies. In 1919, baseball Hall-of-Famer Jackie Robinson is born in Cairo, Ga. In 1929, revolutionary Leon Trotsky and his family are expelled from the Soviet Union. In 1944, during World War II, U.S. forces begin a successful invasion of Kwajalein Atoll and other parts of the Japanese-held Marshall Islands. In 1945, Pvt. Eddie Slovik, 24, becomes the first U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion as he is shot by an American firing squad in France. In 1949, the first TV daytime soap opera, “These Are My Children,” begins broadcasting from the NBC station in Chicago. (It lasts all of four weeks.) In 1971, astronauts Alan Shepard Jr., Edgar Mitchell and Stuart Roosa blast off aboard Apollo 14 on a mission to the moon. In 2000, an Alaska Airlines jet plummets into the Pacific Ocean, killing all 88 people aboard.

January 31, 1984: Youngstown will file for two Urban Development Action Grants totaling $2.7 million for the proposed Ronneburg Brewery Co. and GF Furniture Systems Inc.

Some Youngstown employees may have to be cut from the city’s payroll soon because of a projected $1.2 million deficit in payroll accounts.

January 31, 1969: The Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. and Lykes Corp. of New Orleans agree to merge, subject to shareholder approval.

Thomas J. Howe, deputy county auditor, is appointed Mahoning County administrator by county commissioners.

A building permit is issued for construction of the $3.2 million Ohio Presbyterian Home at 1216 Fifth Avenue.

January 31, 1959: Brig. Gen W.W. Lapsley, the Army’s Ohio River engineer, says the Mosquito Creek and Berlin reservoirs saved the Mahoning Valley from about $44 million in damage from recent flooding.

The Rev. Paul Adams, pastor of Woodland Ave. Lutheran Church since 1926, is honored as past president of the Downtown Kiwanis Club at the club’s annual President’s Ball.

Herbert W. Osgood, president of Reichart Furniture, is elected president of the Downtown Board of Trade.

January 31, 1934: The Army Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors gives a favorable report on the proposed Beaver-Mahoning River canal to Major-Gen. Edward Markham, chief of the Army engineers.

About 3,000 Youngstowners jam Stambaugh Auditorium to dance and play cards and to celebrate the birthday of President Franklin Roosevelt. The event raises about $1,000 for the Warm Springes Foundation, a sanitarium for crippled children.

Warren E. Grant of Youngstown tops the list of 112 successful applicants who took the bar examination in January.