Today is Monday, March 2, the 61st day of 2009. There are 304 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Monday, March 2, the 61st day of 2009. There are 304 days left in the year. On this date in 1939, Roman Catholic Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected Pope on his 63rd birthday; he takes the name Pius XII.

In 1836, the Republic of Texas formally declares its independence from Mexico. In 1877, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes is declared the winner of the 1876 presidential election over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden, even though Tilden had won the popular vote. In 1899, Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state is established. In 1917, Puerto Ricans are granted U.S. citizenship as President Woodrow Wilson signs the Jones-Shafroth Act. In 1939, the Massachusetts legislature votes to ratify the Bill of Rights, 147 years after the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution had gone into effect. (Georgia and Connecticut soon followed.) In 1943, the World War II Battle of the Bismarck Sea begins; U.S. and Australian warplanes are able to inflict heavy damage on a Japanese convoy. In 1958, a multinational expedition led by British explorer Vivian Fuchs completes the first overland crossing of Antarctica by way of the South Pole in 99 days.

March 2, 1984: An 86-year-old East Side man is charged with aggravated murder after he allegedly shot and killed his next door neighbor, Domingo Santiago, 51. Toby Giansante is being held in St. Elizabeth Hospital after complaining to police of chest pains.

Youngstown State University is awarded a $500,000 federal grant to prepare 250 permanently laid off steel workers for new careers.

Nine people are indicted by a federal grand jury on charges related to a cocaine ring alleged to have operated in Youngstown.

March 2, 1969: Labor and management join ranks during a meeting at Teamsters Local 377 Union Hall in a battle to drive down the cost of hospitalization and medical care. They allege that “gross mismanagement” of Youngstown hospitals is driving up costs.

A national effort to make it more difficult for conglomerates to takeover local companies is gaining some support in Washington, D.C., but too late to save Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. from being taken over by Lykes Corp. or Sharon Steel from falling to NVF Corp.

Dr. Albert Pugsley, president of Youngstown State University, says the university will lose some $2 million in revenue in the 1969-70 school year as a result of a limitation on out-of-state student subsidies.

March 2, 1959: More than 200 people attend a ground-breaking ceremony for the first $3.2 million phase of Warren’s multmillion-dollar sewage disposal system.

Youngstown ranks fifth in murders and rapes among Ohio’s major cities, with nine murders and two rapes. Cleveland had the most murders, with 30, and Cincinnati had the most rape cases with 85.

Mahoning County Coroner David A. Belinky threatens court action to force county commissioners to give him money to hire an investigator.

March 2, 1934: The freeing of $1 million to depositors of the Union Savings & Trust Co. in Warren is the first of a hoped for $15 million for Youngstown area financial institutions.

Mahoning County’s CWA force will not suffer heavy cuts until the last 30 days of Ohio’s civil work, which is to end May 1, Relief Director Ray Noble predicts.