Today in history

Today is Saturday, March 28, the 87th day of 2009. There are 278 days left in the year. On this date in 1979, America’s worst commercial nuclear accident occurs inside the Unit 2 reactor at the Three Mile Island plant near Middletown, Pa.

In 1834, the U.S. Senate votes to censure President Andrew Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the United States. In 1898, the Supreme Court, in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, rules that a child born in the United States to Chinese immigrants is a U.S. citizen. In 1930, the names of the Turkish cities of Constantinople and Angora are changed to Istanbul and Ankara. In 1939, the Spanish Civil War effectively ends as Madrid falls to the forces of Francisco Franco. In 1969, the 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, dies in Washington at age 78. In 1994, absurdist playwright Eugene Ionesco dies in Paris at age 84.

March 28, 1984: The B.J. Alan Co.’s plan to put up a fireworks warehouse clears its first hurdle with Mahoning County Planning Commission’s approval of a zone change for 12 acres on Columbiana-Canfield Road in Beaver Township.

Crews in Hubbard stop flushing sanitary sewers with water after the odor of gasoline fumes at N. Main and Myron streets subsides, but authorities still don’t know what caused the fumes.

Four men and a woman, including a former employee of the Youngstown Credit Bureau, are indicted on federal charges of credit fraud after using false information to finance new cars.

The Ungaro administration is scrambling to erase a $580,000 deficit in the 1984 budget. The budget must be balanced by month’s end.

March 28, 1969: About 90 percent of the 52 employees in the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department have joined the Teamsters Union, says John J. Angelo, union secretary-treasurer.

Pope Paul VI creates 33 cardinals, including four Americans, among them Bishop John Wright of Pittsburgh.

Anita Hanrahan, an eighth grader at St. Patrick School, Youngstown, wins the 16th annual Youngstown Diocese Spelling Bee 1959: Acquisition of land for Youngstown’s sewage treatment plant is completed when a common pleas jury approves payment of $87,500 for three remaining parcels.

March 28, 1959: Reflecting the Youngstown District’s rapid “back-to-work” movement, claims for unemployment at the Youngstown office of the Ohio Employment Service are the lowest since November 1957.

Youngstown area golf courses are holding their prices for the coming season. Mill Creek will charge 85 cents for nine holes and $1.50 for 18 on weekdays; $1 and $1.85 on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. Henry Stambaugh will charge 60 cents for nine, $1 for 18 holes.

The Boardman Transit Co. will increase its fares from 20 cents to 25 cents on some routes and 25 cents to 30 cents on others, says Frederick Halt, general manager.

March 28, 1934: Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., Republic Steel Corp., Sharon Steel Hoop Co., Youngstown Pressed Steel Co. and the Carnegie Steel Co. announce a 10 percent pay increase for all employees; about 50,000 are affected.

Atty. W.P. Barnum of Youngstown is named by the Ohio Supreme Court to fill a vacancy on the state bar examining committee,

Playing at the State Theater, Mae West in “I’m no Angel.” Prices 15, 20 and 25 cents.