YEARS AGO FOR MARCH 2

Today is Saturday, March 2, the 61st day of 2019. There are 304 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1793: The first (and third) president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston, is born near Lexington, Va.

1836: The Republic of Texas declares its independence from Mexico.

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.

1917: Puerto Ricans are granted U.S. citizenship.

1933: The motion picture “King Kong” has its world premiere at New York’s Radio City Music Hall and the Roxy.

1939: Roman Catholic Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli is elected pope on his 63rd birthday.

1962: Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors in a game against the New York Knicks, an NBA record that still stands.

1978: The remains of comedian Charles Chaplin are stolen by extortionists from his grave in Switzerland.

1985: The government approves a screening test for AIDS that detects antibodies to the virus.

1995: The internet search engine website Yahoo! is incorporated by founders Jerry Yang and David Filo.

2918: At a funeral before an invitation-only crowd of approximately 2,000 in Charlotte, N.C., the children of the Rev. Billy Graham remember “America’s Pastor” as a man devoted to spreading the Gospel, and one who lived his life at home as he preached it in stadiums.

VINDICATOR FILES

1994: U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. says he’ll work to reverse a decision by the secretary of the Air Force not to deploy four C-130 aircraft to the Youngstown Air Reserve Station. Traficant secured congressional approval to add eight planes to the Youngstown base.

Salem City Council votes to allow city firefighters to smoke on city property in response to firefighter complaints that, unlike other city employees, they work 24-hour shifts.

The Ohio House passes 75-25 a bill that would require all newly constructed restaurants, theaters, nightclubs, museums, arenas, churches and stadiums to have twice as many toilets for women as for men.

1979: The public gets a preview of Youngstown Hospital Association’s $9 million addition to North Side Hospital after dedication ceremonies.

Retired Army Col. Weldon L. Plants, 59, of Worthington is issued the first Ohio “former POW” license plate. A new law makes free plates available to former prisoners of war.

Matt Grist’s bucket with 16 seconds left and two subsequent free throws gives Austintown Fitch a 62-58 victory over Struthers in Sectional AAA play.

1969: Youngstown State University President Albert Pugsley says YSU will lose some $2 million in revenue in the 1969-70 school year after the Board of Regents eliminates subsidies for out-of-state students.

Labor and management ask the public to join them in a battle to drive down the costs of hospitalization and medical treatment. About 70 representatives of jointly managed health and welfare funds, industrial leaders and city and county officials heard a talk on “Gross mismanagement of Youngstown area hospitals.”

Some new “stop the conglomerates” action is being discussed to halt a scheduled takeover of Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. and Lykes Corp.

1944: Joseph A. Smith, 35, of Youngstown, an instructor with the Army Air Force training detachment at Kent State University, another instructor and two students are killed when two trainer planes crash near Steel Corners, 10 miles north of Akron.

First prize in Merchants and Retail Bondadier’s jingle contest is won by W.E. Orin. He gets two $100 bonds. The jingle goes: “It’s easier buying than dying,/Once dead they never come back/Each dollar a boy’s life is buying/Buy bonds and help back the attack.”