December 23, 1976: Youngstown Mayor Jack C. Hunter's proposed 1977 budget has a $1.7 million deficit

December 23, 1976: Youngstown Mayor Jack C. Hunter's proposed 1977 budget has a $1.7 million deficit and might require the layoff of 163 regular and CETA employees.
More than $5.5 million in Youngstown area public works projects - including $2.2 million in repairs to Milton dam - are virtually assured financing under the U.S. Public works Employment and Training Act.
Wayne Johnson, an Akron Buchtel High School basketball star collapses and dies during a game with the Warren G. Harding High School team at the Warren Fieldhouse. He collapsed after colliding with a teammate in the backcourt.
December 23, 1961: Parishioners at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Byzantine Rite Church will celebrate their first Christmas in the new church at 356 S. Belle Vista Ave. More than 30 altar boys will form an honor guard for Beverly Porinchak, who will place the Infant in the manger following a candlelight procession at Christmas Eve Mass.
Two hooded gunman shatter the pre-Christmas atmosphere of good will by terrorizing 18 customers and employees at the New Waterford Bank on Stillman Road. They escaped with $25,000.
As the Yuletide shopping season draws to an end, toy shelves in many stores are as bare as Santa's pack after a busy Christmas Eve. The Civil War Centennial inspired many popular toys, including a & quot;Johnny Reb & quot; cannon that is almost impossible to find.
December 23, 1951: One of the newest and most radical wrinkles in bulk transportation - the coal-carrying pipeline - will be given a thorough workout in southeast Ohio, and if it works could solve one of Youngstown's most serious economic problems.
Remodeling of the Youngstown Public Library will be undertaken in 1952, for which $97,000 has been allocated.
Youngstown College President Howard W. Jones joins leading industrialist and educators throughout the country in seeking industrial support of scholarships for worthy students who would later benefit the entire community.
December 23, 1926: Pat Eugene McDermott, on trial in Canton for the murder of Publisher Don R. Mellett, takes the stand in his own defense and say that it was the state's man witness against him, Steve Kaschold, who killed Mellett. McDermott claims he called Mellett several days before the murder to warn him.
Every available source of police protection is called out in Youngstown to respond to reports of stickups, burglaries and robberies. In one case, the Rev. Paul Risk, pastor of St. Maron's Church, was sewing a tear in his cassock when a gunman walked into his second floor room and ordered him to give up his money. The priest grabbed the robber's pistol and he fled.
Fire destroys the old Kimmel homestead on the Coitsville and Struthers Road. Mrs. Mary Kimmell is alone in the house when the blaze starts, apparently sparked by a defective flue.
December 24, 1976: The marble walls of the Mahoning County Courthouse reverberate with the sound of Christmas music as a chorus of 100 county employees go caroling through the courthouse.
A gunman beats a 58-year-old Winona Drive man to the ground him and rob him near his home. Police found Eugene Kirkland lying on the sidewalk, bleeding from the back of his head and hand.
A new wheelchair coach vehicle is put into service by Gold Cross Ambulance. The vehicle, the only one of its kind in the Youngstown area, will provide transportation for nonambulatory patients to the doctor's or dentist's office, to outpatient appointments and pleasure trips.
December 24, 1961: If President Kennedy decides to resume aerial tests of nuclear weapons, U.S. military experts may propose that the experiments include firing and detonation of ballistic missiles with hydrogen warheads.
One of the newest methods for boosting blast furnace production - natural gas injection - is being installed on two Youngstown district blast furnaces, one at the Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Campbell Works and one at U.S. Steel Corp.'s Ohio Works.
Harry Meshel, a branch manager of the investment firm of Waddell & amp; Reed Inc. and a member of the faculty of Youngstown University, is the new president of Lincoln Chapter 89, Order of AHEPA. Miss Beth Vassel is re-elected president of Methone Chapter 183, Daughter of Penelope.
December 24, 1951: A tragic pre-Christmas fire levels a home in Riblet Road, Austintown taking the lives of Mrs. Margaret Youngblood, 24, and three of her four small children. She managed to push one child, her five-year-old son, to safety.
Huge crowds of last-minute shoppers jam the downtown district and outlying shopping center areas, slowing traffic to a crawl on many main arteries.
The Los Angeles Rams capture the National Football League championship, defeating the Cleveland Browns, 24-17, and ending the Browns' streak of championships at six.
December 24, 1926: In asking the death penalty for Patrick Eugene McDermott, charged with the murder of Canton Publisher Don R. Mellett, assistant prosecutor Henry Harter says the assassination was & quot;an attack on the American press without which our institutions cannot prosper. & quot;
Heads of banks and business houses in Youngstown say that business volume this Christmas period has equaled that of 1925, which was the highest on record, but has not topped it.
The Vindicator completes a survey that reveals that Youngstown's population is growing at a rapid rate, increasing 27 percent in seven years to 168,095.