Today is Tuesday, Dec. 3, the 337th day of 2002. There are 28 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 3, the 337th day of 2002. There are 28 days left in the year. On this date in 1967, surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa, led by Dr. Christiaan Barnard perform the first human heart transplant on Louis Washkansky, who lives 18 days with the new heart.
In 1818, Illinois is admitted as the 21st state. In 1828, Andrew Jackson is elected president of the United States. In 1925, "Concerto in F," by George Gershwin, has its world premiere at New York's Carnegie Hall, with Gershwin himself at the piano. In 1947, the Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire" opens on Broadway. In 1953, the musical "Kismet" opens on Broadway. In 1960, the musical "Camelot" opens on Broadway. In 1967, the Twentieth Century Limited, the famed luxury train, completes its final run from New York to Chicago. In 1984, more than 4,000 people die after a cloud of gas escapes from a pesticide plant operated by a Union Carbide subsidiary in Bhopal, India. In 1991, radicals in Lebanon release American hostage Alann Steen, who'd been held captive nearly five years.
December 3, 1977: Using a police dog trained to find marijuana, Portage County sheriff's personnel and school officials searched student lockers at Southeast High School for drugs. They came up with a small bag of marijuana, a pipe, a folding knife, a wine bottle and several packs of cigarettes.
Warren Fire Chief J. Bruce LaBaugh denies The Vindicator access to department public reports which have been routinely available to reporters. The action comes following the publication of copyright stories reporting that the city had made full payment to contractors for demolition of as many as 20 houses that were burned to the ground by city firefighters.
The East Ohio Gas Co. asks permission of the state to begin service to new homes, ending a self-imposed ban that has been in existence since 1976.
December 3, 1962: Youngstown district residents enjoy an Indian summer day that sent golfers out to the links and allowed homeowners to attack unfinished yard work. The mercury climbed to 61 degrees.
Many Youngstown ministers and priests take to their pulpits to preach on a common theme: the need of area residents to reject gambling and to return to a life of honesty.
Pope John XXIII appears to be on his way to resuming his normal duties after a week of battling a stomach disorder and serious anemia. The pope's personal physician has returned to his home in Bolgna, expressing confidence.
December 3, 1952: A fire that threw off heavy smoke and fumes that covered Youngstown's South Side for more than an hour is brought under control. Government materials valued at $20,000 burned at the R.M. Barnes Co., 340 W. Earle Ave.
Ten persons are injured in street and sidewalk accidents following a four-inch snowfall that partially melted and filled roadways with slush and made driving conditions hazardous.
Congressman Michael Kirwan is back home from his latest trip to Europe with a feeling that the United States' interests in Europe "are in good hands" and that American defense money is being well spent.
December 3, 1927: Between noon and midnight, 13,408 Youngstowners file through the Wood-Rayen auditorium to get their first look at the new Ford cars.
Thieves hurl a piece of slag through the display window of the Kurjan Jewelry Store, 227 E. Federal St., escaping with a considerable amount of jewelry.
Charles A. Snyder Jr., 21, is found after a two-hour search, horribly crushed beneath an elevator cage at the bottom of the shaft in his father's coal mine a mile west of Leetonia.