Today is Wednesday, Dec. 18, the 352nd day of 2002. There are 13 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 18, the 352nd day of 2002. There are 13 days left in the year. On this date in1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, is declared in effect.
In 1787, New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. In 1892, Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker Suite" publicly premieres in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1915, President Wilson, widowed the year before, marries Edith Bolling Galt at her Washington home. In 1940, Adolf Hitler signs a secret directive ordering preparations for a Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. (Operation Barbarossa is launched in June 1941.) In 1944, in a pair of rulings, the Supreme Court upholds the wartime relocation of Japanese-Americans, but also says undeniably loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry could not be detained. In 1956, Japan is admitted to the United Nations. In 1969, Britain's Parliament abolishes the death penalty for murder. In 1971, the Rev. Jesse Jackson announces in Chicago the founding of Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity). In 1972, the United States begins its heaviest bombing of North Vietnam at that time during the Vietnam War. (The bombardment ends 12 days later.) In 1980, former Soviet Premier Alexei N. Kosygin dies at age 76.
December 18, 1977: Youngstown Mayor-elect J. Phillip Richley names two more members of his cabinet, Dominic Conti will replace Finance Director John Benninger and Bernard King will become building commissioner, a post vacated by William Carter. Carmen Conglose will be retained as city engineer.
In four years, nearly $45,000 in unpaid ambulance bills have accumulated in Youngstown and Finance Director John Benninger and Thomas DiBernardi, chief municipal court bailiff, have devised a plan to begin collections.
An Army Corps of Engineers water supply restriction on the Mosquito Reservoir could block expansion of Warren's water system and jeopardize plans for a $125 million brewery in Lordstown.
December 18, 1962: In his book, "Merchant of Menace -- the Mafia," former Youngstown Police Chief Edward Allen recounts a trip to Youngstown by Eliot Ness. The crimebuster concluded that Youngstown police were powerless to interfere with horse race bookmakers because of the department's interpretation of a court injunction.
A fast notice of appeal to the 7th District Court of Appeals prevents Joey Naples from going to the Ohio Penitentiary on two convictions in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
In an effort to cut $500,000 from its budget following defeat of a 2.5-mill tax levy, the Youngstown Board of Education announces that each pupil will be charged a $2 fee for paper and pencils.
December 18, 1952: Youngstown Municipal Railway Co. boosts its fare to 15 cents and a weekly pass will increase from $1.70 to $2.
Youngstown postal authorities are calling up more reinforcements to deal with what has the makings of the greatest Christmas rush in history. Postmaster John F. Doyle says 300 extra workers are already on the job, but another 200 are needed.
Two structural ironworkers are injured when they fall from a swinging scaffold while working on the new bridge at the Route 224 cutoff in Poland. George Guidos, 36, and Frank Tuscano, 31, are taken to South Side Hospital for treatment.
December 18, 1927: Supporters of the plan for the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District, which would provide pure, cool and palatable water for Youngstown and Niles, acquit themselves well during a one-week hearing before Judges Frank Baldwin and William Carter. The attorney representing opponents, Clyde W. Osborne, has failed in his attempts thus far to discredit the plan.
The fate of 43 officers and men, the crew of the U.S.S. submarine S-4, is in doubt as the vessel lay on the ocean floor in deep water off Provincetown, Mass. The sub collided with a destroyer.
Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice John H. Clarke of Youngstown is sailing from New York, through the Panama Canal, to Hawaii, where he will spend the winter. He's expected to return in mid-April.