Today is Tuesday, Dec. 24 -- Christmas Eve, the 358th day of 2002. There are seven days left in the

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 24 -- Christmas Eve, the 358th day of 2002. There are seven days left in the year. On this date in 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts, orbiting the moon, read passages from the Old Testament Book of Genesis during a Christmas Eve television broadcast.
In 1524, Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama -- who had discovered a sea route around Africa to India -- dies in Cochin, India. In 1814, the War of 1812 officially ends as the United States and Britain sign the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium. In 1851, fire devastates the Library of Congress in Washington, destroying about 35,000 volumes. In 1865, several veterans of the Confederate Army form a private social club in Pulaski, Tenn., called the Ku Klux Klan. In 1871, Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Aida" has its world premiere in Cairo, Egypt, to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. In 1906, Canadian physicist Reginald A. Fessenden becomes the first person to broadcast a music program over radio, from Brant Rock, Mass. In 1920, Enrico Caruso gives his last public performance, singing in Jacques Halevy's "La Juive" at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 1943, President Roosevelt appoints Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower supreme commander of Allied forces as part of Operation Overlord -- the invasion of Normandy. In 1951, Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors," the first opera written specifically for television, is first broadcast by NBC. In 1980, Americans honor the U.S. hostages in Iran by burning candles or shining lights for 417 seconds -- one second for each day of captivity.
December 24, 1977: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers schedules 23 dams in northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania for inspection to determine whether they could withstand severe flooding. Four in Mahoning County are listed as among the potentially most dangerous.
J. Phillip Richley, Youngstown's Democratic mayor-elect, spent $49,000 on his election campaign, which was more than his two opponents combined.
A bomb blast at a downtown Pittsburgh massage parlor brings the FBI into an investigation of a war to control an alleged prostitution empire in southwestern Pennsylvania.
December 24, 1962: Railroad officials are continuing an investigation of a freak accident involving two Erie-Lackawanna Railroad freight trains near the Trumbull-Portage county line just west of Braceville. Sixty-one cars and eight diesel engines were derailed.
Pilgrims from the far corners of the earth throng to Bethlehem, the place of Christ's birth, but Jordanian officials say there were 40 percent fewer than usual, apparently a reaction to unrest in the Arab world.
Thirteen men, five of them from Youngstown, are rounded up in a gambling raid by officials of the Lawrence County district attorney's office at a former beauty shop on Hillsville, Pa.'s, main street.
December 24, 1952: Mayor Charles P. Henderson wins a new supporter for his Federal Street parking ban during rush hour. Second Ward Councilman John Palermo says, "We'll make enemies among the merchants, but we have to take a stand and do what is best for the majority of our citizens."
Robert Cogswell, weather observer at the U.S. weather station at the Youngstown Airport, says Christmas Day's weather will provide a good day for children to try out new bicycles or roller-skates, but sled and ice skates will have to wait for another day.
Youngstown traffic engineer Richard A. Overmyer recommends the elimination of all left turns at the intersection of Rayen and Wick avenues in an effort to reduce the high accident rate there.
December 24, 1927: The community Christmas tree is erected by the American Legion in Struthers public square and is being wired and trimmed so that it can serve as the site of the annual distribution of gifts to children of the community.
James Best, 14, dies and Paul Reedy, 15, is seriously injured when their sled collides with a car at the north end of Southern Avenue, one of the streets that has been designated for coasting. It is the second fatal sledding accident of the season.
Youngstown's main post office and all branches will be closed on Christmas Day, a Sunday, and the following day, but there will be parcel post delivery both days and general delivery Monday morning.