Today is Friday, Dec. 24, the 359th day of 2004. There are seven days left in the year. This is

Today is Friday, Dec. 24, the 359th day of 2004. There are seven days left in the year. This is Christmas Eve. 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 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, D.C., 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 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." In 1951, Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors," the first opera written specifically for television, is first broadcast by NBC TV. In 1980, Americans remember the U.S. hostages in Iran by burning candles or shining lights for 417 seconds -- one second for each day of captivity. In 2002, Laci Peterson is reported missing from her Modesto, Calif., home, by her husband, Scott, who has been sentenced to death for murdering her and their unborn son.
December 24, 1979: Christmas comes early for Dom Rosselli and his Youngstown State University Penguins as they stun Ohio University, 72-68, to register one of their most impressive basketball victories of the fading decade.
Tony A. Colao, president of Peoples Bank, announces that the bank will spend about $500,000 to remodel and expand its Stambaugh Building offices.
Twenty Youngstown area high school students will attend the Junior Achievement Management Conference during the weekend between Christmas and New Year's at Bowling Green State University. Nearly 800 JA members from five states will be at the conference.
December 24, 1964: "Glory to God" will replace "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" in three churches in Youngstown as Bishop Emmet M. Walsh gives permission for the use of English in Christmas Day high masses. Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Niles, St. Mary in Massillon and Sts. Philip and James in Canal Fulton are the three churches that have prepared for the use of English in a high mass.
Officials of the Youngstown YMCA vote to close the McDonald Y branch, noting that membership has dropped from 846 to 265 in a year and the branch amassed an $48,000 deficit.
December 24, 1954: Representatives of several insurance companies holding policies on St. Columba Cathedral in Youngstown, which was destroyed by fire in September, agree to pay a total of $942,650 for the loss. An architect for a new cathedral will be named soon.
About 20 prisoners serving time in the city and county jails are released in time to spend Christmas with their families. Those who remain will be served special Christmas meals.
Campbell Police Chief John Putko says tipsy motorists shouldn't risk driving in the city. If they come to the police station and turn over their car keys, they will be given a ride home.
December 24, 1929: The final wave of belated Christmas shoppers surges down Federal Street, jamming Youngstown streets from curb to store front. Merchants say the volume of business the last five days before Christmas exceeded that of a year earlier.
Christmas Seals sold under the auspices of the Mahoning County Health Council totaled $5,101 and will be used to fight tuberculosis.
The 189 prisoners at the Mahoning County Jail, including 50 federal prisoners, will be served celery consomm & eacute;, turkey, cranberry sauce and homemade pumpkin pie with whipped cream.