Today is Monday, Dec. 27, the 362nd day of 2004. There are four days left in the year. On this date in 1979, Soviet forces seize control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who is overthrown

Today is Monday, Dec. 27, the 362nd day of 2004. There are four days left in the year. On this date in 1979, Soviet forces seize control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who is overthrown and executed, is replaced by Babrak Karmal.
In 1822, scientist Louis Pasteur is born in Dole, France. In 1831, naturalist Charles Darwin sets out on a voyage to the Pacific aboard the HMS "Beagle." (Darwin's discoveries during the trip help to form the basis of his theories on evolution.) In 1900, militant prohibitionist Carry A. Nation carries out her first public smashing of a bar, at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kan. In 1904, James Barrie's play "Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" opens at the Duke of York's Theater in London. In 1927, the musical play "Show Boat," with music by Jerome Kern and libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II, opens at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York. In 1945, 28 nations sign an agreement creating the World Bank. In 1947, the children's television program "Howdy Doody" makes its debut on NBC. In 1968, Apollo 8 and its three astronauts make a safe, nighttime splashdown in the Pacific.
December 27, 1979: Youngstown University's William Rayen School of Engineering is looking forward to a new engineering-research building financed by $5 million in state bond issue funds.
Heavy rains, snow and fog in much of the country contribute to a record 713 traffic deaths reported during the four day Christmas weekend, the National Safety Council says.
The last bottle car of molten iron from the Jones & amp; Laughlin Corp. Campbell Works blast furnace rolls through Youngstown to the Brier Hill Works, marking not only the end of the huge furnace, but the beginning of the end of the Brier Hill Works.
December 27, 1964: Youngstown, the steel city, which has long been compared to Akron, the rubber city, is doing better than Akron in maintaining its downtown. Akron, which is the larger city, has far more vacant storefronts than Youngstown.
Forty former workers at the Youngstown Steel Car Co. receive checks totaling $50,485, part of a $650,000 fund to settle the pension and vested rights claims of 126 who lost their jobs when the firm was sold to Consolidate Freightways.
December 27, 1954: Youngstown's Christmas mail shattered all previous records, says Postmaster John Doyle. Between Dec. 1 and Dec. 25, some 6,952,000 pieces of first class mail were received in Youngstown and outgoing mail added up to 5,394,000.
A 20-year-old Hine Street man climbed a railing and jumped 60 feet to the ground from the East End bridge. He is in fair condition at St. Elizabeth Hospital with possible internal injuries. Police don't know why he jumped.
Second Ward Councilman John Palermo asks the Youngstown Law Department to draft an ordinance prohibiting rush hour parking on certain downtown streets. Double parking was blamed for long delays in bus service during the Christmas rush.
December 27, 1929: A young widow and her two children suffocate in a fire that destroyed their home in Farrell, Pa. Dead are Mrs. Rose Catson, 22, her daughter, Marie, 4, and son, Paul, 2.
One Pennsylvania highway patrolman is dead and another seriously wounded after a gun battle with two bandits on Butler Road near New Castle. Dead is Cpl. Brady Paul; wounded is Private Ernest Moore.
Ohio Bell Telephone projections say that Youngstown will be a city of 250,000 population by 1938 and 290,000 by 1950. Youngstown is becoming a one-industry city and the development of the national iron and steel industry will determine the city's fate.