Today is Thursday, Dec. 30, the 365th day of 2004. There is one day left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, Dec. 30, the 365th day of 2004. There is one day left in the year. On this date in 1903, about 600 people die when fire breaks out at the recently opened Iroquois Theater in Chicago.
In 1852, future U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes marries Lucy Ware Webb in Cincinnati. In 1853, the United States buys some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase. In 1911, Sun Yat-sen is elected the first president of the Republic of China. In 1922, Vladimir I. Lenin proclaims the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In 1936, the United Auto Workers union stages its first "sit-down" strike, at the Fisher Body Plant No. 1 in Flint, Mich. In 1940, California's first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, is officially opened. In 1944, King George II of Greece proclaims a regency to rule his country, virtually renouncing the throne. In 1948, the Cole Porter musical "Kiss Me, Kate" opens on Broadway. In 1972, the United States halts its heavy bombing of North Vietnam. In 1978, Ohio State University fires Woody Hayes as its football coach, one day after Hayes punched Clemson University player Charlie Bauman during the Gator Bowl after Bauman intercepted an Ohio State pass. In 1994, U.S. Army helicopter pilot Bobby Hall walks to freedom 13 days after he was captured by North Korea in a shootdown that claimed the life of co-pilot David Hilemon; a gunman walks into a pair of suburban Boston abortion clinics and opens fire, killing two employees and wounding five other people (John C. Salvi III is later convicted of murder and commits suicide in prison).
December 30, 1979: Copperweld Steel Corp.'s $24 million expansion program at its electric furnace, the largest single improvement in the company's history, is about 25 percent complete.
The first woman elected to Niles City Council, Minnie McGowan, will take the 4th Ward seat that had been held by her late husband, Eugene, for eight years.
Bowing to pressure from some city council members, Mayor-elect George Vukovich says he doesn't believe the city needs an entire economic development department. Charles Saulino will be retained as an administrator of economic development, but will work as an assistant to the mayor.
December 30, 1964: An Ohio taxpayer can deduct $151 from his federal tax payment this year -- if he made $20,000 and has six dependents. The average taxpayer, who makes about $5,500, will be able to deduct $50.
The Ohio Turnpike Commission announces that there will be free coffee at all 16 service plazas from 10 p.m. New Year's Eve to 7 a.m. New Year's Day.
December 30, 1954: An overnight rainfall of .64 inches puts Meander Reservoir over the top of the 15-inch splashboards on the concrete spillway, giving the reservoir 11 billion gallons of domestic water, the most it has ever held.
Republic Steel Corp.'s Truscon Steel Division begins fabricating stainless steel exterior sheathing and windows for the new 42-story Socony-Vacuum Building in New York City, boosting Truscon's employment in Youngstown significantly.
Police keep a watch on the home of Jack Sulligan, Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman, after a telephone threat that the home would be bombed for a second time.
The Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co. gives $15,000 to help the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges reach its fund-raising goal of $1 million.
December 30, 1929: Youngstown Finance Director James E. Jones says the city cannot legally pay a monthly sum to the widow and children of John McLaughlin, who was struck and killed by a speeding police car.
Inventor Thomas Edison has some advice for President Hoover: "Keep government out of business." That, Edison added, "is his biggest job and I should include in that job the clearing out of the bureaucracies which are growing up in Washington and becoming a wasteful nuisance."
Sheriff Adam Stone announces there will be no tolerance of liquor consumption in Mahoning County on New Year's Eve. Both proprietors of roadhouses and their patrons will be arrested if liquor is found on the premises.