Today is Tuesday, Dec. 13, the 347th day of 2005. There are 18 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 13, the 347th day of 2005. There are 18 days left in the year. On this date in 1862, Union forces suffer a major defeat to the Confederates at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
In 1577, Sir Francis Drake of England sets out with five ships on a nearly three-year journey that takes him around the world. In 1769, Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, receives its charter. In 1928, George Gershwin's musical work "An American in Paris" has its premiere, at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 1944, during World War II, the U.S. cruiser Nashville is badly damaged in a Japanese kamikaze attack that claims more than 130 lives. In 1964, in El Paso, Texas, President Johnson and Mexican President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz set off an explosion that diverts the Rio Grande, reshaping the U.S.-Mexican border and ending a century-old dispute.
December 13, 1980: Vandals break into St. Columba Cathedral and set two fires that cause damage estimated at $50,000.
The Shenango Valley Industrial Development Corp. will contact more than 250 Mercer and Trumbull county industrial firms to entice them into building in a new 30-acre industrial park proposed for Broadway between Wheatland and West Middlesex.
Three truckloads of clothing, household goods, foodstuffs and toys are bound from the Youngstown area to Kentucky as part of the Appalachian Assistance Program.
December 13, 1965: Grease ignites in a ventilator shaft in the McCrory store, 9 W. Federal St., causing an estimated $4,000 in damage to the store. Youngstown firemen kept the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings.
The Supreme Court refuses to review a ban on the voluntary recital of nursery-type prayers by public school students.
A three-story building at 5683 South Ave. that was erected in 1963 for use as a hospital that never developed, will be renovated as a nursing home.
December 13, 1955: Colleges and hospitals in the Youngstown area will share $2.6 million of the $500 million appropriated by the Ford Foundation for special programs. Youngstown University will receive $349,700, says Dr. Howard W. Jones, university president.
Twelve persons in two families are forced into subfreezing weather when fire destroys their duplex dwelling at 114-116 Grove St.
Debbie Ann Levinsky, age 3, cuts the ribbon to mark the opening of an improved section of E. Rayen Ave. between Walnut St. and the Oak St. bridge.
December 13, 1930: The skeleton of a man whose skull was crushed and whose feet were bound with wire to a cement block is discovered in the receding waters of McKelvey Lake. Firemen who recovered the body said that were it not for the drought, it might never have been found.
Law Director Carl Armstrong says the contract between Ohio Edison Co. and the Youngstown Municipal Railway is unlawful and can be canceled. Traction Chief Harry Engle has accused Ohio Edison of charging the Youngstown railway company more than similar companies in Springfield and Akron.
The Mahoning County Bar Association adopts a resolution calling for city council to grant Youngstown Municipal Court the budget for 1931 that the court requested. Council has proposed scaling the court's budget back to 1927 levels.