Today is Friday, Dec. 16, the 350th day of 2005. There are 15 days left in the year. On this date in

Today is Friday, Dec. 16, the 350th day of 2005. There are 15 days left in the year. On this date in 1773, the Boston Tea Party takes place as American colonists board a British ship and dump more than 300 chests of tea overboard to protest tea taxes.
In 1653, Oliver Cromwell becomes lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland. In 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte is divorced from the Empress Josephine by an act of the French Senate. In 1905, the entertainment trade publication Variety comes out with its first weekly issue. In 1916, Gregory Rasputin, the monk who wielded powerful influence over the Russian court, is killed by a group of noblemen. In 1944, the World War II Battle of the Bulge begins as German forces launch a surprise counterattack against Allied forces in Belgium. In 1950, President Truman proclaims a national state of emergency to fight "Communist imperialism."
December 16, 1980: Youngstown city planner Daniel DeSantis is hired by the Warren Redevelopment and Planning Corp. to direct the city's downtown revitalization. DeSantis, 33, is hired at a salary of $25,000.
General Motors Corp.'s Packard Electric Division of Warren is creating 66 additional jobs for hourly employees, Packard's joint union-management jobs committee announces.
Youngstown City Council takes issue with Mayor George Vukovich's plan for 10-percent across-the-board cuts in all departments, which would result in the layoff of about 150 employees. Some council members say cuts should be made more selectively.
December 16, 1965: Poor visibility caused by rain and darkness is blamed for two pedestrian accidents in Youngstown, including one in which an elderly man is killed. Edgar P. Kauffman, 70, retired P & amp;LE Railroad employee, was struck as he crossed Mahoning Ave. at Glacier Ave.
A rough-talking, shabbily dressed man with a woman's stocking over his face, kidnaps a 17-year-old East Palestine girl, forces her to drive to Boardman, where he made her disrobe, but did not molest her. He got out of her car and fled near Stadium Drive Elementary School.
British author W. Somerset Maugham dies at his villa on the Riviera, six days after suffering a stroke. He wrote 30 plays, 26 novels and 120 short stories.
December 16, 1955: Westinghouse Electric Corp. announces it will advance $100 in pay to each of the 6,000-plus striking employees at the Sharon Works who return to work.
The Youngstown district shivers as temperatures skid to eight degrees at the Youngstown Municipal Airport. The lowest temperature in the area was at the Salem sewage treatment plant, where it was three degrees.
As the first step in an expansion program designed to double capacity for production of titanium alloys during 1956, Mallory-Sharon Titanium Corp. of Niles has purchased the entire Niles Rolling Mill, it is announced by James A. Roemer, Mallory-Sharon president.
December 16, 1930: W. Glenn Dague, convicted murderer, cuts through two of three bars on his New Castle, Pa., jail cell before Sheriff Frank Johnson, making his rounds, uncovers the escape plot. Dague is awaiting execution for the murder of state patrol Cpl. Brady Paul.
Youngstown City Council unanimously passes a motion asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the holdings of the Commonwealth & amp; Southern Companies, which includes Ohio Edison Co., for evidence of "unfair methods of competition (that are) unlawful."
After Refiners Oil Co. announces that gasoline prices will be reduced from 19 cents to 17 cents a gallon, nearly all leading companies selling gasoline in the Youngstown area make the same reduction. Ethyl prices are cut from 22 cents to 20 cents.