Today is Sunday, Dec. 25, the 359th day of 2005. There are six days left in the year. This is Christmas Day. The Jewish Festival of Lights, Hanukkah, begins at sunset. On this date in 1818, "Silent

Today is Sunday, Dec. 25, the 359th day of 2005. There are six days left in the year. This is Christmas Day. The Jewish Festival of Lights, Hanukkah, begins at sunset. On this date in 1818, "Silent Night" is performed for the first time, at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Oberndorff, Austria.
In A.D. 336, the first recorded celebration of Christmas on Dec. 25 takes place in Rome. In 1776, Gen. George Washington and his troops cross the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton, N.J. In 1926, Hirohito becomes emperor of Japan, succeeding his father, Emperor Yoshihito. (Hirohito is formally enthroned almost two years later.) In 1931, New York's Metropolitan Opera broadcasts an entire opera over radio for the first time: "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Hump-erdinck. In 1941, during World War II, Japan announces the surrender of the British-Canadian garrison at Hong Kong. In 1946, comedian W.C. Fields dies in Pasadena, Calif., at age 66. In 1977, comedian Sir Charles Chaplin dies in Switzerland at age 88. In 1989, ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, are executed following a popular uprising. In 1991, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev goes on television to announce his resignation as the eighth and final leader of a communist superpower that already had gone out of existence. In 2003, 16 people are killed by mudslides that sweep over campgrounds in California's San Bernardino Valley.
December 25, 1980: Partial deregulation of the nation's banks and savings and loans may prove a mixed bag of blessings for Youngstown's four commercial banks and three savings and loans, writes Business Editor George Reiss.
Howard C. Rempes, the first full-time executive director of the Mahoning County Medical Society, retires, having served 23 presidents since taking the job in 1958.
General Motors Corp., the Mahoning Valley's largest individual employer, poured some $711 million into the Valley's economy in 1980. The Lordstown Assembly, Fisher Body and Packard Electric plants had a combined payroll of 23,253.
After Christmas sale at Tokyo Shapiro, 7383 Market St., video recorders in both Beta and VHS formats, $777. First movie rental free.
December 25, 1965: Youngstown's first Christmas baby is the daughter of Elmer J. and Joanne Stalnacker Jr. of Struthers, born at 4:16 a.m. in St. Elizabeth Hospital.
Youngstown will honor Elizabeth Hartman with the premiere of her first motion picture, "A Patch of Blue," which will be shown in mid-February at the Paramount Theater. The regular release date for the film in other Ohio theaters will be April 1.
Pope Paul VI does not mention any country or belligerents in calling for "just and sincere negotiations to restore order and friendship" in his annual Christmas message, but he left no doubt he had Vietnam in mind.
The Lake Erie-Ohio River Interconnecting Waterway would open the door to Cleveland's future greatness, Kenneth M. Lloyd, executive secretary of Interconnecting Waterway Inc. predicts in a letter to Cleveland newspapers.
December 25, 1955: Santa had to unzip his fine red coat as he made his Youngstown rounds; temperatures reached a record 63 degrees.
Pope Pius XII, in his 17th Christmas message, calls on the world to renounce atomic tests and the use of atomic weapons.
Youngstown area workers and employers are enjoying the fruits of a prosperous year. Net sales, earnings, dividends and payrolls set record highs in 1955.
U.S. Steel Corp. uses reproductions of the 10 clerestory windows at St. John's Episcopal Church in Youngstown to decorate the lobby of the U.S. Steel Building in Pittsburgh. The windows tell the story of man's progression in the art of making steel.
December 25, 1930: Some Youngstown motorists are enjoying a new pleasure at Christmas with the installation of radio sets in their motorcars. Others are enjoying new comfort in their autos with the installation of hot water heaters.
Christmas business was exceptional in the days running up to the holiday, right up to the last minute, say downtown Youngstown merchants.
Seven men and a women were released from the county jail for Christmas. Most had been serving time for nonpayment of fines.
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