Today is Thursday, Feb. 17, the 48th day of 2005. There are 317 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Thursday, Feb. 17, the 48th day of 2005. There are 317 days left in the year. On this date in 1801, the House of Representatives breaks an electoral tie between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, electing Jefferson president; Burr becomes vice president.
In 1817, a street in Baltimore becomes the first to be lighted with gas from America's first gas company. In 1865, Columbia, S.C., burns as the Confederates evacuate and Union forces move in. (It's not known which side set the blaze.) In 1897, the forerunner of the National PTA, the National Congress of Mothers, is founded in Washington. In 1904, Giacomo Puccini's opera "Madama Butterfly" is poorly received at its world premiere at La Scala in Milan, Italy. In 1933, Newsweek is first published. In 1947, the Voice of America begins broadcasting to the Soviet Union. In 1964, the Supreme Court rules that congressional districts within each state have to be roughly equal in population. In 1972, President Nixon departs on his historic trip to China. In 1985, Murray P. Haydon becomes the third person to receive a permanent artificial heart as doctors at Humana Hospital in Louisville, Ky., implanted the device. (Haydon lives 488 days with the heart.) In 1992, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced in Milwaukee to life in prison (where he is beaten to death in prison in November 1994).
February 17, 1980: Several bills introduced in the Ohio Senate and House of Representatives in 1979 to curb or eliminate double taxation on the income of municipal residents remain buried in various committee and appear to have little chance for passage.
Trumbull County Schools Superintendent George Morar says the Shekinah Christian Academy on Hyde-Schaffer Road in Bristol Township will be investigated for possible violation or various education regulations established by the state.
During a roundtable discussion at the Pollock House at Youngstown State University, a number of Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets of both sexes agree that the Army has a place for women, but disagree on what that role should be.
February 17, 1965:A seven-hour conference in Youngstown puts the spotlight on Mahoning River pollution after the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare releases a report saying that the river is being heavily polluted and correction must come quickly.
The Mahoning County Board of Elections disqualifies 17 persons as candidates in the May primaries after hearings on the validity of their petitions. Eleven candidates have withdrawn.
February 17, 1955: Construction of the Lake Erie-Ohio River conveyor belt would provide a tremendous economic stimulus to Ohio, Kenneth M. Lloyd, secretary of the Mahoning Valley Industrial Council, tells the House Commerce and Transportation Committee in Columbus. \
Salem City Council gives first reading to an ordinance designed to rid the city's newsstands of obscene magazines and other undesirable literature. The law bans obscene and indecent matter, as well as "illustrated literature prominently featuring acts of bloodshed, lust or crime."
February 17, 1930: John H. Clarke of Youngstown and Cleveland, who resigned as justice of the Supreme Court of the Untied States to work for U.S. entry into the League of Nations, has been suggested for a vacancy on the World Court.
In an effort to slice $200,000 from its operating costs, the Youngstown Board of Education is considering the dismissal of 75 teachers.