Today is Saturday, Dec. 23, the 357th day of 2006. There are eight days left in the year. On this date in 1823, the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore is published in the Troy (N.Y.)

Today is Saturday, Dec. 23, the 357th day of 2006. There are eight days left in the year. On this date in 1823, the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore is published in the Troy (N.Y.) Sentinel.
In 1893, the Engelbert Humperdinck opera "Haensel und Gretel" is first performed, in Weimar, Germany. In 1941, during World War II, American forces on Wake Island surrender to the Japanese. In 1948, former Japanese premier Hideki Tojo and six other Japanese war leaders are executed in Tokyo. In 1968, 82 crew members of the U.S. intelligence ship Pueblo are released by North Korea, 11 months after they had been captured. In 1986, the experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completes the first nonstop, non-refueled round-the-world flight as it lands safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
December 23, 1981: Mahoning County commissioners approve a 1982 general fund budget of 14.2 million that, they said, offers little leeway for pay raises.
A break in the weather and price cuts by merchants have combined to produce a late surge in pre-Christmas sales. Norwin Brovitz, general manager of the downtown Youngstown Higbee Co. store, says the store had an "excellent weekend" and the "biggest night sale ever" on Friday.
December 23, 1966: The Hotel Ohio and the Tod House are held up within the space of an hour, with the robber escaping with about 800 from the two downtown Youngstown hotels.
The East Ohio Gas Co. announces it will spend 23.5 million on improvements in 1967,, including 2.3 million for its Youngstown division.
December 23, 1956: Two armed bandits hold up two employees and the owner of the L & amp;S Supermarket at 426 Belmont Ave. near closing time, escaping with 3,000 in cash and checks.
Mrs. Maude Smith, 67, and her five-year-old granddaughter, Patricia Selway, are struck and killed by a car that went out of control and jumped the sidewalk on Route 14 in Washingtonville. The woman and child had just left the Post Office, where they picked up Christmas mail.
Hundreds of Youngstown school safety patrolmen attend the annual Christmas party at South High School under the sponsorship of the police department.
December 23, 1931: Almost 3,000 cans of food and hundreds of toys are collected for the poor from 1,500 children who went to a charity show at the Keith Palace.
Akron public school pupils and their teachers will get an extra two weeks of vacation at the year's end because of financial troubles.