Today is Wednesday, Dec. 27, the 361st day of 2006. There are four days left in the year. On this date in 1831, naturalist Charles Darwin sets out on a round-the-world voyage aboard the HMS Beagle.

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 27, the 361st day of 2006. There are four days left in the year. On this date in 1831, naturalist Charles Darwin sets out on a round-the-world voyage aboard the HMS Beagle. (Darwin's discoveries during the almost five-year-long journey help to form the basis of his theories on natural selection and evolution.)
In 1904, James Barrie's play "Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" opens at the Duke of York's Theater in London. In 1906, American composer, musician, actor and wit Oscar Levant is born in Pittsburgh. In 1927, the musical play "Show Boat," with music by Jerome Kern and libretto by Oscar Hammerstein II, opens at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York. In 1932, Radio City Music Hall opens in New York. In 1945, 28 nations sign an agreement creating the World Bank. In 1949, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands signs an act granting sovereignty to Indonesia after more than three centuries of Dutch rule. In 1968, Apollo 8 and its three astronauts make a safe, nighttime splashdown in the Pacific. In 1979, Soviet forces seize control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed, is replaced by Babrak Karmal. In 1985, Palestinian guerrillas open fire inside the Rome and Vienna airports; a total of 20 people are killed, including five of the attackers, who are slain by police and security personnel. In 1996, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, about 60,000 opposition supporters defy riot police and rally in celebration of an international report backing their triumph over Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic in recent local elections.
December 27, 1981: Based on Manpower Inc.'s quarterly jobs survey, good-paying new jobs are going to be even harder to find this winter in the Youngstown-Warren area. The employment situation is aggravated by continuing uncertainty in auto and steel sales in 1982.
A coordinated transportation system for Trumbull County's disadvantaged has been developed by Warren Councilman Wilbur Cartwright and is being considered by government leaders and area planners.
Youngstown's Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini makes a successful comeback by knocking out Manuel Abedoy in 2:08 of the second round at Bally's Park Casino in Atlantic City. It was Mancini's first fight since being KO'd by Alexis Arguello in the 14th round of their World Boxing Council Lightweight Championship bout Oct. 3.
December 27, 1966: The Christmas holiday weekend ends with 561 traffic deaths, well below the record of 720 set in 1965. Eastern snowstorms hampered travel.
Ohio Bell Telephone Co. reports that Youngstowners set a record for Christmas Day long-distance phone calls, with 60,132 placed. Most were by direct dial; only about 13,000 went through an operator.
December 27, 1956: The New York Central Railroad announces plans for a 7 million railyard between Struthers and Lowellville that will be "the most modern push-button railroad yard in the world."
Youngstown Mayor Frank X. Kryzan warns motorists that police will crack down on drunken and reckless drivers over the New Year's weekend.
Youngstown is preparing to welcome a second large group of Hungarian refugees from the reception center at Camp Kilmer, N.J. The first group of refugees to arrive in the city numbered 23 and a similar number is expected this time.
December 27, 1931: Four men, a boy and a woman are wounded by shotgun slugs in Warren when Samuel West, 32, went gunning for his wife in the street at North Park Ave. and Hall St. His wife escaped injury, but bystanders were wounded.
Harry Besharre, 13, of 84 S. Lane, Youngstown, is wounded, perhaps fatally, by a rifle shot fired by a 15-year-old playmate, John Bugno. Besharre had fired first during horseplay, wounding Bugno in the hand. Bugno returned with a rifle belonging to a neighbor and fired, striking Besharre in the chest.
The West End Traction Co. will put motor coaches into service Jan. 1 between Youngstown, Girard, Niles and Warren, replacing interurban streetcars.