Today is Saturday, Dec. 6, the 341st day of 2008. There are 25 days left in the year. On this date

Opinion: December 6, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Saturday, Dec. 6, the 341st day of 2008. There are 25 days left in the year. On this date in 1957, America’s first attempt at putting a satellite into orbit fails as Vanguard TV3 rises only about 4 feet off a Cape Canaveral, Fla., launch pad before crashing back down and exploding.

In 1790, Congress moves to Philadelphia from New York. In 1889, Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America, dies in New Orleans. In 1907, the worst mining disaster in U.S. history occurs as 362 men and boys die in a coal mine explosion in Monongah, W.Va. In 1917, some 2,000 people die when an explosives-laden French cargo ship collides with a Norwegian vessel at the harbor in Halifax, Nova Scotia, setting off a blast that devastates the city. In 1947, Everglades National Park in Florida is dedicated by President Harry S. Truman. In 1957, AFL-CIO members vote to expel the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. (The Teamsters are readmitted in 1987, but disaffiliate themselves from the AFL-CIO in 2005.)

December 6, 1983: The Western Reserve Transit Authority shows its “commitment to downtown” by unveiling a model of a proposed $1.5 million terminal of Federal Plaza West. Scott Sussman, WRTA executive director, also announces that the WRTA would purchase an 1890’s style replica bus that will run as a downtown shuttle.

Senate President Harry Meshel says the State Controlling Board’s release of $994,000 for branch offices of the Ohio Supreme Court in Cleveland and Cincinnati is an attempt by the Celeste administration to circumvent the General Assembly, which refused to appropriate money for the project.

December 6, 1968: The Mahoning County Joint Vocational School Board votes to proceed with the sale of $3.5 million in bonds for the local share of construction of a school.

Bishop James W. Malone addresses the annual meeting of the Youngstown Area Council of Churches, the first time a Catholic bishop has appeared before the Protestant council.

Cheryl Locke, an 18-year-old Austintown Fitch senior, is crowned “Miss Mahoning County Junior Miss” after the Jaycee pageant at Boardman High School.

December 6, 1958: A 30-mile pipeline will be built between East Liverpool and Youngstown to transport coal from the Ohio River to Youngstown industries, says R.H. Henry, president of the newly formed Youngstown Coal Pipeline. The project could cost as much as $10 million.

Former Ohio Gov. Myers Y. Cooper, governor from 1928 to 1932, is found dead at his Cincinnati home. He was 84 and had been in ill health.

Immigration agents pick up Frank Thomas, convicted dope-peddler, embezzler and killer, at his Ayers Street home, escort him to New York and put him on an airplane for his native Italy, Agents said Thomas gave no resistance to his deportation.

December 6, 1933: Gov. George White opens Ohio’s fifth constitutional convention at which all 52 delegates vote to repeal the 18th Amendment banning liquor sales.

Charles E. Gallager, Youngstown manager of the East Ohio Gas Co. for a number of years, is elected president of East Ohio, succeeding his brother, Ralph W. Gallagher.

Youngstown water customers complain about cloudy water coming from their taps. Engineers at Meander say a problem was expected when cold weather arrived because as the cold water runs through new water mains the process of oxidation makes the water cloudy.