Today is Saturday, Dec. 13, the 348th day of 2008. There are 18 days left in the year. On this date

December 13, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

Today is Saturday, Dec. 13, the 348th day of 2008. There are 18 days left in the year. On this date in 1862, Union forces suffer a major defeat to the Confederates in the Civil War Battle of Fredericksburg (Va.).

In 1642, Dutch navigator Abel Tasman sights present-day New Zealand. In 1769, Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, receives its charter. In 1835, Phillips Brooks, the American Episcopal bishop who wrote the words to “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” is born in Boston. In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson arrives in France, becoming the first chief executive to visit Europe while in office. In 1928, George Gershwin’s musical work “An American in Paris” has its premiere, at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 1944, during World War II, the U.S. cruiser Nashville is badly damaged in a Japanese kamikaze attack that claims more than 130 lives.

December 13, 1983: Youngstown’s incoming police chief, Randall “Duke” Wellington, pledges a crackdown on organized crime in the city. Wellington dodged a reporter’s question about whether past administrations have been lax in pursuing organized crime.

Officials of Wean United Inc. report that Dietrich Industries Inc., a cold metal processing company headquartered in Pittsburgh, will purchase the closed Wean plant in Warren.

President Ronald Reagan demands that Iran’s government “curb and curtail” terrorists who have begun conducting suicide bombing missions against Americans in what is being described as an Islamic Jihad, or Holy War.

December 13, 1968: The Youngstown Hospital Association increases its rates $7 per day as the result of recent wage increases and other rising costs. Private room rates will go from $39 to $46 per day.

A proposed $7 million luxury apartment complex overlooking Mill Creek Golf Course is approved by the Boardman Zoning Commission.

Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. and Lykes Bros. Corp. of New Orleans have broken off their merger talks.

December 13, 1958: Violence breaks out on the picket line at the radio transmitter of WKST in New Castle, Pa., when an ax-wielding striker smashes the windows of the car of a recently hired announcer.

John R.T. Clingan, 62, of 547 Main St., Niles, a member of a leading Valley family, dies at his home. He was the retired president of Niles Firebrick Co.

Several days of record low temperatures provide an early start for the ice skating season in Youngstown as Crandall Lake freezes over thick enough to allow skating.

December 13, 1933: Col. W.J. Barden, presiding officer at a hearing in Washington, D.C., on a proposed Beaver-Mahoning Canal, suggests he may send the project proposal back to the Pittsburgh and St. Louis offices of the Army engineers for reconsideration. Both have issued reports unfavorable to construction of the waterway.

Finance Director Hugh D. Hindman says Youngstown will meet its $300,000 pre-Christmas payroll for city employees, using, in large part, recently issued scrip, which is being printed in Cleveland.