Today is Tuesday, Dec. 16, the 351st day of 2008. There are 15 days left in the year. On this date

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 16, the 351st day of 2008. There are 15 days left in the year. On this date in 1773, the Boston Tea Party takes place as American colonists board a British ship and dump more than 300 chests of tea overboard to protest tea taxes.

In 1905, the entertainment trade publication Variety comes out with its first weekly issue. In 1907, 16 U.S. Navy battleships, which come to be known as the “Great White Fleet,” set sail on a 14-month round-the-world voyage to demonstrate American sea power. In 1944, the World War II Battle of the Bulge begins as German forces launch a surprise attack against Allied forces in Belgium (the Allies are eventually able to beat the Germans back). In 1950, President Harry S. Truman proclaims a national state of emergency in order to fight “world conquest by Communist imperialism.” In 1960, 134 people are killed when a United Air Lines DC-8 and a TWA Super Constellation collide over New York City. In 1976, the government halts its swine flu vaccination program following reports of paralysis apparently linked to the vaccine. In 1991, the U.N. General Assembly rescinds its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism by a vote of 111-25. In 2000, President-elect George W. Bush selects Colin Powell to become the first black secretary of state.

December 16, 1983: Postal Inspector Michael Sitter in Cleveland says the Youngstown area is now the target for a postal scan that involves cash-on-delivery packages. The sting involves the delivery of packages to homes. After paying, the recipient discovers that the packages contain virtually worthless goods.

Trumbull County Domestic-Juvenile Court Judge Peter Panagis says he is through negotiating with county commissioners over his 1984 budget and will issue a court order requiring funding at the level the judge considers necessary.

Commissioners from Mahoning, Trumbull and Stark counties plan a joint meeting to come up with an alternative to the current formula for distributing local government funds.

December 16, 1968: The wreckage of a C119 flying boxcar from the 910th Air Reserve Base at Youngstown Municipal Airport is discovered in the heart of the El Yunque rain forest in Puerto Rico. All eight crew members who were from Youngstown, Warren and Western Pennsylvania are presumed dead.

Jack C. Hunter, 5th Ward councilman, and his two Republican colleagues, submit a plan to reapportion Youngstown’s wards along the principle of one-man, one-vote.

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul W. Brown, former Youngstown attorney and 7th District Court of Appeals judge, is named Ohio attorney general to succeed U.S. Sen.-elect William B. Saxbe.

December 16, 1958: The Youngstown Fraternal Order of Police asks for a 12 percent pay raise that would increase a patrolman’s pay from $5,041 to 5,670.

Cautious school officials in the Youngstown district review their fire prevention programs in the wake of a devastating parochial school fire in Chicago that claimed 92 lives.

Youngstown city council approves the purchase of two new elevators for City Hall at an estimated cost of $78,000.

December 16, 1933: Five liquor stores are slated for Mahoning County under a state monopoly bill that passes the Ohio House, 97-17.

A winter thunderstorm sweeps through the Mahoning Valley, bringing heavy rains needed to replenish cisterns and wells throughout the area. L.H. Copeland, Department of Agriculture weather observer at Millport, says winter thunderstorms are not unheard of, but most occur in January and February, not December.

Gene and Glenn, Cleveland radio stars, sign off after a six-hour WKBN broadcast from the Hippodrome Theater in Youngstown after raising $2,044 in cash and hundreds of dollars worth of food for the city’s needy.

J.C. Argetsinger, who presented the case for a Beaver-Mahoning canal in Washington, says the support of thousands of people from the area was influential in winning reconsideration of the project from the army engineers.