Today is Tuesday, Dec. 30, the 365th day of 2008. There is one day left in the year. On this date in

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 30, the 365th day of 2008. There is one day left in the year. On this date in 1853, the United States and Mexico sign a treaty under which the U.S. agrees to buy some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico for $10 million in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase. (The area covered by the agreement is located in present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.)

In 1813, the British burn Buffalo, N.Y., during the War of 1812. In 1903, about 600 people die when fire breaks out at the recently opened Iroquois Theater in Chicago. In 1907, the Mills Commission issues its final report concluding that Abner Doubleday invented baseball, a finding that few sports historians embrace. In 1922, Vladimir I. Lenin proclaims the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

December 30, 1983: Two Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judges, Peter C. Economus and Charles J. Bannon, hold the first bond forfeiture hearings in the county in years, disposing of six cases of bond jumping that will add $2,150 to the county’s coffers.

Youngstown City Council agrees to lease 35 acres of Republic Steel Corp. land along the Mahoning River between Market Street and South Avenue with an option to buy it for development of an industrial park.

Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini opens training in Reno, Nev., for a Jan. 14 fight against Bobby Chacon, saying he may retire in 1984 and pursue acting, sportscasting or public relations work.

December 30, 1968: Scuba Divers from the Shenango Valley Underwater Rescue Squad join the search for the body of Richard Bean, 42, of Hartford, a scoutmaster who apparently struck his head on a rock and drowned while trying to right a canoe in midstream in turbulent Yankee Run.

The Baltimore Colts stampede over the Cleveland Browns, 34-0, before 80,628 fans in Cleveland to win the National Football League title. The Colts will face the American Football League champions, the New York Jets, in the Super Bowl.

A Mesopotamia Township family is evacuated by Red Cross officials and the Middlefield Fire Department after flood waters from Plum and Coffee creeks inundate the lowlands east of Mesopotamia Center.

December 30, 1958: Three Californians with a history of shady stock and real estate dealings are in charge of sales at the plush Silver Spur Ranch Club near Ravenna. More than 500 Cleveland area people have bought memberships.

An 18-month-old Youngstown girl who had received no Salk vaccine is diagnosed as a paralytic polio victim, the 35th polio case in Youngstown in 1958, the highest number since 1956.

December 30, 1933: Youngs–town’s oldest practicing lawyer, William A. “Billy” Maline, dies at his home at 1519 Elm St. at the age of 81.

The Youngstown Auto Club will keep its offices open on Sunday and Monday, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, to issue 1934 license plates, which must be mounted on cars with the first day of the year.

The Ohio Liquor Control Board is planning to establish 187 state liquor stores across the state, based on population. Mahoning County would get six; Trumbull County, three, and Columbiana, two.