Today is Sunday, Dec. 20, the 354th day of 2015

Today is Sunday, Dec. 20, the 354th day of 2015. There are 11 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1790: The first successful cotton mill in the United States begins operating at Pawtucket, R.I.

1803: The Louisiana Purchase is completed as ownership of the territory is formally transferred from France to the United States.

1812: German authors Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm publish the first volume of the first edition of their collection of folk stories, “Children’s and Household Tales.”

1860: South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the Union as all 169 delegates to a special convention in Charleston vote in favor of separation.

1864: Confederate forces evacuate Savannah, Ga., as Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman nearly completes his “March to the Sea.”

1893: The first anti-lynching statute is approved in Georgia.

1907: An explosion at a coal mine in Yolande, Ala., kills 91 people.

1919: The U.S. House of Representatives places tight restrictions on immigration to the nation.

1924: Adolf Hitler is released from prison after serving nine months for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch; during his time behind bars, he’d written his autobiographical screed, “Mein Kampf.”

1945: The Office of Price Administration announces the end of tire rationing, effective Jan. 1, 1946.

1946: The Frank Capra film “It’s A Wonderful Life,” starring James Stewart and Donna Reed, has a preview showing for charity at New York’s Globe Theatre, a day before its official world premiere.

1960: The United Nations General Assembly condemns the policy of apartheid in South Africa.

1963: The Berlin Wall is opened for the first time to West Berliners, who are allowed one-day visits to relatives in the Eastern sector for the holidays.

1966: “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by Dr. Seuss airs for the first time on CBS-TV.

1973: Singer-songwriter Bobby Darin dies in Los Angeles after open-heart surgery; he was 37.

1987: More than 4,300 people are killed when the Dona Paz, a Philippine passenger ship, collided with the tanker Vector off Mindoro island.

1989: The United States launches Operation Just Cause, sending troops into Panama to topple the government of Gen. Manuel Noriega.

1995: An American Airlines Boeing 757 en route to Cali, Colombia, slams into a mountain, killing all but four of the 163 people aboard.

2005: New York City transit workers begin a strike that shuts down subways and buses for three days.

2010: In the biggest anti-terrorist sweep in Britain in nearly two years, police arrest a dozen men accused of plotting a large-scale terror attack on targets inside the United Kingdom.

Former Mexican presidential candidate Diego Fernandez de Cevallos is freed more than seven months after his kidnapping by suspected leftist rebels.

“Barney Miller” actor Steve Landesberg, 74, dies in Los Angeles.

2014: A gunman who’d announced online that he was planning to shoot two “pigs” in retaliation for the police chokehold death of Eric Garner ambushes two New York City officers in a patrol car; Ismaaiyl Brinsley shot Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu to death before running to a subway station and killing himself.

VINDICATOR FILES

1990: Police Capt. Thomas Lepola is appointed interim Warren police chief to replace retiring chief Richard Galgozy, but at least one other captain who wants the chief’s job says the appointment gives Lepola an unfair advantage.

Ohio Bancorp Inc. wants out of its agreement to buy Trumbull Savings & Loan Co. contending that Trumbull is violating the pact by carrying more than $800,000 in bad campground debt.

1975: Walter J. Harrison, 32, co-owner of the Balbo Tavern, is fatally shot at the bar after closing hours. A partner told police Harrison accidentally shot himself.

Seven Trumbull County men, five from Mahoning County and one from Massachusetts are indicted on gambling charges by a federal grand jury in Cleveland.

David Gundry, Ohio Edison Youngstown Division manager, says the company will spend $10 million in the Youngstown area in 1976 to meet expected increases in energy needs.

1965: Almost 3,000 Christmas treats are handed out to East Palestine children by the Fraternal Order of Eagles and First National Bank.

A robber wearing a burlap face mask and a Beatles wig beats into unconsciousness William Oyer, 18, the assistant manager of the Isaly Dairy store on Canfield Road and escapes with $1,000.

Twenty-one underprivileged children in Columbiana County are given $10 each and taken on a Christmas shopping trip by the Junior Chamber of Commerce.

The Trumbull County Health Department places an embargo on liquid-filled plastic beverage coolants.

1940:Youngstown Vice Squad Chief Charles Richmond orders a his eight-man squad to redouble its efforts against “26” games, marble boards and slot machines after Mayor William Spagnola tells Richmond he has been receiving complaints about gambling in the city.

For the first time in many years, Youngstown residents will get a Sunday mail delivery because of record-breaking volume of Christmas mail at the Youngstown Post Office.

Bids for electrical equipment, a heating plant, plumbing and for lumber at the Youngstown Municipal Airport building are received.

The Warren Elks bowling team hosts the Youngstown Elks group at the Elm Road Alleys.