Today is Thursday, Dec. 3, the 337th day of 2009. There are 28 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

On Dec. 3, 1984, thousands of people died after a cloud of methyl isocyanate gas escaped from a pesticide plant operated by a Union Carbide subsidiary in Bhopal, India.

ON THIS DATE

In 1818, Illinois was admitted as the 21st state.

In 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected president of the United States by the Electoral College.

In 1833, Oberlin College in Ohio — the first truly coeducational school of higher learning in the United States — began holding classes.

In 1925, Concerto in F by George Gershwin had its world premiere at New York’s Carnegie Hall, with Gershwin himself at the piano.

Associated Press

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 1, the 335th day of 2009. There are 30 days left in the year.

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT

On Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., city bus. Parks was arrested, sparking a yearlong boycott of the buses by blacks.

ON THIS DATE

In 1824, the presidential election was turned over to the U.S. House of Representatives when a deadlock developed between John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, William Crawford and Henry Clay. (Adams ended up the winner.)

In 1913, the first drive-in automobile service station, built by Gulf Refining Co., opened in Pittsburgh.

In 1921, the Navy flew the first nonrigid dirigible to use helium; the C-7 traveled from Hampton Roads, Va., to Washington, D.C.

In 1934, Soviet communist official Sergei Kirov, an associate of Josef Stalin, was killed in Leningrad, resulting in a massive purge.

In 1969, the U.S. government held its first draft lottery since World War II.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton addressed a World Trade Organization conference in Seattle, where he defended his administration’s policies in the face of sometimes violent street demonstrations. An international team of scientists announced it had mapped virtually an entire human chromosome. On World AIDS Day, United Nations officials released a report estimating that 11 million children worldwide had been orphaned by the pandemic.

In 2008, the National Bureau of Economic Research officially declared the U.S. to be in a recession.

Associated Press