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From today's featured article Main Street, downtown Kent Kent is the largest city in Portage County in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is part of the Akron Metropolitan Statistical Area and the larger Cleveland–Akron–Canton Combined Statistical Area. The population was 28,904 in the 2010 Census and slightly higher in the 2014 estimate. Part of the Connecticut Western Reserve, it was settled in 1805 as a mill town along the Cuyahoga River and later named Franklin Mills. In the 1830s and 1840s, the village was on the route of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal. Franklin Mills was an active stop on the Underground Railroad before the Civil War. The city was renamed in 1864 for Marvin Kent, who secured the maintenance yards of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad (depot pictured) for Franklin Mills. Today Kent is a college town best known as the home of the main campus of Kent State University, founded in 1910, and as the site of the 1970 Kent State shootings. While historically a manufacturing center, the city's largest economic sector is now education. Many Kentites and Kent State alumni have risen to prominence in business, sports, and the arts. (Full article...) Recently featured: Andrew Johnston (singer) "Sisters at Heart" William Wurtenburg Did you know... Ann Allebach ... that Ann Allebach (pictured), the first woman ordained a Mennonite minister in North America, was ordained 62 years before the next woman? ... that the world's first Labor Party national government was Australia's Watson Government of 1904? ... that the Spanish footballer Francisco Sutil offered to play for a reduced salary at a team nearer to his girlfriend? ... that Brazil nut cake is common and popular in the Amazon region of Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru? ... that by composing music such as Finlandia, Jean Sibelius boosted Finnish patriotism in the face of Russian oppression? ... that the Neor Lake, a shallow lake located in a hilly area south of the Ardabil Province of Iran, was formed due to two fault zones during the Eocene period? ... that writer Brendan McNamara wanted players to connect to the characters of L.A. Noire in a way not previously achieved in video games? ... that Chinese politician Huang Jing, the father of a top Communist leader and a top intelligence officer who defected to the United States, was married to Madame Mao?

In the news Falcon 9 rocket's first stage on the landing pad After launching a Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX successfully lands the vehicle's first stage (pictured) in Cape Canaveral. Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, the suspended presidents of FIFA and UEFA respectively, are banned from association football for eight years amid a corruption case. More than 70 people are missing after a landslide in Shenzhen, China. In the Spanish general election, the ruling People's Party, led by Mariano Rajoy, loses one third of its seats, but remains the largest single party. Deep coal mining ceases in the United Kingdom with the closure of Kellingley Colliery. Ongoing events: Syrian Civil War European migrant crisis Recent deaths: Jimmy Hill Kurt Masur On this day... December 27 Ignacy Jan Paderewski 1657 – Citizens of New Netherland presented the Flushing Remonstrance to Director-General Peter Stuyvesant, requesting an exemption to his ban on Quaker worship. 1845 – John L. O'Sullivan, in his newspaper the New York Morning News, argued that the United States had the right to claim the entire Oregon Country "by the right of our manifest destiny". 1918 – A public speech by famed Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski (pictured) in Poznań sparked the Greater Poland Uprising against Germany. 1979 – Soviet war in Afghanistan: Soviet troops stormed Tajbeg Palace outside Kabul and killed Afghan President Hafizullah Amin and his 100–150 elite guards. 2008 – In response to rocket attacks from Palestinian armed groups, Israel launched a surprise attack against the Gaza Strip, opening the three-week Gaza War. More anniversaries: December 26 December 27 December 28

Today's featured picture The wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) is a large seabird from the albatross family which is found in the seas around Antarctica. The first albatross to be described (though it was long grouped with Tristan and the Antipodean albatrosses), the wandering albatross is the largest member of its genus and one of the largest birds in the world. Photograph: JJ Harrison Recently featured: Bixby Creek Bridge Dominostein Paris Street; Rainy Day

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