Today in history - Dec. 12

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 12, the 346th day of 2006. There are 19 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Dec. 12, 1906, the Senate confirmed Oscar Straus to be President Theodore Roosevelt's Secretary of Commerce and Labor; Straus became the first Jewish member of a presidential cabinet.

On this date:

In 1787, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

In 1870, Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina became the first black lawmaker sworn into the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 1897, "The Katzenjammer Kids," the pioneering comic strip created by Rudolph Dirks, made its debut in the New York Journal.

In 1913, authorities in Florence, Italy, announced that the "Mona Lisa," stolen from the Louvre Museum in Paris in 1911, had been recovered............