On this date in ...

1918: New York State’s $150,000,000 (almost $2.5 billion in today’s dollars) barge canal was officially opened for its entire length, and operations were turned over to the federal government. Begun in 1905, the canal system connected Lake Erie to the Hudson River and then the Atlantic seaboard, excavating more than 100 million yards of earth and rock, and placing more than 3 million yards of concrete. 1968: The Saratoga Springs Board of Education presented a $4.8 million tentative budget for 196869, an increase of about $400,000 over the previous year. The largest allotment of $2,742,635 was for school instruction, with $497,000 for employee benefits, $467,898 for maintenance, $123,524 for administrative costs and $24,384 for auditing and legal services. Enrollment in the Saratoga Springs enlarged school district in September was expected to exceed 4,500. 1993: President Clinton’s tax bill, which would nip most middle-income families and sting the rich, would actually reduce the federal tax burden on many of the poorest working Americans. Clinton wanted to expand the earned-income tax credit, an 18-year-old program that was popular in both political parties, to help the poor offset his proposed energy tax. With the bill, Clinton said last week, the government “will say for the first time that people who work 40 hours a week with children in the home would be lifted above poverty.” The $28 billion expansion would raise 2 million people above the poverty line.

Want to read more about the Capital Region’s past? Have any memories or thoughts about how our history relates to today’s events? See http:// blog.timesunion. com/history/