The nation's coal mines are nearing a record low mark for on-the-job deaths for the third year in a row and have a chance to keep the number of fatal accidents in single digits for the first time.

With just a day left in 2016, U.S. coal mines on Friday recorded nine deaths. West Virginia had four, Kentucky had two and there was one each in Alabama, Illinois and Pennsylvania. The low number can be attributed to far fewer coal mining jobs and tougher enforcement of mining safety rules.

“We know consistently things are getting better,” Mine Safety and Health Administration chief Joe Main said.

Industry cooperation has been crucial to making mines safer, he said.

Dozens of mines have shuttered in recent years, especially in Appalachia. In 2011, there were about 91,000 working miners in the U.S. compared with 2015 when there were about 66,000, the lowest figure since the Energy Information Administration began collecting data in 1978. The 2016 numbers are not yet available.

Previous lows in coal mining deaths were in 2014 with 16, and last year, with 11. For comparison, in 1966, the mining industry counted 233 deaths. A century ago there were 2,226.

NYC's Carnegie Deli says goodbye

After 79 years of serving up heaps of cured meat to tourists, theater patrons and workaday New Yorkers, the Carnegie Delicatessen sliced its last oversized sandwich on Friday.

Fans lined up all week for a last bite at the restaurant, which got a star turn in Woody Allen's 1984 film “Broadway Danny Rose.” Craig DeGregorio, 38, of Long Island, said he waited for nearly 90 minutes to chow down on its signature dish, a mountainous, $20 pastrami sandwich. “I figured this was the last chance I was going to get to come here,” he said.

The Carnegie, its walls lined with photos of celebrities who have eaten there, opened in 1937, drawing its name from Carnegie Hall just a block up 7th Avenue.

As year ends, stocks dip lower

Investors capped a year of solid gains on Wall Street on Friday in a selling mood, sending the major U.S. stock indexes modestly lower on the final trading day of 2016.

Technology and consumer-focused stocks led the broad slide, while real estate companies and banks eked out small gains.

Despite riding out the last week of the year with losses, halting the Dow Jones industrial average's momentum as it neared the 20,000 mark, 2016 delivered a much better finish for stock investors than most would have anticipated.

All told, the Dow ended the year with a 13.4 percent gain, while the Nasdaq composite gained 7.5 percent.

THE BOTTOM LINE

$4.5B That's the amount of the Cabela's deal to buy Bass Pro Shops —a deal that Cabela's says faces some new hurdles. Cabela's said in a securities filing this week that the Federal Trade Commission wants more information about the merger. Cabela's said that it still expects the FTC to clear the Bass Pro purchase in the first half of 2017. Cabela's shares were down $2.93 Friday to $58.75.