YEARS AGO

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 11, the 42nd day of 2015. There are 323 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1812: Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry signs a redistricting law favoring his Democratic- Republican Party — giving rise to the term “gerrymandering.”

1858: French girl, Bernadette Soubirous, reports the first of 18 visions of a lady dressed in white in a grotto near Lourdes. (The Catholic Church later accepted that the visions were of the Virgin Mary.)

1862: The Civil War Battle of Fort Donelson begins in Tennessee. (Union forces led by Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant captured the fort five days later.)

1929: The Lateran Treaty is signed, with Italy recognizing the independence and sovereignty of Vatican City.

1937: A six-week-old sit-down strike against General Motors ends, with the company agreeing to recognize the United Automobile Workers Union.

1945: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Josef Stalin sign the Yalta Agreement, in which Stalin agrees to declare war against Imperial Japan after Nazi Germany’s capitulation (in return, the Soviet Union would acquire territories lost to Japan in the Russo-Japanese War).

1963: American author and poet Sylvia Plath is found dead in her London flat, a suicide; she was 30.

1972: McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. and Life magazine cancel plans to publish what had turned out to be a fake autobiography of reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes.

1975: Margaret Thatcher is elected leader of Britain’s opposition Conservative Party.

1989: Rev. Barbara C. Harris becomes the first woman consecrated as a bishop in the Episcopal Church, in a ceremony in Boston.

1990: South African black activist Nelson Mandela is freed after 27 years in captivity.

2005: Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld makes an unannounced visit to Iraq, where he observes Iraqi security forces and declares “there’s no question progress has been made” in preparing the nation for building a new government.

2012: Pop singer Whitney Houston, 48, is found dead in a hotel room in Beverly Hills, Calif.

2013: Pope Benedict XVI announces his resignation during a routine morning meeting of Vatican cardinals. (The 85-year-old pontiff was succeeded by Pope Francis.)

2014: President Barack Obama, during a joint White House news conference with French President Francois Hollande, vows to come down like “a ton of bricks” on businesses that violate Iranian sanctions while nuclear negotiations are underway.

VINDICATOR FILES

1990: Mahoning County Prosecutor James A. Philomena says he is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Ohio attorney general.

U.S. Rep. Tom Ridge of Erie, Pa., R-21st, is named to the American delegation that will attend the American-Vietnam Dialogue, a conference in Bali, Indonesia, that is being sponsored by the Henry R. Luce Foundation. Ridge is the first and only Vietnam veteran serving in Congress.

Harry D. Economus celebrates his 90th birthday at the Saratoga Restaurant in downtown Warren, which he bought in 1935 for $4,500 and where he continues to help the present owner, his son, James.

1975: The Youngstown-Warren Metropolitan Area will receive nearly $1.5 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for the construction of 500 housing units.

The Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, a black clergy group, passes a resolution calling on all pastors in the black community to speak from the pulpits against what it calls the “rampant increase of violent crimes in the black community.”

C.C. Kaiser & Son Inc. of Canfield is awarded a $286,000 contract by the Youngstown Board of Control for completion of the Model Cities South Side Community Center on Glenwood Avenue.

1965: The Youngstown Hospital Association receives a gift from Mr. and Mrs. L.A. Beeghly, a 21-acre residence at 6505 Market St. and $1 million from the Beeghly Foundation, to be used to establish a Boardman hospital.

Warm southern air and sunshine help the Youngstown area set a temperature record of 65, breaking 1962’s record for the day of 64.

John Campion III, Ferncliffe Avenue, Boardman, will be mayor-for-the-day for the 27th annual Hi-Y/Tri-Hi-Y Civic Day.

1940: The Mahoning County Democratic executive committee unanimously recommends John C. Vitullo for membership on the Mahoning County Board of Election. The committee also passes a resolution asking President Franklin D. Roosevelt to seek a third term.

The Youngstown Chamber of Commerce announces that it will lead the fight to attract new and allied industries to the city.

As soon as the last scene is shot for Victor Herbert’s “New Moon,” starring Nelson Eddy and Jeannette MacDonald, Eddy will leave Hollywood for a three-month tour that will include a Monday Musical Club concert at Stambaugh Auditorium.