YEARS AGO

years ago

Today is Saturday, June 11, the 163rd day of 2016. There are 203 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1509: England’s King Henry VIII marries his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.

1770: Capt. James Cook, commander of the British ship Endeavour, discovers the Great Barrier Reef off Australia by running onto it.

1776: The Continental Congress forms a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence calling for freedom from Britain.

1919: Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming horse racing’s first Triple Crown winner.

1936: Kansas Gov. Alfred “Alf” Landon is nominated for president at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

1942: The United States and the Soviet Union sign a lend-lease agreement to aid the Soviet war effort in World War II.

1977: Seattle Slew wins the Belmont Stakes, capturing the Triple Crown.

1985: Karen Ann Quinlan, the comatose patient whose case prompted a historic right-to-die court decision, dies in Morris Plains, N.J., at age 31.

1986: The John Hughes comedy “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” starring Matthew Broderick, is released by Paramount Pictures.

2015: Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says the U.S. military’s reach could extend even further into Iraq if the anti-Islamic State campaign were to gain momentum, and held out the possibility of a greater role for U.S. troops on the ground.

VINDICATOR FILES

1991: Fireworks that caused a $15,000 fire at a Boardman house were sold by an 11-year-old boy who was selling them to neighborhood youths, Fire Chief James Wilson tells township trustees.

McCullough Williams Jr., former Youngstown school board member and city councilman, warns that hiring Douglas Hiscox, the superintendent of Leetonia Schools, as an assistant superintendent for the Youngstown City School District will be viewed as a “slap” to the city’s black community. Williams says the job should go to Alex Murphy, principal of The Rayen School.

The Department of Energy drops its funding of a proposed $235 million clean-coal technology project in Warren.

1976: New Castle City Council is facing a decision on whether the city can go it alone in giving financial support to New Castle Airport or whether the facility will be closed.

The second fire in six months virtually destroys a row of bars on North Water Street in Kent, with losses estimated at $1 million. Damaged or destroyed were the Kove, Pirate’s Alley, Walter’s, JB’s, the Phoenix and the Pinball Palace.

A Youngstown Police Department investigation of the Youngstown Water Department shows that city employees, equipment and materials have been used to perform work at the home of relatives of some past and present city officials.

1966: The mercury dips to 49 degrees in downtown Youngstown, breaking a 1935 record low for the date.

James R. Bede, an aircraft designer from Cleveland, designs an airplane that he will use to attempt the first nonstop flight around the world without refueling.

Faith Kulow, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Kulow of Hubbard, will go to New Guinea as a missionary for the American Lutheran Church, replacing her brother, David, who has served there for five years.

1941: Assistant Youngstown Fire Chief Ted Kearns will greet the Marine Corps League when it arrives in Youngstown for a three-day convention at the Hotel Ohio.

Martha Heffernan and Paul Lettau, two of Ursuline High School’s 105 graduates, are the winners of this year’s essay contest.

The Youngstown Browns rally in the ninth inning for their first win of the year over the Canton Terriers.