YEARS AGO FOR MARCH 11

Today is Saturday, March 11, the 70th day of 2017. There are 295 days left in the year. The Jewish holiday Purim begins at sunset. Daylight saving time returns Sunday at 2 a.m. local time; clocks go forward one hour.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1861: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted by the Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Ala.

1888: The Blizzard of ’88, also known as the “Great White Hurricane,” begins inundating the northeastern United States, resulting in some 400 deaths.

1927: New York City’s legendary Roxy Theatre has its grand opening.

1942: As Japanese forces continue to advance in the Pacific during World War II, U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur leaves the Philippines for Australia, where he vows, “I shall return” – a promise he kept more than 21/2 years later.

2004: Ten bombs explode across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people in an attack linked to al-Qaida-inspired militants.

2011: A magnitude-9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami strike Japan’s northeastern coast, killing nearly 20,000 people.

VINDICATOR FILES

1992: Dr. William J. Timmins, chairman of the Trumbull County Democratic Party, says Gov. Bill Clinton may be the current frontrunner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, but says he’ll never get Timmins’ vote because of Clinton’s alleged marital infidelity and draft dodging.

Jim Sibeto, owner of Jim’s Brushless Car Wash in New Castle, Pa., says a new rate schedule adopted by city council increased his water bill from $2 in December to $320 in January, a 15,000 percent hike.

Winner Technologies is given a $524,885 loan from the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority to purchase and renovate a 165,000-square-foot building at 385 Shenango Ave. The total project cost is $1.3 million.

1977: The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation approves grants of $1.3 million for three facilities in Mahoning County, including $800,000 for Gateways to Better Living to build a facility and $238,130 for Transitional Homes to acquire a wing at the Doris Burdman Home.

A bill passed by the Ohio House would require smoke detectors in old and new high-rise apartments and condominiums in the state.

The Ohio Department of Liquor Control orders Satan’s Inferno at 22 Fifth Ave. to shut down from April 3 to May 8 for a multitude of infractions.

1967: Salem police Chief Martin Lutsch Jr. said officers averted what could have been a full-scale teen riot at a dance hall in the Myers Building at South Lundy Avenue and East Pershing Street. Three Youngstown youths were arrested and 50 others were ordered to leave the parking lot.

Rare and valuable Canadian coins valued at $5,000 are stolen from an exhibit slated to open at the Hotel Ohio in downtown Youngstown.

Michael J. Baker Jr. of Rochester, Pa., is hired by the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct surveys preparatory to purchasing the land that would be used for a Lake Erie to Ohio River canal.

Six Austintown boys, age 12 to 15, are being held by Austintown police for vandalism involving 28 tombstones in Four Mile Run Cemetery.

1942: Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. announces that substantial improvements will be made at its Brier Hill works to produce specialty steel needed in the war effort.

Welding and lathe operation classes, important phases of defense training, will be operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week at Harding High School in Warren.