10 years ago

From the Journal Tribune: “Despite the thick layer of fog shrouding Main Street on Friday morning, it was business as usual downtown. Traffic flowed in a typical stop-and-go pattern. At the Mobil gas station, motorists filled up their tanks on the way to work. Several residents even braved the damp weather to run some quick errands. Main Street Kennebunk has been this way for years.”

50 years ago

From the Biddeford-Saco Journal: “Biddeford teachers replied today to the recent Maine Teachers Association newsletter saying Biddeford only expects a “Square Deal and not the Lone Ranger.” The M.T.A. reported that the Biddeford teachers had expected the Lone Ranger to come to their aid and if he did not live at the state association’s 184 State St., Augusta address, that Biddeford would look elsewhere. Biddeford teachers appeared dissatisfied with M.T.A. support during the past hassle over the budget in Biddeford and invited a representative of the American Federation of Teachers to appear before them and outline the union groups program.”

100 years ago

From the Biddeford Daily Journal: “If there was ever any doubt about the interest of the French voters of Biddeford in the campaign of this spring, it is dispelled now. The rally of French speaking voters at the Marble hall last evening was a record smasher. There hasn’t been such a rally in Biddeford before for years. The house was packed to the doors and standing room was at a premium. The crowd remained until half past 10 o’clock and gave the closest attention and most liberal applause to seven speakers, who enunciated the strong points, and there are many of them, of the campaigned for a change in administration in this city.”

—Krysteana Scribner

Today in History

Today is Friday, March 11, the 71st day of 2016. There are 295 days left in the year.

On this date:

In 1865, during the Civil War, Union forces under General William T. Sherman occupied Fayetteville, North Carolina. In 1986, the state of Georgia pardoned Leo Frank, a Jewish businessman who had been lynched in 1915 for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan. In 1993, Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to be attorney general. In 2004, ten bombs exploded in quick succession across the commuter rail network in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 people in an attack linked to al-Qaida-inspired militants. In 2012, sixteen Afghan villagers — mostly women and children — were shot dead as they slept by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On March 11, 1888, the Blizzard of ‘88, also known as the “Great White Hurricane,” began inundating the northeastern United States, resulting in some 400 deaths.

Ten years ago Former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic was found dead of a heart attack in his prison cell in the Netherlands, abruptly ending his four-year U.N. war crimes trial for orchestrating a decade of conflict that had killed a quarter of a million people; he was 64. Michelle Bachelet was sworn in as Chile’s first female president.

Five years ago A magnitude-9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan’s northeastern coast, killing nearly 20,000 people and severely damaging the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station.

One year ago The police chief of the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson resigned in the wake of a scathing Justice Department report prompted by the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old by a white police officer. Jimmy Greenspoon, 67, the keyboardist for rock band Three Dog Night, died in North Potomac, Maryland.