10 years ago

From the Journal Tribune: “Overall, York County is likely to end the year ‘significantly’ in the black, perhaps by as much as seven figures, County Manager David Adjutant predicted, but some individual departments within county government are likely to see the flow of red ink. … The county’s financial year ends Dec. 31, so firm figures won’t be available until early January.”

50 years ago

From the Biddeford-Saco Journal: “Two Saco children are receiving treatment today at Webber Hospital, Biddeford, after being overcome by oil fumes which claimed the life of their father. … The tragedy was discovered by another brother … who returned from a drive-in movie to find his father dead in his bed and his brother and sister in a semi-conscious condition from the fumes which apparently leaked from a kitchen stove.”

100 years ago

From the Biddeford Daily Journal: “The Blue Birds, which is the name of an organization of young girls connected with the School Street Methodist church, Saco, gave a fair in the vestry Thursday evening, which proved to be a big success. In connection with the fair a delightful entertainment was given and each number was greatly enjoyed.” — Jeff Lagasse

Today in History

Today is Friday, Nov. 20, the 324th day of 2015. There are 41 days left in the year.

On this date: In 1620, Peregrine White was born aboard the Mayflower in Massachusetts Bay; he was the first child born of English parents in present-day New England. In 1789, New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights. In 1910, the Mexican Revolution of 1910 had its beginnings under the Plan of San Luis Potosi issued by Francisco I. Madero. In 1925, Robert F. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. In 1947, Britain’s future queen, Princess Elizabeth, married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey. In 1967, the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Clock at the Commerce Department ticked past 200 million. In 1969, the Nixon administration announced a halt to residential use of the pesticide DDT as part of a total phaseout. A group of American Indian activists began a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Nov. 20, 1945, 22 former Nazi officials went on trial before an international war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany. (Almost a year later, the International Military Tribune sentenced 12 of the defendants to death; seven received prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life; three were acquitted.)

Ten years ago

Israel’s dovish Labor Party voted to pull out of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government in the opening salvo of an election campaign. A gunman opened fire at a crowded shopping mall in Tacoma, Washington, wounding seven people and taking four hostages before surrendering. (Dominick Maldonado was later convicted of 15 charges, including attempted murder, assault and kidnapping; he was sentenced to just over 163 years in prison.)

Five years ago

In comments released by the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI opened the door on the previously taboo subject of condoms as a way to fight HIV, saying male prostitutes who used condoms might be beginning to assume moral responsibility.

One year ago

Spurning furious Republicans, President Barack Obama unveiled expansive executive actions on immigration during a televised address that would spare nearly 5 million people who were in the U.S. illegally from deportation and refocus enforcement efforts on “felons, not families.” — By The Associated Press