10 years ago

From the Journal Tribune: “Nick Silibin pulls out a tray where five thousand salmon eggs are incubated and points out the lighter colored eggs that have died and must be removed. If bad eggs stay amongst the healthy, they can spread a deadly fungus and infest surrounding eggs. Silibin is one of dozens of volunteers that come to the Saco River Salmon Hatchery at Marblehead Boat Landing each week to pick the eggs. The hatchery, which is a nonprofit organization and all-volunteer effort, is working to restore the salmon population in the Saco River.”

50 years ago

From the Biddeford-Saco Journal: “The University of Maine’s student newspaper, ‘The Maine Campus,’ says a student has admitted to stealing a psychology exam on which a mid-year final was based, touching off an alleged cheating scandal.”

100 years ago

From the Biddeford Daily Journal: “There was a big gathering of basketball enthusiasts when three good and interesting games of basketball were played. The big game was between Biddeford High and the Berwick academy teams, and something extraordinarily good was looked for as it is a well known fact that the local students have a fast quintette, while Berwick academy has the reputation of being one of the best teams for many years. Biddeford High, however, proved too much for the visitors, and at the end of the first period the score was 21 to 6.”

— Krysteana Scribner

Today in History

Today is Friday, Feb. 5, the 36th day of 2016. There are 330 days left in the year.

On this date: In 1631, the co-founder of Rhode Island, Roger Williams, and his wife, Mary, arrived in Boston from England. In 1783, Sweden recognized the independence of the United States. In 1887, Verdi’s opera “Otello” premiered at La Scala. In 1911, Missouri’s second Capitol building in Jefferson City burned down after being struck by lightning. Opera singer Jussi Bjoerling was born in Borlange, Dalarna, Sweden. In 1917, Congress passed, over President Woodrow Wilson’s veto, an immigration act severely curtailing the influx of Asians. Mexico’s constitution was adopted. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed increasing the number of Supreme Court justices; critics accused Roosevelt of attempting to “pack” the court. (The proposal failed in Congress.) In 1940, Glenn Miller and his orchestra recorded “Tuxedo Junction” for RCA Victor’s Bluebird label. In 1958, Gamal Abdel Nasser was formally nominated to become the first president of the new United Arab Republic (a union of Syria and Egypt).

Today’s Highlight in History:

On Feb. 5, 1811, George, the Prince of Wales, was named Prince Regent due to the mental illness of his father, Britain’s King George III.

Ten years ago Jacob Robida, suspected of an attack at a Massachusetts gay bar, the killing of an Arkansas officer and the slaying of a mother of three, was mortally wounded in a shootout with authorities. Thousands of protesters in Beirut, Lebanon, enraged over Danish caricatures of the prophet Muhammad, torched the Danish mission.

Five years ago The leadership of Egypt’s ruling party stepped down as the military figures spearheading the transition tried to placate protesters without giving them the one resignation they were demanding, that of President Hosni Mubarak.

One year ago Jordan stepped up its air attacks on Islamic State facilities in Syria and expanded its airstrikes into Iraq for the first time after a captured Jordanian pilot was burned to death by the militant group. At the National Prayer Breakfast, President Barack Obama called the Islamic State group a “death cult” and condemned those who seek to use religion as a rationale for violence. — By The Associated Press