This day in history

[May 11, 2010]  (AP)  Today is Tuesday, May 11, the 131st day of 2010. There are 234 days left in the year.

Today's highlight in history:

On May 11, 1910, Glacier National Park in Montana was established.

On this date:

In 1502, Christopher Columbus left Cadiz, Spain, on his fourth and final trip to the Western Hemisphere.

In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to become governor of New Netherland.

In 1858, Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union.

In 1935, the Rural Electrification Administration was created as one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs.

In 1946, the first CARE packages arrived in Europe, at Le Havre, France.

In 1950, President Harry S. Truman formally dedicated the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state.

In 1960, in the wake of the U-2 incident, President Dwight D. Eisenhower defended intelligence-gathering activities as "distasteful" but necessary, saying "no one wants another Pearl Harbor."

In 1973, charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the "Pentagon Papers" case were dismissed by Judge William M. Byrne, who cited government misconduct.

In 1985, 56 people died when a flash fire swept a jam-packed soccer stadium in Bradford, England.

In 1996, an Atlanta-bound ValuJet DC-9 caught fire shortly after takeoff from Miami and crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board.

Ten years ago: Pope John Paul II named Bishop Edward M. Egan of Bridgeport, Conn. the new head of the New York archdiocese, succeeding the late Cardinal John O'Connor.

Five years ago: More than 1,000 demonstrators rioted and threw stones at a U.S. military convoy in Afghanistan as protests spread over a Newsweek report that interrogators had desecrated Islam's holy book at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. (Newsweek later retracted the story.) Actor Macaulay Culkin took the stand at Michael Jackson's trial to denounce the molestation allegations against the pop star as "absolutely ridiculous." (Jackson was acquitted.)

One year ago: Defense Secretary Robert Gates named Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal the top military commander in Afghanistan, replacing Gen. David McKiernan. Five U.S. troops were shot and killed at a mental health clinic on a Baghdad base; the shooting suspect, Sgt. John M. Russell, is awaiting trial. American journalist Roxana Saberi, imprisoned on espionage charges in Iran for four months, was freed. President Barack Obama met at the White House with representatives of the health care industry who promised to cut $2 trillion in costs over 10 years. Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Israel on a visit to the Holy Land. The space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a daring mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

Today's birthdays: Comedian Mort Sahl is 83. Rock singer Eric Burdon (The Animals; War) is 69. Actress Shohreh Aghdashloo (SHOH'-reh ahg-DAHSH'-loo) is 58. Actress Frances Fisher is 58. Actor Boyd Gaines is 57. Country musician Mark Herndon (Alabama) is 55. Actress Martha Quinn is 51. Country singer-musician Tim Raybon (The Raybon Brothers) is 47. Actor Jeffrey Donovan is 42. Country musician Keith West (Heartland) is 42. Actor Coby Bell is 35. Cellist Perttu Kivilaakso (PER'-tuh KEE'-wee-lahk-soh) is 32. Actor Jonathan Jackson is 28.

Thought for today: "No idea is so antiquated that it was not once modern. No idea is so modern that it will not someday be antiquated." -- Ellen Glasgow, American author (1874-1945)

[Associated Press]

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