Local history

50 years ago: May 11, 1976

About 100 Altoona residents attended an Altoona Area School Board meeting during which the possibility of the closing of the Keystone and Eldorado elementary schools was discussed. Dr. Charles M. Hill was Altoona school superintendent.

25 years ago: May 11, 2001

The Altoona chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers was to collect food for the poor, with the donations going to the Altoona Food Bank, Sacred Heart Food Pantry, Food for Families and the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

10 years ago: May 11, 2016

The fifth annual 20 under 20 banquet was held at the Casino at Lakemont Park, honoring 20 area youths. Andrae Holsey of Altoona Area High and Hayley Cottle of Northern Bedford received scholarships. Former Altoona Mirror editor Margaret Moses managed the program.

— Compiled by Tim Doyle

World history

Today is Monday, May 11, the 131st day of 2026. There are 234 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On May 11, 1997, the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeated chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov in the final game of a six-game match in New York, winning 3 ½-2 ½ and marking the first time a computer won a match against a reigning world champion.

On this date:

– 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, sent by a consortium of American charities to provide relief to the hungry of postwar Europe, arrived at Le Havre, France.

– In 1953, one of the deadliest tornadoes in Texas history devastated the city of Waco, killing 114 people and injuring nearly 600.

– In 1960, Israeli agents captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

– In 1973, the espionage trial of Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo in the “Pentagon Papers” case came to an end as Judge William M. Byrne dismissed all charges, citing government misconduct.

– In 1981, reggae artist Bob Marley died in a Miami hospital at age 36 after battling an aggressive skin cancer.

– In 1996, an Atlanta-bound ValuJet DC-9 caught fire after takeoff from Miami and crashed into the Everglades, killing all 110 aboard.

— The Associated Press