No. 3: Royal Wedding
On April 29, 2011, Prince William of England married Catherine Middleton — and the world was invited to the wedding. The last royal ceremony of this magnitude was 30 years before, when Lady Diana married Prince Charles. Now the couple was the heir to the British throne, the handsome son…
No. 2: Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
Japan is earthquake country. The archipelago nation sits on the junction of four plates: the Pacific and Philippine plates to the east and the North American and Eurasian plates to the west. Its worst temblor, the Great Kanto Earthquake, hit in 1923 and left 143,000 dead. Memories of the 1995…
No. 1: Casey Anthony Trial
In December 2008, the body of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony was found a quarter-mile from her Orlando home. She had been reported missing by her grandmother, with whom she lived, along with her grandfather and her mother, Casey. Three years and countless headlines later, Casey Anthony’s murder trial was the courtroom…
Top News Stories
The death of a bogeyman who haunted a generation. A record-magnitude earthquake and a tsunami that swept away towns. The trial of the summer. A sudden passing. Dead-at-27 club. The next generation’s go at a fairy-tale wedding. A disturbed man’s action and the toxic side of politics. The toppling of…
No. 4: Joplin Tornado Disaster
On May 22, an F-5-rated tornado tore through southwest Missouri, destroying one-third of the town of Joplin. With winds over 200 mph and a path spanning nearly a mile wide and six miles long, if left behind utter destruction. It claimed the lives of 157 people, making it the deadliest…
No. 3: Spring Tornado Outbreak
The drama of the year’s extreme weather began to truly show itself in the spring, as the nation experienced extremes on many climate levels. While record drought and fires were still gripping the Southwest, flooding and record rainfall were hitting the Midwest. The most severe weather of the month took…
No. 2: Drought and Wildfires in Oklahoma
Spring was a season of excessive polarity for the nation. While the Midwest and Mississippi areas were bracing for record river levels and rainfall, the Southwest was experiencing historic drought levels. The season was set to provide some of history’s most extreme weather events including fires, tornadoes, and floods. In…
Video: Farewell to those we lost in 2011
A tribute to those we lost in 2011, including the legendary Elizabeth Taylor, boxing giant Joe Frazier, tech visionary Steve Jobs, and the tragic and soulful Amy Winehouse. These four were a given for our video, but it was unavoidable to leave out a hundred others. Some will be honored in…
No. 10: Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden didn’t just top the list of the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists. The al-Qaida leader was already on the agency’s Most Wanted Fugitive list when the attacks came on September 11, 2001, spurring the creation of a separate list. His entry is notable for two things: one is…
No. 9: Japan Earthquake
On March 11, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck northeast Japan and lasted about five minutes. The temblor, registered as the largest to hit Japan and as the fourth largest in the world since 1900, unleashed ocean waves that reached all the way to the United States. The Great East Japan earthquake…