Wow!  This year will soon be gone!  Will 2010 be filled with as much drama?!  Let’s take a look back at those newsworthy events that captured our attention in 2009.  Some of these stories will certainly end up in games like Trivial Pursuit while some others helped shape history.  I’d like to share my Top 10:   

1. On January 15^th Captain Chesley Sullenberger sets down the US Airways jet he is flying into the Hudson River.  Both engines lost power after a collision with geese just after take-off from New York City’s LaGuardia Airport.  He saves all 155 passengers and crew.   
2. On January 20^th our 44^th President is sworn in.  Barack Obama becomes this country’s first African-American President.
3. On January 26^th single mom, Nadya Denise Doud-Suleman Gutierrez, gives birth to eight miracle babies.  These octuplets join their six siblings at home.  Nadya receives a lot of public scorn for what is perceived as her irresponsible behavior.  Each of her pregnancies came about through in-vitro fertilization. 
4. On June 25^th the death of actress Farrah Fawcett, best known for her role in the TV series Charlie’s Angels, is overshadowed by the death of Pop King Michael Jackson.  His tragic death comes when he is only 50 years old.
5. On July 17^th Walter Cronkite dies.  He has always been known as the “most trusted man in America”.  He broke the President Kennedy assassination story back in November of 1963. 
6. On August 4^th Paula Abdul announces through Twitter that she is leaving American Idol.  Ultimately Ellen DeGeneres is named to replace her on the judge’s panel.    
7. On August 25^th the “Lion of the Senate”, Ted Kennedy, dies.  For his entire career he has championed bills calling for things like universal healthcare. 
8. On August 26^th Jaycee Lee Dugard is found living with her kidnapper in Antioch, California.  She was kidnapped from her school bus stop 18 years earlier.     
9. On September 13^th Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video at the VMA Awards is interrupted by Kanye West.  He stuns both the audience and Beyonce by announcing that she should have won the award.  He apologizes in the coming days, but it is hard to get such rudeness out of your mind.   
10. On November 14^th the swine flu, an outbreak of influenza first identified in Mexico this past April, is spreading worldwide.  From April to November 14^th, approximately 9820 deaths have been attributed to what was re-named H1N1.     

Please add your favorite stories from this past year or feel free to comment on this list.

Local newspapers in the Madison area have also compiled reviews of events in 2009.

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