By Luke Langlois

In this era of a 24-hour news cycle, we have a constant amount of information being pushed at us from everywhere we look. Whether it’s our phones, TVs, radios, computers, etc., we are always moving on to the next big story and forgetting about what we read two days ago. As such, I thought I would compile some of the most gripping stories of the decade to remind us of what we may have forgotten over the past years. Please note that this compilation is not all-encompassing. 

• January 12th, 2010: The island nation of Haiti was struck by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake, ravaging the nation and inspiring a global support effort. 
• January 2010: Steve Jobs unveils the first Apple iPad. Now, Apple devices are pretty much commonplace in the United States. In 2011, Jobs passed away from neuroendocrine cancer.

• April 20th, 2010: The largest marine oil spill in history occurs as the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. On the sixth anniversary of the explosion, a movie adaptation was released, creatively named Deepwater Horizon. 
• June 27nd, 2010: The FBI arrested ten Russian spies who were caught living undercover in the United States. 
• October 13th, 2010: Thirty-three miners are rescued after spending nearly seventy days trapped in a Chilean copper mine. In 2015, a movie adaptation of this event was released named The 33. 
• February 11th, 2011: The Egyptian President who had held the position for three decades, Hosni Mubarak resigned due to increasing pressure from revolutionaries.
• March 2011: The Syrian Civil War erupted after a group of military defectors formed the Free Syrian Army to combat President Bashar al-Assad. 
• March 11th, 2011: An earthquake in Japan caused a massive tsunami, damaging generators at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. This plant went into nuclear meltdown, prompting the evacuation of about 50,000 residents.
• May 1st, 2011: President Barack Obama addresses the nation to announce a successful Navy SEAL raid on a compound in Pakistan, the location of Osama Bin Laden.

• October 20th, 2011: Muammar Gaddafi, Libyan leader of forty-two years, is captured and killed by revolutionaries. 
• September 11th, 2012: Four United States citizens are killed, including U.S Ambassador Christopher Stevens, after a mob storms the U.S facility in Benghazi, Libya. 
• October 22nd, 2012: Lance Armstrong is accused of conducting an elaborate doping scheme, prompting his immediate ban from cycling competitions for life. 
• November 6th, 2012: Speaking of “doping,” Colorado and Washington become the first states who vote to legalize recreational marijuana. 
• February 28th, 2013: Eccentric millionaire and former NBA star Dennis Rodman travels to North Korea to meet Kim Jong Un, who assumed office in 2011, becoming the first American to do so. 

• March 13th, 2013: Jorge Mario Bergoglio becomes the first South American to lead the Roman Catholic Church as Pope. He assumes the name Pope Francis. 
• April 15th, 2013: Modified pressure cookers explode at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, injuring more than 250 people and killing three.
• June 6th, 2013: Government contractor Edward Snowden leaks highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA). Snowden fled the country and was given political asylum in Russia. 
• December 5th, 2013: Apartheid-shattering Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, dies at the age of 95. 
• March 2014: Russia invades Ukraine and annexes Crimea following the removal of pro-Russian president, Victor Yanukovych, by revolutionaries. 
• March 8th, 2014: Airline Flight 370 of Malaysia mysteriously disappears on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 crew members and passengers on board. 
• March 23rd, 2014: The World Health Organization (WHO) announces that Ebola has had its largest outbreak in history in the nation of Guinea. 
• April 2014: The city of Flint shifts to the Flint River as its primary source of water in an effort to save money, leading to the Flint water crisis.
• August 11th, 2014: Globally-renowned comic actor Robin Williams was found dead at his home in California at the age of 63.
• November 24th, 2014: Sony Pictures Entertainment is hacked by North Korea and has embarrassing company information breached. According to Sony, the hackers intended to push Sony into canceling their movie The Interview in which North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, is assassinated.
• May 2015: An outbreak of the Zika virus spreads in Brazil, eventually moving up into Central America and the Caribbean. The virus was infamous for causing the microcephaly birth defect. 
• June 6th, 2015: Joyce Mitchell of the Clinton Correctional Facility helps two convicted murderers escape from prison. Both inmates were found shortly thereafter, with one dying in a police shootout.
• June 16th, 2015: Donald J. Trump, New York City real estate mogul and reality star, announces his plan to run for President of the United States with a speech at Trump Tower.
• June 26th, 2015: The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that gay marriage is legal, legalizing same-sex union nationwide. 

• July 20th, 2015: The United States and Cuba restore diplomatic ties decades after Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution with a new embassy in Havana.
• December 15th, 2015: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Disney’s first film from their newly purchased franchise releases and earns more than two billion dollars at the box office. 
• April 21st, 2016: Music legend, Prince, is found dead in an elevator of his Minnesota estate due to an overdose in the fentanyl opioid. 
• June 24th, 2016: The United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union (E.U.).  
• August 5th-22nd, 2016: After controversies over facility quality and possible sanitation issues, the 2016 Summer Olympics are held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

• August 26th, 2016: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sits on the bench during the national anthem. 
• November 3rd, 2016: The Chicago Cubs break the “Billy Goat Curse” and win their first World Series in 108 years. 
• November 8th, 2016: Donald Trump defeats Hillary Clinton in a landmark presidential upset. 
• January 20th, 2017: Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th President of the United States

• January 21st, 2017: Hundreds upon thousands of people in Washington D.C and cities around the world take part in the Women’s March to protest President Trump’s election.
• July-October 2017: The “#MeToo” movement gains traction as allegations of sexual misconduct emerge against prominent figures in Hollywood.
• October 1st, 2017: Fifty-eight people were killed and over 850 injured after a gunman opens fire on a Las Vegas music festival from the Mandalay Bay casino. 
• October 12th, 2017: President Trump announces that the Pakistani military rescued Canadian-American couple Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman, as well as their children, from the Haqqani network (an Afghan insurgent group), about five years after their capture.
• November 15th, 2017: The San Juan, an Argentine navy submarine, sinks to the bottom of the ocean with forty-four crew members due to an explosion inside the vessel. 
• January 14th, 2018: A teenage girl escapes from her Southern California home, revealing the abuse of her parents to her and her twelve siblings. Both parents were sentenced to life in prison. 
• February 9th-25th, 2018: The Winter Olympics are held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in which North and South Korea march under a united flag and compete as one nation. 
• March 24th, 2018: Hundreds of thousands of Americans take part in the “March For Our Lives” in Washington D.C. as a response to the Parkland, Florida, shooting.
• April 13th, 2018: As the Syrian Civil War rages on, the United States, Britain, and France conduct airstrikes against Syria in response to President Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons against citizens. 
• June 24th, 2018: Saudia Arabia lifts a law that prohibits women from driving.
• July 10th, 2018, Twelve Thai soccer players and their coach are rescued from a flooded cavern after two weeks of being trapped.
• September 27th, 2018: More than 20 million people tune in to watch the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh. 
• October 2nd, 2018: Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, is murdered inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul. 
• March 2019: The Boeing 737 Max aircrafts are banned from airspaces around the world after two crashes in 5 months kill 346 people.
• March 12th, 2019: Federal prosecutors in Boston charge at least fifty people in “Operation Varsity Blues,” accusing many wealthy parents of using bribes to get their children into college. 

• July 7th, 2019: The women’s national soccer team of the United States wins the World Cup for the fourth time in a row.
• August 10th, 2019: Jeffrey Epstein, sex-offender, is found dead in his Manhattan jail cell where he was awaiting trial over his sex-trafficking charges.
• October 31st, 2019: The House formalizes its impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump’s communications with Ukraine.
• December 18th, 2019: In a partisan 229-198 vote, President Donald Trump becomes the third president in United States history to be impeached. 

End-of-Year Editor: Katelin Mei