The White House scandal surrounding President Clinton's alleged affair with Intern Monica Lewinsky dominates the headlines and network news.

The government and media hype the "threat" of computer systems going awry in the Y2K crisis. From the electric grid going down, to food never reaching the supermarket, regulators dunned banks and public utilities to get "Y2K OKAY."

Two students who comprise a group of outcasts known as "The Trenchcoat Mafia" enter Columbine High School near Denver, Colorado and start shooting fellow students in cold blood before killing themselves.

The Euro enters the money markets of the world.

Boris Yeltsin retires as President of the Russian Federation.

The Presidential Election between George W. Bush, Governor of Texas (R) and Vice President Al Gore (D) ends with the disputed Florida results going to the Supreme Court. Gore won the popular vote while Bush takes the White House with a majority in the Electoral College.

The first waves of a recession start to hit the country as the Dot Com Bubble bursts. Between ISPs going public and the massive Y2K expenditures in the tech area, the bid up of tech stocks ends with a mini-crash and a recession that goes into 2001.

The nation is shocked and immediately in a state of mourning after the surprise terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Thousands perish as jet liners are crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City, the Pentagon, and near Somerset, Pennsylvania. The attack is blamed on Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist group, then rumored to be holed up in caves in Afghanistan, protected by the country's Taliban faction.

Bush signs the "No Child Left Behind" education bill into law.

The United States invades Afghanistan in March using primarily Special Operations forces and air power at first. The Taliban is routed, but Osama bin Laden is neither captured or killed. As more conventional forces move into Afghanistan, the Bush Administration begins arguing for an invasion of Iraq. The debate about Iraq dominates the off-year Congressional elections, a success for President Bush's party.

Arguing that Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein was trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction that could be given to terrorist groups, and was aiding Al Qaeda, perhaps even in the 9/11 attacks, Bush gets Congressional backing to launch an invasion of Iraq that captures Baghdad after three or four weeks of fighting. An orgy of looting and general anarchy grips Iraq for days after the fall of Baghdad.

The Human Genome Project is completed.

Four commuter trains are attacked in simultaneous terrorist bombings in Madrid, Spain.

Iraqi factions begin resisting the occupation by the United States and its coalition allies with a combination of detonations of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), guerrilla ambushes, beheadings of hostages, and set-piece battles in cities like Fallujah. Iraq is devolving into a quagmire.

Despite set backs in Iraq, and muffed televised debates, George W. Bush defeats John Kerry in the Presidential Election, but the Republicans lose seats in the Congress.

Hurricane Ivan devastates the Southern U.S., then tracks north and causes heavy rains and flooding in Pennsylvania. Suburban and rural development is found to have changed flood patterns.

You Tube is launched on the Internet as high speed and wireless delivery channels begin to expand, making the access to video tracks possible through the Internet.

Pope John Paul II dies.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita wreak havoc on New Orleans and the Gulf Coasts of Georgia, Alabama, and Texas. New Orleans is innundated when the levees break, killing hundreds and rendering many thousands homeless. The city is depopulated over large areas. Federal, State, and Local Government response to the disasters is roundly condemned.

Sonny Bono, Member of Congress

Lloyd Bridges, American Actor

Gene Autry, Owner of California Angels, Actor, Singer

Susan Strasberg, Actress

Stanley Kubrick, Director

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jr., Publisher: George Magazine

Hedy Lamar, Actress

Tom Landry, Head Coach of the Dallas Cowboys

Walter Matthau, Actor (Reported contemporaneously in the Tavern's FYI page).

Perry Como, Singer

Jack Lemmon, Actor

George Harrison, Musician

Harold Russell, Actor

Robert Urich, Actor

Rosemary Clooney, Singer

Fred Rogers, Childrens' Television Host in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Gregory Peck, Actor

Bob Hope, Comedian

Jerry Goldsmith, Composer

Julia Child, World War II OSS Operative, Chef

Pierre Salinger, Journalist, President Kennedy's Press Secretary

Johnny Carson, "Tonight Show" host

Hunter S. Thompson, Journalist, Author

Rosa Parks, Civil Rights Activist