2021 was an interesting year around the world. There were ups and there were downs. There was no shortage of news stories around the world. The BJL compiled some of the biggest stories from 2021 as we recap the year and look ahead to 2022 in what we hope will be a year with more smiles and happiness. We obviously couldn’t include all the stories from 2021 but here’s a rundown of some of the big ones.
January 6: pro-Trump rioters storm the US Capitol as members of Congress meet to certify the Electoral College results of the 2020 presidential election. A total of five people die, including a Capitol Police officer. Facebook and Twitter temporarily lock Trump's accounts on their platforms. Two days later, Twitter announces Trump's account is suspended permanently.
January 7: Congress formally affirms Biden's 2020 victory, completing a final step in the electoral process. Trump would later announce that he will not be attending Biden's inauguration on January 20.
January 13: The House votes to impeach Trump for a second time following the president's role inciting last week's riot at the US Capitol. The House votes 232 to 197 to impeach.
January 20: Biden is sworn in as the 46th president and Kamala Harris is sworn in as the 49th vice president.
January 20: At least 32 people are killed and over 100 are injured in a double suicide bombing in Baghdad, the first suicide attack to strike Baghdad in nearly two years. ISIS later claims responsibility.
February 2: Amazon announces that Jeff Bezos will step down from his role as CEO in the third quarter of 2021. He will transition to the role of executive chair, and Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy will become CEO.
February 7: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV. The win was Tom Brady’s 7th Super Bowl championship and his first with Tampa Bay. Brady left the New England Patriots after 20 years to join Tampa Bay and won the Super Bowl in his first season there. It's the first time in Super Bowl history a team has won in its home stadium.
February 19: The United States formally re-joined the Paris Climate Agreement, an international treaty aimed at limiting global warming. The U.S. left the Paris Agreement under President Trump, but Biden made it a priority to go back in.
February 22: The US surpasses 500,000 deaths to due to COVID-19. The virus, which took over the US in 2020, is still a major issue around the world.
March 22 - Ten people, including a Boulder police officer, are killed in a mass shooting at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado. Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, the 21-year-old suspect, faces 10 counts of murder in the first degree.
March 25: Republicans in Georgia pass a sweeping election bill, making it the first presidential battleground state to impose new voting restrictions following Biden's victory. The new law imposes new voter identification requirements for absentee ballots. A week later, Major League Baseball announces that their All-Star Game and draft will not be held in Atlanta in response to Georgia's recently passed voting laws.
April 13: The CDC and FDA announce they are recommending that the United States pause the use of Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine over six reported US cases of a "rare and severe" type of blood clot.
April 20: A jury finds former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of all three charges against him in the killing of George Floyd. Chauvin is convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.
April 30: The Biden administration announces the United States will restrict travel from India starting May 4 in response to the surge of coronavirus cases and variants being observed in the country.
April 30: In one of the most heartbreaking moments of the year, a stampede breaks out at Meron in Israel, leaving at least 45 people dead and injuring more than 150 on Lag Ba'Omer.
May 20: After a bruising 11-day war against Hamas, Israel and Palestine announced that they have agreed to a ceasefire. The fighting began May 10, when Hamas terrorists in Gaza fired long-range rockets toward Jerusalem after days of clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes during the operation, targeting what it said was Hamas’ military infrastructure, including a vast tunnel network. Hamas and other terrorist groups embedded in residential areas have fired over 4,000 rockets at Israeli cities, with hundreds falling short and most of the rest intercepted. Twelve people in Israel, including a 5-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl and a soldier, were killed.
June 13: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu loses office for the first time in 12 years after rival Naftali Bennett wins a parliamentary vote to form a government.
June 24: Champlain Towers South, a 12-story beachfront condominium in the Miami suburb of Surfside, Florida, partially collapsed. 98 people died.
June 25: Derek Chauvin, the police officer who killed George Floyd on a Minneapolis street in 2020, is sentenced to 22-and-a-half years in prison. Under Minnesota law, Chauvin must serve two-thirds of his sentence, or 15 years -- and then will be eligible for supervised release for the remaining time.
July 7: The Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Final for their second consecutive and the third overall championship in franchise history.
July 8: Officials announce the Tokyo Olympics, which had originally been scheduled for 2020, will not have spectators, after Japan declares a new state of emergency in Tokyo due to Covid-19.
July 14: Catastrophic flooding in western Europe brings two months' worth of rain in a day. More than 220 people are killed.
July 19: Jeff Bezos goes to space and back on an 11-minute ride aboard the rocket and capsule system developed by his space company, Blue Origin.
July 20: The Milwaukee Bucks defeat the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals, winning their first NBA championship in 50 years and their second title overall. Holding home-court advantage, the Suns led the series 2–0 before the Bucks came back and won the next four games, becoming the fifth team in NBA history to win the championship after losing the first two games.
August 10: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo – who was once hailed by the media as the leader of getting the country out of the COVID pandemic - announces he will resign after disturbing details emerge involving the workplace.
August 14: A 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes Haiti. At least 2,246 people are killed and more than 12,763 are injured.
August 17: NYC begins requiring proof of vaccination at eateries, gyms. All people dining indoors at restaurants, browsing works of art at museums or sweating it out at gyms must prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
August 23: The FDA grants full approval to the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for people ages 16 and older, making it the first coronavirus vaccine approved by the FDA.
August 24: Kathy Hochul is sworn in as New York's first female governor, replacing Cuomo, who resigned amid multiple scandals.
August 26: An explosion takes place outside the Kabul airport as the United States and other countries try to evacuate their citizens and Afghans at risk from the Taliban. Thirteen US service members and dozens of Afghan citizens are killed. President Biden receives heavy backlash from all sides for the way the situation was handled.
August 29: Hurricane Ida makes landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Louisiana. The storm claims the lives of at least 34 people across Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, destroying businesses and neighborhoods and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands. On August 31, what's left of Ida makes its way to the Northeast. At least 60 people are killed across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
August 30: General Frank McKenzie, the commander of US Central Command, announces the last US military planes have left Afghanistan. The departure marks the end of a fraught, chaotic and bloody exit from the United States' longest war.
September 17: A United States military investigation into an August drone strike in Kabul finds that it killed 10 civilians, and the driver of the vehicle targeted was likely not a threat associated with ISIS-K.
September 20: Eric Adams wins the Democratic Primary for New York City Mayor, defeating Andrew Yang, Kathryn Garcia and others.
September 22: The FDA announces it has granted authorization for emergency use of a booster dose of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine in people ages 65 and older, people at high risk of severe disease and people whose jobs put them at risk of infection.
October 28: Mark Zuckerberg announces that Facebook will change its corporate name to Meta, effectively demoting Facebook's namesake service to being one of the company's subsidiaries, alongside Instagram and WhatsApp, rather than the overarching brand.
November 2: The Atlanta Braves defeat the Houston Astros in the World Series, winning their fourth World Series title in franchise history and their first since 1995.
November 3: Eric Adams wins Mayoral Race in New York City, defeating Curtis Sliwa. The 61-year-old Adams takes over in January from Bill de Blasio, who was term-limited after eight years in office.
November 5: Congress passes a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill after months of internal deliberations. On November 15, Biden signs the bill into law.
November 8: The United States reopens its borders to vaccinated international travelers, ending a 20-month travel ban. Fully vaccinated travelers from 33 countries -- including the United Kingdom and much of Europe -- can now enter without needing to quarantine, provided they have proof of vaccination and a negative viral test.
November 19: Kyle Rittenhouse, a young teenager who killed two people out of self-defense during unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is found not-guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and four other felony charges.
November 24: Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan Jr. are all found guilty of murder in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery.
December 1: The Omicron variant arrives in the United States' with the first confirmed case identified in California.
December 6: NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio implements wide-ranging pandemic restrictions, including private sector vaccine mandate. Starting December 27, all employees at private sector businesses must have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Also starting December 27, 2021, people 12 and older participating in public indoor activities in New York City will be required to show proof they have received two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine,1 or the one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
December 13: Elon Musk is named Time Magazine’s “Person Of The Year”
December 15: The United States surpasses 800,000 Covid-19 deaths.
December 27: President Biden, who ran a campaign solely focused on telling Americans that he will end the virus, acknowledged that states will need to take the lead in controlling the pandemic. Biden said, “There is no federal solution. This gets solved at a state level.”
2021 a year in REVIEW
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