2006 in the United States

2006 in the United States
Years:	2003 2004 2005 – 2006 – 2007 2008 2009
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Events from the year 2006 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal Government

President: George W. Bush (R-Texas)
Vice President: Dick Cheney (R-Wyoming)
Chief Justice: John Roberts (New York) ^[1]
Speaker of the House of Representatives: Dennis Hastert (R–Illinois)
Senate Majority Leader: Bill Frist (R–Tennessee)
Congress: 109th

Governors and Lieutenant Governors
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Events

January

January 19: New Horizons probe launched from Cape Canaveral.

January 30: Ben Bernanke 14th Chairman of the Federal Reserve

January 2
- The annual Rose Parade in California is drenched in heavy rain for the first time in 51 years.^[2]
- Pepsico announces its purchase of Star Foods for an undisclosed price saying that the purchase would strengthen its place as Poland's number one seller of potato chips.^[3]
January 3 – Twelve dead coal miners and one survivor are discovered in the Sago Mine Disaster near Buckhannon, West Virginia.
January 5
- The Bush administration proposes spending $114 million on educational programs to expand the teaching of Arabic, Chinese, Persian and other languages typically not taught in public schools.^[4]
- IBM says that it would freeze pension benefits for its American employees starting in 2008 and offer them only a 401k retirement plan in future.^[5]
January 6
- AOL agrees to pay customers as much as $25 million to settle claims that it wrongly billed them for some online services and products.^[6]
- NYSE says that it has picked Bear Wagner as the firm that will handle trading of its shares when it goes public.^[7]
January 7 – Embroiled in multiple scandals, former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay announces he will not seek to reassume his former post.^[8]^[9]
January 9
- Vice President Dick Cheney complains of shortness of breath and visits a hospital for the same. The White House says the trip was necessary because of fluid retention as a side effect of a drug Mr. Cheney had taken to treat chronic foot ailments.^[10]
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 11,000 (11,011.90) for the first time since June 7, 2001.
January 10 – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes a $125.6 billion budget increasing spending without raising taxes.^[11]
January 11 – The Augustine Volcano in Alaska erupts twice, marking its first major eruption since 1986.
January 13
- The US Government reports that wholesale inflation in 2005 increased by highest amount since 1990.^[12]
- Rick Wagoner, CEO of the loss-making General Motors says that results will improve in 2006 and 2007.^[13]
January 15 – NASA's Stardust mission successfully ends, the first to return dust from a comet.^[14]
January 17 – California executes Clarence Ray Allen (death by lethal injection) sentenced to death in 1982 for arranging the murders of three people.^[15]
January 18 – American International Group, the world's largest insurer, says that its chief operating officer Donald P. Kanak has resigned and stepped down from the board "for personal reasons".^[16]
January 19 – NASA launches the New Horizons spacecraft in a 9-year, 3 billion mile space mission, to flyby and observe the dwarf planetary system of Pluto/Charon and possibly other Kuiper belt objects.^[17]
January 20 – A Maryland judge strikes down a state law banning same-sex marriage saying the measure violated a state constitutional amendment prohibiting sex discrimination.^[18]
January 26 – General Motors reports an $8.6 billion loss for 2005, its biggest loss since 1992.^[19]
January 27 – An inhaled form of insulin wins federal approval offering an alternative to injections for millions of people with diabetes.^[20]
January 30
- The White House announces that President Bush has chosen Professor Edward Lazear, a Stanford University business professor to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of his Council of Economic Advisors who will succeed Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.^[21]
- Jennifer San Marco kills 8 people before committing suicide at a postal facility in Goleta, California. San Marco had worked at the facility previously, but had been let go due to her erratic behavior.
January 31
- Samuel Alito is sworn in as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.^[22]
- Two federal appeals courts uphold rulings that the Partial Birth Abortion Act passed by the United States Congress in 2003 is unconstitutional because it does not include an exception when the health of a pregnant woman is at risk.^[23]

February

February 2: Euphronios krater.

File:ApoloOhno.jpg

February 10 – February 26: Gold medalist Apolo Ohno at the Men's 500 meters medal ceremony.

February 1 – UAL Corporation, United Airlines' parent company, emerges from bankruptcy after being in that position since December 9, 2002, the longest such filing in history.
February 2 – After over 30 years, the Metropolitan Museum of Art says it would relinquish ownership of a 2,500-year-old Greek vase, the Euphronios krater, to Italy.^[24]
February 3 – "Suspicious" fires destroy three small churches and damage two others in Bibb County, Alabama .^[25]
February 5 – Super Bowl XL: The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 21 – 10.
February 9 – AIG apologizes for deceptive business practices and reaches a $1.64 billion settlement with federal and state securities and insurance regulators.^[26]
February 10 – February 26 – The United States compete at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy and win 9 gold, 9 silver, and 7 bronze medals.^{[citation needed]}
February 11 – Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots and wounds a lawyer while quail hunting in southern Texas.^[27]
February 14 – The Coca Cola Company says that Warren Buffett, the soft drink maker's largest shareholder would leave the board in April after 19 years in order to spend more time managing Berkshire Hathaway.^[28]
February 15 – A group of institutional investors already involved in a lawsuit with the company sue Tyco International to stop its proposed breakup plan.^[29]
February 16
- The state of Minnesota sues AIG for underreporting premiums to reduce its tax bill refusing a settlement of $1.2 million.^[30]
- The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke testifies to the US Senate that Chinese ownership of US assets is not large enough to put the country at risk economically.^[31]
- The Department of Commerce reports that housing starts jumped 14.5% to a 33–year high in January.^[32]

March

March 17: Iowa-class battleship

March 2 – The colorized $10 bill is released, with the same color-shifting ink and security features of the $20 and $50 bills that preceded it.
March 4 – The final contact attempt with Pioneer 10 receives no response.^[33]
March 6 – March 20 – The first World Baseball Classic is held in San Diego, California, U.S.A..
March 9 – NASA's Cassini-Huygens spacecraft discovers geysers of a liquid substance shooting from Saturn's moon Enceladus, signaling a possible presence of water.^[34]
March 10 – NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enters Mars orbit.^[35]^[36]
March 16 – The Blu-ray Disc format is released in the United States.
March 17 – The United States strikes its 2 remaining Iowa-class battleships from the Naval Vessel Register, ending the age of the battleship.
March 22 – The Federal Reserve stops the publishing of M3 money supply data.
March 25 – Seven die in the Capitol Hill Massacre in Seattle, Washington. Perpetrator Kyle Huff's rampage is fueled by his hatred of "rave scene" gatherings.

April

April 4 – first material action in Minor League Baseball umpire strike
April 29 – Massive anti-war demonstrations and a march down Broadway in New York City mark the third year of war in Iraq.^{[citation needed]}

May

May 1 – The Great American Boycott takes place across the United States as marchers protest for immigration rights.
May 5 – Fiat chairman Sergio Marchionne announces that the Alfa Romeo automobile brand will return to the United States in 2008, after a 13–year hiatus.^[37]

June

June 7 – Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and seven of his aides are killed in a U.S. air raid just north of the town of Baqouba, Iraq.^[38]^[39]^[40]
June 23 – In Miami, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrests 7 men, accusing them of planning to bomb the Sears Tower and other attacks in Miami.
June 25 – Warren Buffett donates over $30 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

July

July 4 – STS–121: Space Shuttle Discovery is launched to the International Space Station.^[41] It returns safely on July 17. It is the second "return to flight" mission after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.^[42]
July 5 – North Korea test fires missiles, timed with the liftoff of Space Shuttle Discovery, preceding the fireworks celebrations that night in America. The long range Taepodong–2 reportedly fails shortly after takeoff.^[43]
July 10 – Henry Paulson is sworn in as the new Secretary of Treasury, succeeding John W. Snow.^{[citation needed]}

August

August 10: A United States TSA agent inspects a service monkey before a flight.

August 10 – London Metropolitan Police make 21 arrests in connection to an apparent terrorist plot that involved aircraft traveling from the United Kingdom to the United States. Liquids and gels are banned from checked and carry-on baggage.^[44]^[45] As of September 26, the Transportation Security Administration adjusts its ban on liquids, aerosols and gels. Travellers are permitted to carry liquids through security checkpoints in containers of 3.4 ounces (100 mL) or less that fit comfortably in one quart-size clear plastic zip-top bag. This procedure came to be known as "3-1-1 for carry-ons" (3.4 ounce containers in a 1 quart bag, 1 bag per passenger). Items purchased in the airside zone after clearing security could be brought on board without restriction. Other exemptions to this restriction include medications and breast milk.^[46]
August 27 – Comair Flight 5191, carrying 50 people, crashes shortly after take off from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky.^[47]
August 28 – A Greyhound Lines bus from New York City to Montreal, carrying 52 people, crashes at mile 115 on I–87 near Elizabethtown, killing 5 people (including the driver) and seriously injuring others.

September

September 8 – The world's tallest living tree, a 115.61 metres (379.3 ft) tall coast redwood (sequoia) now named "Hyperion", is discovered in Redwood National Park.
September 15 – Spinach contaminated with E. coli kills 2 and poisons over 100 others in 20 states of the United States.

October

October – The Unemployment Rate drops to 4.4%, the lowest since May 2001.
October 2 – Charles Carl Roberts IV, a 32-yr-old milk-truck driver, kills 5 girls at an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania before shooting himself.
October 3 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 56.99 points, or 0.49 percent, with a close of 11,727.34, its first all-time high in more than 6 years after it last hit in a record high of 11,722.98 on January 14, 2000.
October 6 – A hazardous waste plant near Apex, North Carolina explodes, releasing chlorine gas, and resulting in the evacuation of thousands and the hospitalization of over 200 residents.
October 10 – Google buys YouTube for $1.65 billion.
October 11 – A plane crashes into a highrise building New York City, killing 2.
October 12 – Lake Storm "Aphid": A freak snowstorm blows into Buffalo, New York leaving over 400,000 without power and killing 13.^[48]
October 16 – The last American MASH is decommissioned.^[49]
October 19 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes 12,000 for the first time, 12,011.73.
October 24 – NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft makes its first flyby of Venus (it will be captured into Mercury's orbit on March 18, 2011).^[50]
October 27 – The St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Detroit Tigers to win their 10th world series.

November

November 6 – Mid-term elections result in the Democrats gaining control of both houses of Congress.
November 19N-intendo's Wii released in America

December

December 7 – Smoking is banned in all Ohio bars, restaurants, workplaces, and other public places.^[51]
December 10 – Space Shuttle Mission STS–116: Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center on the first night launch since the 2003 loss of Columbia.
December 13 – U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D–South Dakota) suffers a brain hemorrhage during a conference call with reporters.^[52]
December 14 – The U.S. spy satellite USA–193, also known as NRO Launch 21 (NROL–21 or simply L–21), is launched but malfunctions.^[53]
December 15 – Lockheed Martin's F–35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter successfully flies for the first time.^[54]
December 18 – Robert Gates is sworn in as the new Secretary of Defense, succeeding Donald Rumsfeld.^[55]
December 22 – The Space Shuttle Discovery lands at the Kennedy Space Center, concluding a 2–week mission to the International Space Station.^[56]

Undated

United States housing bubble: A total of 1,259,118 foreclosures are filed during 2006, up 42 percent from 2005.^[57]
Subprime mortgage crisis: The housing bubble burst in the summer of 2006, starting a chain of events that would eventually develop into a full-blown market meltdown.

Ongoing

War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
Iraq War (2003–2011)

Births

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April 18 – Suri Cruise, daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
May 6 – Sadie Sandler, actress and daughter of Adam Sandler
September 7 – Dannielynn Marshall Birkhead, notable paternity case subject and daughter of Anna Nicole Smith

Full date unknown

Moses Bruce Anthony Martin, son of Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow