Were you at Marshall University in the 2000's? Review some of the history
below and then share your history and any new information with your
classmates on your Class pages. Reunion information, photo Albums, class
notes and more can be shared.
Click on your class pages to the left to reconnect.
2000 - Concorde crash kills 113 near Paris (July 25).,U.S. sailors on Navy destroyer Cole die in Yemen terrorist explosion (Oct. 12).,Mad cow disease alarms Europe (Nov. 30
et seq.).
2001 - George W. Bush is sworn in as 43rd president (Jan. 20)., FBI agent Robert Hanssen is charged with spying for Russia for 15 years (Feb. 20)., Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh executed (June 11)., Terrorists attack United States.
Hijackers ram jetliners into twin towers of New York City's World Trade
Center and the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked plane crashes 80 mi outside
of Pittsburgh (Sept. 11). Toll of dead and injured in thousands. Within
days, Islamic militant Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda terrorist network are identified as the parties behind the attacks., Anthrax
scare rivets nation, as anthrax-laced letters are sent to various media
and government officials. Several postal workers die after handling the
letters (throughout October).
2002 - President Bush's
first State of the Union address vows to expand the fight on terrorism
and labels Iran, Iraq, and North Korea "an axis of evil" (Jan. 29), Kenneth L. Lay,
chairman of bankrupt energy trader Enron, resigns;, Pennsylvania miners rescued after spending 77 hours in a dark, flooded mine shaft (July 28)., Bush addresses United Nations, calling for a "regime change" in Iraq (Sept. 12). , Snipers
prey upon DC suburbs, killing ten and wounding others (Oct. 2–24).
Police arrest two sniper suspects, John Allen Muhammad and John Lee
Malvo (Oct. 24)., Bush signs legislation creating cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security (Nov. 25). ,.
2003 - Space shuttle
Columbia explodes, killing all 7 astronauts (Feb. 1)., Bush signs ten-year, $350-billion tax cut package, the third-largest tax cut in U.S. history (May 28), California governor Gray Davis ousted in recall vote; actor Arnold Schwarzenegger elected in his place (Oct. 7)., President
Bush signs $87.5 billion emergency package for post-war Iraq
reconstruction; this supplements $79 billion approved in April. (Nov.
5)., John A. Muhammad, convicted in the 2002 Washington, DC, area shootings, receives death sentence (Nov. 24)
2004 -Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc.
As of January 2012, Facebook has more than 800 million active users.
Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a
personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages,
including automatic notifications when they update their profile. Bush proposes ambitious space program that includes flights to the Moon, Mars, and beyond (Jan. 14).,Gay marriages begin in Massachusetts, the first state in the country to legalize such unions (May 17).,Florida hit by hurricanes Bonnie (Aug. 12) and Charley (Aug. 13).,U.S.’s final report on Iraq’s weapons finds no WMDs (Sept. 16).,Congress extends tax cuts due to expire at the end of 2005 (Sept. 23).,Hurricane Ivan ravages U.S. south (Sept. 15). Hurricane Jeanne hits Florida (Sept. 26). ,George W. Bush is reelected president, defeats John Kerry (Nov. 2).
2005 - George W. Bush is officially sworn in for his second term as president (Jan. 20). ,Hurricane
Katrina wreaks catastrophic damage on the Gulf coast; more than 1,000
die and millions are left homeless. Americans are shaken not simply by
the magnitude of the disaster but by how ill-prepared all levels of
government are in its aftermath. (Aug. 25-30)., Another major hurricane, Rita, ravages the Gulf coast (Sept. 23)., Number of deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq reaches 2,000 (Oct. 25)., The
Sept. 11 Public Discourse Project reports that the country is still
"alarmingly vulnerable to terrorist strikes." (Dec. 5).
2006 - President Bush signs a law renewing the Patriot Act, including a
signing statement stating that he does not consider himself bound by its
requirement to tell Congress how the law is being used (Mar. 9)., House releases a report on the response to Hurricane Katrina, assigning blame on all levels of government (Feb. 15)., President Bush uses his
veto power for the first time, striking down legislation that would have
expanded the number of stem cell lines available for embryonic research
using federal financing. (July 19).
2007 - On January 9, 2007 the first iPhone was released to the public. It was
available to the UK, France, Germany, and the United States. It can be
used as a video camera, camera, web browsing, music player, email, and
for many more things. President Bush announces that a surge of an
additional 20,000 troops will be deployed to Baghdad to try to stem the
sectarian fighting (Jan. 10)., The
minimum wage increases to $5.85, up from $5.15. It's the first increase
in 10 years. The wage will increase 70 cents each year through 2009,
when it will be $7.25 an hour (July 24)., President Bush
signs law that legalizes government eavesdropping of telephone
conversations and emails of American citizens and people overseas
without a warrant as long as there is a "reasonable belief" that one
party is not in the United States (Aug. 5)., President
Bush signs an energy bill that requires passenger vehicles sold in the
U.S. to have fuel economy standards of 35 mpg by 2020, a 40% increase
over the current standard. Measure also calls for an increase in the
production of ethanol and other bio fuels to 36 billion gallons a year by
2022, up from the current 5 billion (Dec. 19)
2008 -The government begins to intervene in the U.S. financial system to
avoid a crisis. The Federal Reserve outlines a $200 billion loan program
that lets the country's biggest banks borrow Treasury securities at
discounted rates and post mortgage-backed securities as collateral.
The Federal Reserve approves a $30 billion loan to JPMorgan Chase so it
can take over Bear Stearns, which is on the verge of collapse. Democratic senator Barack Obama wins the presidential election against Sen. John McCain,
taking 338 electoral votes to McCain's 161. Obama becomes the first
African American to be elected president of the United States.
2009 - After allegedly striking a flock of geese, US Airways Flight 1549, en
route from La Guardia Airport, New York City, to Charlotte, N.C., is
forced to land in the Hudson River. All 150 passengers and 5 crew
members survived. The pilot, Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, was hailed as the "Hero of the Hudson" for his quick thinking and deft landing of the plane. After confirming 20 cases of swine flu in the United States, including eight in New York City, the U.S. declares the outbreak a public health emergency. Michael Jackson died June 25, 2009 at home, found in Los Angeles.
Michael was one of the most well known artists through out the whole
entire world. Most people still call him the King of Pop. Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy, a fixture in the Senate for 46 years, dies of brain cancer at the age of 77. President Obama signs an executive order banning federal workers from texting while driving. Unemployment is at a 16-year high, 7.2%, according to the Labor
Department. 524,000 jobs were lost in December 2008, for a total of 2.6
million in 2008.
2010 - 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastates Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It is the region's worst earthquake
in 200 years. The quake levels many sections of the city, destroying
government buildings, foreign aid offices.
The death toll was 200,000 people.
An 8.8 magnitude earthquake rocks Chile. Fatalities are relatively low, with some 750 people killed in the devastation. An explosion on a BP oil drilling rig off the coast of Louisiana
kills 11 people and injures 17. Experts estimate that 13,000 gallons of
crude oil per hour are pouring into the Gulf of Mexico. Authorities estimate that the amount of oil spilling from leaks in the
oil rig is approximately 42,000 gallons of crude oil per hour.
Remote-controlled robots are being used to try and seal off the oil
well.
2011 -
One of the largest earthquakes ever recorded hit
Japan at 2:46 pm local time on March 11, triggering a massive 23-foot
tsunami. The 9.0 magnitude offshore quake, the largest in Japan's
history, was followed by hundreds of aftershocks. The National Policy
Agency lists 16,464 as missing, and the number of dead at 11,620. A “super tornado” outbreak in the southeastern United States caused a
series of powerful storms to rip through Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee
over the course of just several hours. The track spanned over 220 miles
of land, reached winds in excess of 200 mph, and claimed the lives of
350 people. In what was heralded as the wedding of the century, England’s Prince
William married his fiancé, Kate Middleton, in a lavish ceremony watched
by millions throughout the world. Osama bin Laden was killed by United States Navy SEALs at his compound
in Pakistan as part of Operation Neptune Spear. Afterwards, bin Laden’s
body was identified, then buried at sea less than 24 hours after his
death. The trial that captured the nation’s attention ended in an acquittal for
Casey Anthony, the woman who was accused of killing her 2-year-old
daughter Caylee Marie. The jury cited a lack of evidence to convict. After 30 years of forging the path to space exploration, the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shut down its shuttle
program. The retirement of the program, which made its final launch with
shuttle Atlantis on July 8. Hurricane Irene, a Category 3 storm cell that lived for nine days, made
landfall on the U.S. mainland. The exceptionally large storm cell
ripped its way up the East Coast, causing extensive damage from Florida
and South Carolina, on up to parts of Canada.Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Computers, died at the age of 56 after a
long battle with pancreatic cancer. Jobs’ innovations gave millions of
people around the world iPhones, iPads and iPods.