California Wildfires
In January, many fires quickly spread across Los Angeles County, with over 200 different fires being detected in the LA County area between Jan. 4 and Jan. 22. Some of the largest and most devastating fires that occurred in the LA County area were the Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire, burning over 50,000 acres of land and destroying 16,000 homes and businesses before they could be contained.
TikTok Ban
TikTok’s servers went dark in the U.S. for several hours on Jan. 18 but were quickly brought back online the next day after President Trump promised to sign an executive order that would keep the ban away for 75 days. He signed that order on his first day in office.
The Death of Pope Francis
The first Latin American Pope, Pope Francis, died on April 21, which also landed on the same day as the Christian Holiday of Easter, at his residence in the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta. According to the Vatican, his cause of death was a stroke, which was followed by a coma and heart failure. Before this, he also suffered from pneumonia, bronchitis and other health problems.
Pope Leo XIV Becomes the First American Pope
Robert Francis Prevost, born in Chicago, Illinois, who then moved to live in Peru for two decades, was elected as the 267th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He took the name of Pope Leo XIV and became the first pope from the United States.
Government Shutdown things
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history to date began Oct. 1 and lasted for 42 days. Due to the shutdown, over 1.4 million federal employees were forced to go without pay for weeks, and food to low-income Americans through SNAP benefits, as well as other federal programming, were put on hold, with thousands of flights also being cancelled or delayed. After 43 days the house approved an new funding bill with a vote 222 to 209.
Epstein Files
After resisting the release of the infamous “Epstein Files,” President Donald Trump went back on his original decision to release the files and urged Republicans to vote for the release. The vote was forced on the House of Representatives by a discharge petition, getting its critical 218th signature. Later, the vote to release the files took place on Nov. 18 and was passed by a staggering 427 to 1 vote in the House. The deadline for the release is supposed to be Dec. 19.