News stories that captivated the nation in 2023

There were loads of contenders for stories that gripped the nation in 2023, many of them still unfolding.

From ever-present gun violence to the devastating Maui wildfires to the Hamas attack on Israel, these stories brought out both the best and worst of humanity, and shaped our tumultuous times.

GOP political drama

The GOP kicked off the year with a hefty dose of drama as the House of Representatives’ majority party flailed around trying to elect a speaker so the government could conduct its business. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., finally snagged his dream role after 15 votes were conducted. But no sooner had he taken office than Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., began leading a move to oust him, which he succeeded in doing by October.

Election denier Mike Johnson, R-La., then became the new speaker, with McCarthy eventually announcing he would leave Congress at the end of the year — joining the list of 37 House members and seven senators who have either resigned or said they will not seek reelection, according to Vox.

Meanwhile Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., was expelled from Congress after being unmasked as an inveterate liar.

In the hallowed halls of justice, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas came under fire for accepting travel, gifts and loan forgiveness from billionaire friends, as well as refusing to recuse himself from cases involving former President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. (Thomas’s wife, Ginni Thomas, was deeply involved in the scheme.) In response, SCOTUS issued a new code of ethics designed to keep the justices in line, though critics said it had no teeth.

Trump indictments

Donald Trump racked up multiple criminal indictments and lost a civil suit brought against him by E. Jean Carroll when a jury found he had sexually abused her in the 1990s. They awarded the writer $5 million.

On Dec. 20 the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that he was not eligible to run for president, barring him from the state’s primary ballot.

Damar Hamlin’s mid-game collapse

Sports fans and beyond were riveted in horror, and then hope, as Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field in January. The sight of his teammates resuscitating their fellow player, and the harrowing details of his condition, had viewers on tenterhooks.

When Hamlin returned to play months later, having made a full recovery, the nation breathed a sigh of relief and hailed a miracle.

Virginia first-grader shoots his teacher

The semester had barely started when, on Jan. 6, a 6-year-old student shot his teacher, 25-year-old Abby Zwerner, mid-lesson. The boy had by all accounts been troubled, and his mother would be sentenced to prison later in the year for not securing the gun properly.

Teachers had raised the alarm about the child and been ignored. Zwerner resigned and is suing the Virginia school district for $40 million.

Norfolk Southern train derailment

In early February, 38 cars on a freight train full of hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania border, sending noxious fumes into the air as the cargo burned. Several lawsuits against freight operator Norfolk Southern stemmed from the incident, which the National Transportation Safety Board deemed “100% preventable.”

Chinese spy balloon

All eyes were on the sky as a suspected Chinese spy balloon was shot down by Air Force planes on Feb. 4. The balloon had been spotted days earlier over Montana but had most likely entered North American airspace over Alaska. The Chinese insisted it was a civilian meteorological balloon that had been blown off course.

Alex Murdaugh double-murder trial

In March, disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh was found guilty in the murders of his wife and son and sentenced to life in prison. The scion of an affluent family that once dominated the legal system in the Lowcountry, Murdaugh was sentenced to 27 years in prison in November for money laundering and fraud after pleading guilty to 22 counts of stealing millions from business associates.

The saga promises to carry over into 2024, as sentences for more than two dozen federal fraud charges are still pending, and he has won the right to request a new murder trial.

Titan submersible implosion

In June, a desperate search ensued after the submersible Titan lost contact with the ocean surface on its way to view wreckage of the Titanic. When the sub’s remnants were finally located, it was obvious the craft had imploded, having become the victim — along with five passengers (including its builder) — of a faulty design.

Maui wildfires

In early August, the deadliest fire in nearly a century ravaged hundreds of acres on Maui, Hawaii, killing about 100 people and destroying the historic town of Lahaina. Drought, a faulty warning system and electrical infrastructure that was badly in need of updating were blamed as major factors in the blaze, which was fueled by winds from an offshore hurricane.

Hamas attack on Israel

On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists flooded into Israel from the Gaza Strip, massacring about 1,200 people and taking another 240 hostage in Jews’ deadliest day since the Holocaust. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war and proceeded to bomb Gaza in a counterattack. A seven-day ceasefire secured the release of about 110 hostages in return for 240 Palestinians imprisoned or detained by Israel, but then fighting resumed.

The carnage continues, with an estimated 129 hostages still held in Gaza, some of whom have died, and at least 20,000 Palestinians killed in Israel’s siege on the Strip. The crisis has reverberated, with emotions running high around the world.

Mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine

On Oct. 25, Robert Card mowed down 16 people in a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine, wounding more than 50 others and shattering a community. The tragedy sparked a days-long manhunt that ended only when Card was found dead of his own gunshot wound.

Iceland volcano eruption

Iceland sent 2023 out with a bang and whoosh in mid-December as a volcano on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula dramatically erupted, spewing lava into the sky and sending it flowing out of a fissure toward a town that had been evacuated weeks earlier over fears as it rumbled.

With News Wire Services