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 (Maryland) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) Senate Majority Leader: Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) Congress: 109th
State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events
January
January 2 The annual Rose Parade in California is drenched in heavy rain for the first time in 51 years. 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. January 3 – Twelve dead coal miners and one survivor are discovered in the Sago Mine disaster near Buckhannon, West Virginia. January 4 – The Texas Longhorns led by Vince Young defeat the USC Trojans in the 2006 Rose Bowl 41–38, regarded as one of the greatest college football games ever played. 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. 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. 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. NYSE says that it has picked Bear Wagner as the firm that will handle trading of its shares when it goes public. January 7 – Embroiled in multiple scandals, former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay announces he will not seek to reassume his former post. January 8 – World Wrestling Entertainment holds its New Year's Revolution pay-per-view event from the Pepsi Arena in Albany, New York. January 9 Vice President Dick Cheney complains of shortness of breath and is treated at the hospital. 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. 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. 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. Rick Wagoner, CEO of the loss-making General Motors says that results will improve in 2006 and 2007. January 15 – NASA's Stardust mission successfully ends, the first to return dust from a comet. January 17 – California executes Clarence Ray Allen (death by lethal injection), who was sentenced to death in 1982 for arranging the murders of three people. January 18 – American International Group (AIG), 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". 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. 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. January 26 – General Motors reports an $8.6 billion loss for 2006, its biggest loss since 1992. January 27 – An inhaled form of insulin wins federal approval offering an alternative to injections for millions of people with diabetes. January 29 – World Wrestling Entertainment holds its Royal Rumble pay-per-view event from the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. 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. Jennifer San Marco kills seven 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 State of the Union Address. Samuel Alito is sworn in as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 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.
February
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. February 3 – Suspicious fires destroy three small churches and damage two others in Bibb County, Alabama. February 5 – Super Bowl XL: The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 21–10 at Ford Field in Detroit. It is a homecoming for Detroit native Jerome Bettis, who was playing the final game of his 12-year career. February 9 – AIG apologizes for deceptive business practices and reaches a $1.64 billion settlement with federal and state securities and insurance regulators. February 10–26 – The United States competes at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy and wins 9 gold, 9 silver and 7 bronze medals. February 11 – Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shoots and wounds a lawyer while quail hunting in southern Texas. 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 to spend more time managing Berkshire Hathaway. February 15 – A group of institutional investors already involved in a lawsuit with the company sue Tyco International to stop its proposed breakup plan. February 16 The state of Minnesota sues AIG for underreporting premiums to reduce its tax bill refusing a settlement of $1.2 million. 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. The Department of Commerce reports that housing starts jumped 14.5% to a 33-year high in January. February 19 – World Wrestling Entertainment holds its No Way Out pay-per-view event from the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.
March
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. March 5 – The 78th Academy Awards, hosted by Jon Stewart, are held at Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, with Paul Haggis' Crash controversially winning Best Picture. The film is part of a four-way tie in winning the most awards, with it, Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, Peter Jackson's King Kong and Rob Marshall's Memoirs of a Geisha all winning three. Brokeback Mountain leads with eight nominations, with Lee also winning Best Director. The telecast garners nearly 39 million viewers. March 6–20 – The first World Baseball Classic is held in San Diego, California. 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. March 10 – NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter enters Mars orbit. March 14 – Crystal Mangum makes false rape accusations against three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team, an event which marked the beginning of the Duke lacrosse case. March 16 – The Blu-ray disc format is released in the United States. March 17 – The United States strikes its 2 remaining s 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 2 – World Wrestling Entertainment holds WrestleMania 22 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. April 4 – First material action in the 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. April 30 – World Wrestling Entertainment holds its Backlash pay-per-view event from the Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.
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. May 21 – World Wrestling Entertainment holds its Judgment Day pay-per-view event from the US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
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 Baquba, Iraq. June 9 – Pixar Animation Studios' seventh feature film, Cars, is released in theaters. June 11 – World Wrestling Entertainment holds its ECW One Night Stand pay-per-view event from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York. June 12 – Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger crashes his motorcycle near Pittsburgh's 10th Street bridge. He is rushed to Mercy Hospital for emergency surgery. June 19 – The Carolina Hurricanes defeat the Edmonton Oilers 3–1 in game 7 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals to give the Hurricanes their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. It is also the first Stanley Cup Finals since the 2004–05 lockout that cancelled all games that year. June 20 – The Miami Heat defeat the Dallas Mavericks in the 2006 NBA Finals in six games, winning their first NBA championship in franchise history. June 23 – In Miami, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrests seven 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. World Wrestling Entertainment holds its Vengeance pay-per-view event from the Charlotte Bobcats Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina. June 26 – Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaii is established as the largest protected area in the world.
July July 4 – STS–121: Space Shuttle Discovery is launched to the International Space Station. It returns safely on July 17. It is the second "return to flight" mission after the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. 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. July 7 – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is released in theaters as the second film in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, marking the debut of the CGI Walt Disney Pictures logo arranged by Mark Mancina. July 10 – Henry Paulson is sworn in as the new Secretary of Treasury, succeeding John W. Snow. July 22 – Needles, California experiences a record high low temperature of 100 °F (38 °C) at 6:00 am with a high temperature exceeding 120 °F (49 °C), making it one of the few locations on Earth that have recorded a triple-digit overnight low temperature. July 23 – World Wrestling Entertainment holds its The Great American Bash pay-per-view event from the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
August