2011 in the United States

Events in the year 2011 in the United States.

Incumbents Federal government President: Barack Obama (D-Illinois) Vice President: Joe Biden (D-Delaware) Chief Justice of the Supreme Court: John Roberts (Maryland) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Nancy Pelosi (D-California) (until January 3) John Boehner (R-Ohio) (since January 5) Senate Majority Leader: Harry Reid (D-Nevada) Congress: 111th (until January 3), 112th (starting January 3)

State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors

Lieutenant governors

Events

January

January 3 According to Dr. Daniel Haber, chief of Massachusetts General Hospital's cancer center, virtually unlimited metastatic cancer detection becomes possible using a screening method that can find cancer in the periphery. Further, the method appears to be a sound process for monitoring the progress of intervention and thereby modifying the treatment protocol. Lawmakers in 14 states (Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Utah) announce plans to curtail application of parts of the 14th Amendment in their respective states. Wisconsin becomes the 22nd state to sue the federal government over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. January 6 – The US Constitution is read aloud on the floor of the US House of Representatives for the first time in history. January 7 – Oklahoma and Wyoming join the other 22 states suing the federal government over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. January 8 – 2011 Tucson shooting: In Tucson, Arizona, a gunman opens fire at a constituent meeting led by U.S. representative Gabby Giffords, injuring 14, including Giffords, and killing six, including U.S. Federal Judge John Roll. The primary suspect, Jared Lee Loughner, is taken into custody. January 10 Former Republican United States House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay is sentenced to three years in prison for money laundering. In college football, the #1 Auburn Tigers defeat the #2 Oregon Ducks to win the 2011 BCS National Championship Game by a score of 22–19. January 11 – Ohio becomes the 25th state to sue the federal government over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. January 12 – Kansas and Maine join the other 25 states suing the federal government over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. January 18 – U.S. president Barack Obama begins a four-day meeting with Chinese president Hu Jintao. January 19 Kermit Gosnell, his wife and eight staff members at his Philadelphia abortion clinic are arrested in connection with murders of babies, manslaughter of a patient and prescription drug charges. Prosecutors alleged that Gosnell and others killed babies at the clinic by severing their spinal cords with scissors. The US House votes to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with a vote of 245–189. January 20 – In a landmark study, a new technique renders T-Cells resistant to HIV. January 25 – U.S. president Barack Obama delivers his 2011 State of the Union Address.CNN. CNN. Retrieved on 2011-10-10. January 31 – Florida federal judge Roger Vinson rules that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional because of the individual mandate it contains. January 31–February 2 – A blizzard dumps as much as of snow across the Midwestern United States, causing at least 24 storm-related deaths.Woman killed in Oklahoma City sledding accident, NewsOK.com, February 1, 2011., Fox23.com, February 3, 2011.Stegall, Amber. (2011-02-03) Ohio State Trooper & wife found dead; carbon monoxide poisoning – FOX19 News and Weather – Greater Cincinnati Area . Fox19.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-10.

February

February 2 – The US Senate blocks a repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with a vote of 51–47. February 6 NASA's STEREO satellites obtain the first simultaneous images of the entire surface of the Sun. Super Bowl XLV between the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas becomes the most watched television program in US history at 111 million viewers. The Packers defeat the Steelers 31–25.USA Today. Content.usatoday.com (2011-02-06). Retrieved on 2011-10-10.Fox Sports. Msn.foxsports.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-10. February 7 – AOL purchases online publisher The Huffington Post in a $315 million deal. February 14 President Obama proposes a federal budget for fiscal year 2012. Overall the proposal reduces expenses but also increases funding for some programs and still results in an annual deficit of more than $1 trillion. The House approves the extension of some parts of the controversial Patriot Act until December.Fox News. Fox News (2010-04-07). Retrieved on 2011-10-10. Disney Channel's daily morning program block for preschoolers, Playhouse Disney, rebrands as Disney Junior, part of the network's plan to establish Disney Junior as a stand-alone network in 2012 (replacing SOAPNet).Disney Junior to Debut In February 2011 on Disney Channel, TV By the Numbers, November 5, 2010 February 14–16 – The quiz show Jeopardy! airs the victory of IBM's artificial intelligence program Watson over two of the show's most successful contestants. February 15 – The Senate approves the same extension of some parts of the controversial Patriot Act until December.Senate Approves Short-Term Extension of the Patriot Act . Foxbusiness.com (2010-04-07). Retrieved on 2011-10-10. February 17 – Amidst large demonstrations in Wisconsin over a controversial bill (the bill intends to reduce spending on most government employees and remove their collective bargaining rights apart from restricted wage negotiation), 14 Wisconsin Democratic senators flee the state to delay the vote on the bill by preventing a quorum in the senate. February 18 – Word Worm word game is released. February 20 – 2011 Daytona 500 is won by the Wood Brothers Racing team entrant Trevor Bayne, who became the youngest winner of the race. Carl Edwards was second ahead of David Gilliland. February 22 – Chicago mayoral election, 2011: Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel wins the race for mayor with more than 55% of the vote. He will succeed Mayor Richard M. Daley in May. February 24 – STS-133: Space Shuttle Discovery launches from Kennedy Space Center for the final time, carrying the Permanent Multipurpose Module to the International Space Station.AP via Fox News. Foxnews.com (2010-04-07). Retrieved on 2011-10-10. February 27 The 83rd Academy Awards, hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway, are held at Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Tom Hooper's The King's Speech wins four awards out of 12 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Christopher Nolan's Inception also wins four awards. The telecast garners 37.9 million viewers.AP via Fox News. Oscar.go.com. Retrieved on 2011-10-10.Indy Posted . Indy Posted (2011-02-27). Retrieved on 2011-10-10.ABC News America . Abclocal.go.com (2011-02-28). Retrieved on 2011-10-10. Frank Buckles, America's last surviving World War I veteran and one of only three verified surviving veterans of the war worldwide, dies aged 110. Buckles, who lived in West Virginia, served in Europe as an ambulance driver for 11 months until the war's end in November 1918.

March

March 1 – The U.S. House of Representatives passes a small spending bill that funds the federal government until March 18 and cuts $4 billion in spending, averting a potential government shutdown. March 3 Serena Williams' spokeswoman confirmed that Williams had suffered from a life-threatening pulmonary embolism. The U.S. Supreme Court makes a controversial 8–1 decision that the controversial protests of the Westboro Baptist Church at fallen US military members' funerals are a form of protected speech under the First Amendment. The U.S. Senate passes the same small spending bill that funds the federal government through March 18 and cuts $4 billion in spending. March 9 Space Shuttle Discovery lands at the Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida on its final mission, STS-133. The vehicle clocked 365 days in orbit during its 27-year career, beginning with STS-41-D in fall 1984. Governor of Illinois Pat Quinn signs legislation abolishing the state's death penalty and commutes the death sentences of the fifteen inmates on Illinois' death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The Wisconsin Senate approves a bill that ends most collective bargaining rights for nearly all unions; it was able to pass the legislation without a quorum by removing the budget oriented parts of it (a quorum would have necessitated the presence of at least one of the absent Democratic members). The world's largest bond fund, Pimco, announces it is dumping all of its U.S. government-related securities, including U.S. Treasurys and agency debt.. Cnbc.com (2011-03-09). Retrieved on 2011-10-10. March 10 – The Wisconsin State Assembly passes the law that restricts bargaining rights for unions in a 53–42 vote. March 11 – Following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issues a tsunami warning to parts of the U.S. West Coast along the affected coastal areas in Alaska, Hawaii and the U.S. Territories in the Pacific Ocean. March 15 – The U.S. House of Representatives passes another small spending bill, avoiding the U.S. government shutdown until April 8. March 16 – Wholesale food prices rose by the largest monthly increase in February since November 1974, with an increase of 3.9%. Some economists claim that it will only get worse.Higher prices for food are about to get worse – Yahoo! Finance . Finance.yahoo.com (2011-03-17). Retrieved on 2011-10-10. March 17 The House cuts all federal funding for NPR. The US Senate passes a small spending bill, avoiding a government shutdown until April 8. March 18 – NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft becomes the first man-made technology to establish an orbit around Mercury. March 19 – In light of the continuing attacks on Libyan rebels by Gaddafi forces, military intervention authorized under UNSCR 1973 began as French fighter jets flew reconnaissance flights over Libya. United States Navy ships were said to be preparing for bombardment of Libyan air defenses. March 20 AT&T announces plans to buy T-Mobile for $39 billion. If allowed by the Federal Communications Commission, AT&T would become the largest US phone carrier, surpassing Verizon Wireless. If allowed, the number of major US phone carriers would decrease from 4 to 3, leaving AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.News Headlines. Cnbc.com (2011-03-22). Retrieved on 2011-10-10. March 24 – According to a landmark study in The New England Journal of Medicine, an orally administered Takeda Pharmaceutical called pioglitazone, marketed as Actos, shows 72 percent effectiveness at the prevention of the development of type 2 diabetes in pre-diabetic subject participants. Ralph DeFronzo, M.D., study leader and professor in the School of Medicine and chief of the diabetes division at The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, stated that "It's a blockbuster study. The 72 reduction is the largest decrease in the conversion rate of pre-diabetes to diabetes that has ever been demonstrated by any intervention, be it diet, exercise or medication. March 25 – Archaeologists report that they have found new artifacts in an archaeological site in Texas which indicates of human existence in America 15,500 years ago – around 2,000 years earlier than the alleged Clovis culture took place, which until recently was considered the first human culture in North America.Texas Site Confirms Pre-Clovis Settlement of the Americas. Sciencemag.org (2011-03-25). Retrieved on 2011-10-10.