Page 14 - Leisure Living Spring 2016

AP’s Biggest Stories Of 2015
Continued from page 13
Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in Brook- lyn. Those deaths, and others, led to protests and destructive riots in several cities that continued into this year and gave rise to the Black Lives Mat- ter movement.
Story number seven on the AP list was the Unit- ed States election campaign for president. Most of the drama is on the Republican side, where more than a dozen presidential hopefuls threw their
hats into the ring that has so far been dominated by Donald Trump.
Story number eight also made an appearance on the list in 2007, but back then it was called “global warming.” Now, it’s on the list as “climate change.” The AP focused on the conference where 200 na- tions gathered in Paris to hammer out an agree- ment to reduce carbon emissions in the coming years. But the conference occurred shortly after the Paris terrorist attacks, and was largely over- shadowed by them.
Clearly the list for 2015’s stop stories was domi- nated by terrorism and mass shootings. Both types of stories have appeared on the list far too often.
Looking back over the years, the lists almost al- ways contain items that make about half the peo- ple happy and the other half – not so much. Of- ten, those stories involve election results. Case in point: In 2008, the top story was the election of Barack Obama as president. Two years later, the number three story was the mid-term success of the Republicans in taking control of the United States House of Representatives.
But every once in a while, the list has an item tucked away that makes everybody feel good, no matter their political bent. One of those items was the number ten story in 2009.
Shortly after takeoff on January 15th, both en- gines on a US Airways passenger jet were disabled by multiple bird strikes. But the pilot – Chesley Sullenberger – managed to ditch the plane safely in the Hudson River. The photograph of people standing on the plane’s wings waiting to be res- cued provided the iconic image for “The Miracle on the Hudson.” All 155 passengers and crew sur- vived, and Captain Sullenberger was hailed as a hero for turning what could have been a disaster into the feel-good story of 2009.
Another feel-good story appeared in the sev- enth spot the following year – the rescue of the Chilean miners. Unlike the Hudson River story, this one unfolded over several weeks when 33 miners were trapped a half-mile underground for 69 days. At the beginning, it seemed that this sto- ry could only end badly. But a daring, ingenious rescue plan turned tragedy into triumph, and a worldwide television audience breathed a sigh of relief as each miner – one-by-one – stepped safely into the daylight.
Here’s hoping that next year’s list is dominated by those kinds of stories.
Happy 2016 everyone.
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