July 1990: A woman known only as "The Central Park Jogger" was put on the witness stand in New York to describe the vicious rape attack she suffered, and miraculously survived, in New York's Central Park while jogging the previous year. Three suspects, each 16 years old, were charged with attempted murder, rape, sexual abuse, assault, robbery, and riot in the attack on the woman and two other male joggers. The victim, who had a deep scar running from above her eyebrow and down across her cheek, was in a coma for a month, and had lost her balance, coordination, vision acuity, and the sense of smell from the attack. While giving her testimony, the suspects avoided eye contact with her.

March 1992: It was announced that a U.S. attorney was investigating the check-cashing practices of the U.S. House of Representatives. When revealed months earlier that the House bank had a practice of regularly covering overdrafts with no charge, and that many House members wrote bad checks to get interest-free loans for investment purposes, a national scandal broke out. An investigation determined that nearly 200 members wrote at least one bounced check per month valued at more than their next month's salary. One member wrote more than 850 bad checks totaling more than $150,000, and another member wrote 400 bad checks exceeding $180,000. The scandal hit at a time when the U.S. was experiencing huge unemployment numbers and major companies were either downsizing or filing for bankruptcy during a recession.

April 1995: A terrorist bomb exploded in and tore apart the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Office workers and toddlers playing in the ground floor day-care center were killed; 167 people total perished. Of the many victims, 1-year-old Baylee Almon became famous worldwide due to a haunting photo taken of her tiny burned, limp body held in the arms of firefighter Chris Fields. The image, photographed by Charles Porter who worked at a nearby bank, came to symbolize the tragedy. Baby Baylee died a short time later, and 14 other young children were killed. The FBI soon arrested and convicted Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh. It was the worst bombing in American history.

November 1996: In Hobart, Australia, a judge ordered a man who committed Australia's worst modern-day massacre to spend the rest of his life in prison for fatally shooting 35 people. Martin Bryant, 29, grinned and stifled a giggle after he was sentenced to 35 life terms. The hearing was held in Tasmanian Supreme Court, and was packed with teary-eyed survivors of the massacre and relatives of the dead. Bryant had pleaded innocent soon after his arrest, insisting he had been surfing, but later admitted gunning down the tourists on April 28, 1996 at the ruins of Port Arthur, an 18th-century island penal colony. Bryant had burst into a tourist cafe at the site and opened fire with a high-power rifle. Twelve victims were killed in just 15 seconds as they sat eating lunch. Bryant then drove down a road, killing people indiscriminately. As he had shown no remorse during the trial, the judge ruled that he could never be considered for parole. It was the harshest sentence available, as Australia had no death penalty.

August 1998: At least 148 people were killed when terrorist bombs exploded at two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Thousands more were injured, and surrounding buildings suffered terrible damage. The bombings were thought to be the work of anti-American terrorists.

November 1998: Pres. Bill Clinton agreed to pay Paula Jones $850,000 to drop her sexual harassment lawsuit - with no apology or admissions of guilt - ending a lengthy legal battle that spurred the impeachment proceedings against him. The settlement said Clinton would pay Jones within 60 days and required both parties to "unconditionally release each other and representatives in connection with any claims" stemming from the lawsuit.

Author: Vicki McClure Davidson

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