Here are the top stories of 2009, put in chronological order:
January:
19 - WZRB CW47 in Columbia becomes the first television station in South Carolina to turn off analog and go digital-only for their broadcasts.
20 -- the end of an ERROR: The fascist Bush Admin leaves the White House and President Obama is sworn in.
23 -- Global Gag Rule repealed: The Obama Admin repeals the atrocious Global Gag Rule. The Dems failed in their duties to permanently repeal the Gag Rule in 2009.
February:
5 - Charles Junious of Summerton is sentenced to life in prison for killing his girlfriend and her mother in 2007.
8 - Chris Brown is arrested for hitting Rihanna just hours before the Grammy Awards show was to start.
15 - Matt Kenseth wins the Daytona 500 by playing the rain strategy to perfection.
17 - TV stations in the Augusta-Aiken, Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson-Asheville, Charleston and Savannah-Hilton Head Island markets are among the television stations to switch from analog to digital broadcasts. WKTC My63 in Columbia, all SCETV member stations (including WEBA 14) and all GPB member stations (including WCES 20) also turn off their analog signals and go digital-only.
March:
1 - WSPA's analog and digital towers collapse when a ice and wind combination sweeps through the Upstate. The station's digital signal is brought back to life when its Media General sister station WYCW-HD puts the Upstate CBS station on its second digital subchannel. The tower collapse ends WSPA's days of analog broadcasts three months earlier than the planned June 12 turn-off date.
2 - Nieves Ngeskebei of Tampa, Fla. is arrested for aggravated domestic violence after hitting her boyfriend in the head with a stiletto heel shoe.
5 - Kelly Killoren Bensimon is arrested and charged with domestic violence after beating her now ex-boyfriend Nicholas Stefanov. The victim-blaming related to this case commences.
12 - Allendale City Police Officer Jasper White Junior is arrested for beating his wife on September 28, 2008.
16 - Jack Sterling is sent to jail for swindling 12,000 HomeGold customers and wiping out their life savings. The total loss? $278,000,000.00
16 - Bebe Winans is arrested for hitting his wife.
18 - Project Runway contestant Kenley Collins is arrested for hitting her ex-fiance with several apples, a laptop computer and even having the family cat attack him.
31 - CNN finished third in news rating for the month of March, the first time that has ever happened to the station that was created in 1980. CNN's right wing slant is what continues to make them cellar dwellers.
April:
7 - The Connecticut women's basketball team finishes 39-0 for the second time in its history.
10 & 11 - Aiken and Allendale counties are hit by tornadoes.
12 - AmazonFAIL: Amazon censors pornography, feminist and LGBT books, and R-rated movies.
15 - Texas Gov. Rick Perry and thousands more TEA party activists support secession from the Union.
16 - Another wave of television stations turn off their analog signals and begin digital only broadcasts. However, none of the remaining analog stations in Georgia and the Carolinas are among them.
20 - Sex worker Julissa Brisman, 26, is killed in Boston. Phillip Markoff is captured two days later. The witch hunt against Craigslist begins.
23 - Allen Andrade is sentenced to life in prison for killing a transgendered person.
26 - Carl Edwards flips on the last lap of the Aaron's 499. Eight fans are injured from debris. Talladega and its sister track in Daytona Beach raise the fencing in the grandstand areas. Track officials plan on raising the fence height at the remainder of the track during the offseason.
27 - The Dominican Republic officially makes its women brood mares and slaves to the government.
28 - Judicial activism strikes again: The Supreme Court upholds the so-called 'Bono' rule.
28 - Kathleen Sebelius is confirmed as the Health and Human Services secretary.
May:
4 - David Souter announces his retirement from the Supreme Court.
5 - Day 15 in the Craigslist witch hunt: South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Henry McMaster announces that he will prosecute Craigslist unless it met his totalitarian, anti-business demands.
6 - A Middletown, Conn. Planned Parenthood volunteer is killed by a jealous Stephen Morgan.
12 - A proposal that would allow for private schools to steal taxpayer money from public schools is defeated after many South Carolinians revolt against the proposal.
18 - President Obama speaks at Norte Dame's commencement exercises.
20 - Carl and Danielle Long receive a record-breaking 200 point penalty for a failed inspection in the Sprint All-Star Challenge, a non-points event.
20 - James Buckmaster, tired of waiting for an apology from AG McMaster, files a lawsuit against the entire state of South Carolina that could well cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
25 - Hélio Castroneves wins his third Indianapolis 500. Vitor Meira crashes late and is sidelined for the remainder of the season.
26 - Discrimination is enshrined in the California Constitution after its Supreme Court refuses to hear a case brought up by opponents of Proposition 8.
26 - David Reutimann wins the Coca-Cola 600 by playing the rain strategy. The race was called after 227 laps, or 340.5 miles. This, after it was completely washed out for the first time since 1960 the previous day.
31 - The first terrorist attack of the Obama presidency: Dr. George Tiller, 67, is assassinated by Scott Roeder and other anti-choice terrorists. To this day, Bill O'Reilly, the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle and the rest of the anti-choice extremists have flat out refused to take responsibility for the role that they played in Dr. Tiller's assassination. Which means that O'Reilly and the Augusta Chronicle both have blood on their hands as well.
June:
1 - Private William Long is slain by anti-American Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad.
5 - The Williston-Elko Class of 2009 graduates. Some notable graduates in this class include Chris Johnson, Brittini Adams and Jackie Chelsea Marie Edwards.
9 - Women's Health Care clinic in Wichita closes. Dr. Leroy Carhart announces that he will purchase the clinic days later.
10 - An 89 year-old man kills a security guard at a Holocaust museum in Washington.
12 - Charges against Kelly Bensimon are dropped by a activist judge in New York City.
12 - All of the remaining full power stations -- including WFXG in the Augusta-Aiken market; WLTX, WACH, WIS and WOLO in the Columbia market; WCBD, WCSC and WCIV in the Charleston market; WSAV and WTOC in the Savannah-Hilton Head Island market; WBTV, WCNC, WMYT, WJZY, WSOC, and WCCB in the Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord-Rock Hill market; WMMB, WFXB, WBTW, and WPDE in the Florence-Myrtle Beach market; and WYFF, WHNS, WGGS and WLOS in the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson-Asheville market -- turn off their analog signals and switch to digital-only. WSPA had planned to turn off their analog signal on June 12. But as mentioned above, ice and wind destroyed their analog tower on March 1 and that date became the de facto turn off date for WSPA's analog signal. WSOC is one of a handful of stations to move from the troublesome high-band VHF analog signal to the much improved UHF digital signal.
17 - Nelson Alejandro Colon of West Columbia was arrested for stabbing a woman because she told him that he made a wrong turn when he was taking the female victim home.
22 - Chris Brown escapes jail time after pleading guilty to hitting Rihanna on Feb. 8
23 - David Emory Paul of Aiken gets a slap on the wrist for pleading guilty to child rape.
23 - Gov. Mark Sanford of this state was caught in Buenos Aires with his mistress, Maria Belen Chapur. So much for the Appalachian Trail bullshit.
25 - Farrah Fawcett dies at the age of 62. Michael Jackson dies less than 12 hours later at the age of 50.
29 - Bernie Madoff gets 1.5 centuries in jail for his 17-year Ponzi scheme.
July:
2 - Shannon Price is arrested for domestic violence in hitting dwarf actor Gary Coleman.
4 - Former Pro Bowl quarterback Steve McNair is killed by his mistress, Sahel Kasemi, in Nashville. The 20-year-old then kills herself.
4 - In the first Independence Day race in 17 years, Tony Stewart crashes Kyle Busch in the final 150 yards to win his third Coca-Cola Zero 400.
7 - Ukraine bans all pornography in the nation.
10 - Arturo Gatti is killed in Brazil by his wife, Amanda Rodrigues. The investigation continues as of December 18.
14 - Rep. Tim Ryan is kicked out of the Democrats for Life just for protecting the lives of the already born.
14 - Norma McCorvey, the Roe plaintiff in the Jan. 22 1973 decision that enshrined a woman's God-given right to abortion, was arrested for disturbing a hearing on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court.
19 - Erin Andrews is illegally videotaped by a sick voyeur outside of a hotel room.
30 - California's government 86s funding for all domestic violence shelters due to budget crisis.
August:
1 - Four women gang rape a man by tying him up, blindfolding him, making him erect and then gluing his penis to his stomach in Stockridge, Wis.
5 - George Sodini, 48, slaughters three women in a misogynistic rage in the town of Bridgeville, Pa. Mr. Sodini claims to have been without sex since 1990.
5 - Marina Fanouraki, 26, of Athens, Greece burns the penis of 23-year-old Stuart Feldman of London after he tries to rape her.
9 - Budget cuts force Kansas to de-fund deceptive crisis pregnancy centers.
10 - A white man rips up a poster of Rosa Parks after he thought it was a poster of President Obama in Saint Louis.
11 - Michael Jay Rogers, 36, of Greer was arrested in Greenwood after flashing women and girls in the 864 area code.
12 - Les Paul, the man who invented rock and roll music, dies at the age of 94.
17 - School begins for Aiken area pupils.
18 - Vicki Robertson overturns a intrusive law that would have forced women in the Sooner State to get ultrasounds before having an abortion.
21 - Aiken and Thurmond begin the 2009 high school football season. The Green Hornets won, the Rebels lost.
26 - US Sen. Ted Kennedy dies at the age of 77. By not being elected as president, the Kopechne family got some measure of revenge against the Mass. Senator, who killed Mary Jo on July 10, 1969 in a drunk driving accident.
27 - Williston-Elko hammers Barnwell 56-14 to begin the march to the State title.
28 - Three days of protesting against anti-choice terrorism begins in Bellevue, Neb. Pro-choice forces heavily outnumber anti-choice forces in all three days.
28 - The season begins for the other seven Aiken area teams. North Augusta def. Midland Valley, Aiken def. South Aiken, Silver Bluff def. Fox Creek, Thurmond def. Ridge Spring-Monetta, and Wagener-Salley lost to McCormick.
September:
6 - History at Hampton, Ga.: The Atlanta Motor Speedway holds its first-ever nighttime race. Kasey Kahne wins the event.
7 - Tyra Banks moves her eponymous talk show to the CW.
9 - The Beatles release their mono remasters.
9 - Alan Parsons release remasters of all of his albums.
9 - US Rep. Joe Wilson shows his blatant disregard for House rules by shouting 'You LIE!' during a joint primetime session in Congress.
10 - The Beatles release their stereo remasters.
16 - Former Denmark-Olar head football coach Andrae Rice is arrested and charged with statutory rape of a 17-year-old former pupil.
21 - South Carolinians observe the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Hugo.
28 - Principal Pat Keating dismisses Ryan Russell as head coach of the Wagener-Salley War Eagles football team. Then, Mr. Keating lies to the media about the coaching change.
October:
5 - The New York Times shreds the conservatives for their hypocrisy when it comes to the size of government issue.
6 - Silent Witness: People at the State House in Columbia observe a silent memorial in which 32 domestic violence victims from 2007 were remembered. Dale Wells becomes the first male victim of domestic violence to speak at the event in its 12-year history.
8 - The Biggest Government is in Oklahoma: The pols in the Sooner State pass an even MORE invasive law that would force women who have abortions to post all kinds of information -- including Social Security numbers -- online. This law is been invalidated until a final decision on it is announced in the courts.
12 - Exit, stage north: The 1,890,000 lb generator that was in the Aiken area for more than two weeks officially left the Aiken area and headed towards Greenwood on its way to Boiling Springs, N.C.
12 - Michael Latzy of Cincinnati was arrested and charged with illegally videotaping his female roommate.
15 - Elitists in the media: Mainstream media outlets and their henchwomen (and henchmen) unfairly smear Jon Gosselin of Jon & Kate + 8.
15 - Lou Albano, the original voice of Mario on the Super Mario Bros. Super Show! died at the age of 76.
16 - Barnwell High School forfeits two region wins. However, this had no effect on any of the Aiken area football teams.
18 - Chris Wallace FAIL: Mr. Wallace tries unsuccessfully to convince an increasingly skeptical public that Fox News was fair and balanced. He failed when he brought smear master Karl Rove on the program.
18 - Tyra Banks becomes the first talk show host to take an unbiased approach on the issue of violence against men.
22 - Blackville-Hilda loses 8-7 in Columbia at C.A. Johnson High School, effectively handing Williston-Elko the Region 4-A title.
28 - A 15-year-old Richmond, Calif. girl is gang raped by at least seven people. Twenty-four bystanders stood by and did absolutely NOTHING to stop it and some of them even joined the men and boys in raping the girl.
29 - Roland Corning is fired as Deputy Assistant Attorney General after he was caught in his sport utility vehicle with a stripper, sex toys and Viagra.
30 - Williston-Elko routs Blackville-Hilda 30-0 at Huggins Stadium to complete a perfect regular season.
31 - Dede Scozzafava is forced out of the race for New York's 23d District US House seat by the far right wing extremists calling themselves TEA partiers.
November:
1 - Dede Scozzafava endorses Bill Owens and sends a message to the traitors in the Republican Party that moderates will not stay in the Republican Party if it appeases the wingnuts.
3 - Bill Owens deal a major blow to national Republicans (who otherwise had a great night after running New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine out of Trenton, N.J.) when he wins the NY-23 House seat.
4 - Maine becomes the latest state to amend its Constitution to legalize discrimination against a group of citizens.
6 - House of Representatives pass a completely unacceptable health care bill after the Bart Stupak amendment is added at the last second.
9 - Gossip Girl airs a threesome episode that was the source of controversy by the anti-sex right wing extremists.
11 - Former Moonlite Bunny Ranch worker Brooke Phillips, 21, is murdered by David Tyner before her lifeless body was set on fire. He is currently awaiting trial for her death.
16 - New report confirms that the Federal Bureau of Investigation willfully ignored warning about the threat to Dr. Tiller's life.
17 - ACORN sues the federal government over a bill of attainder that was passed in both houses of Congress. Bills of attainder are unconstitutional.
18 - North Augusta Dept of Public Safety officer Brandon Cameron is arrested for domestic violence after he hits his girlfriend.
22 - Jimmie Johnson wins his fourth consecutive Sprint Cup title, which breaks the old record of three straight titles that he shared with Timmonsville native Cale Yarborough.
.jpg)
27 - The Williston-Elko Blue Devils (pictured) capture the Class A Division II State Title with a 34-26 win over Scott's Branch in a rematch of the 2008 state title game. The Blue Devils finished perfect for the first time in 30 seasons.
30 - Brandon Cameron is dismissed as a officer with the North Augusta Dept. of Public Safety.
December:
1 - The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show aired for the first time in the post-digital era. Heidi Klum returned to the catwalk for the first time since giving birth six weeks earlier.
2 - Revolt against the Stupak Amendment: Tens of thousands come to Washington to blast the anti-choice amendments and anti-choice Catholics and pols for interfering in women's lives.
3 - South Aiken High School refuses to renew the contract of head football coach Robert Wrightenberry. The Thoroughbreds are still searching for a new head coach.
10 - After months of enduring relentless slut-shaming, Hope Witsell committed suicide.
11 - First Lady Jenny Sanford files for divorce from Gov. Mark, citing infidelity.
14 - Denise Jonican of Hilda is killed by her husband, Samuel Bruce. Sam Jonican is still awaiting extradition from Madison, Ga. to Barnwell to face murder charges.
15 - A judge correctly interpreted the Constitution in striking down a bill of attainder that would have otherwise stripped all funding from ACORN.
These were the top stories. It will be pretty interesting to see what 2010 will bring.