- January 13
- Tonya Harding's bodyguard, Shawn Eric Eckardt and Derrick Brian Smith arrested and charged with conspiracy in attack of skater Nancy Kerrigan. [1]
- January 14
- U.S. President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin sign the Kremlin Accords, which stop the preprogrammed aiming of nuclear missiles toward each country's targets, and also provide for the dismantling of the nuclear arsenal in Ukraine. [30]
- January 15
- 15th ACE Cable Awards: HBO wins 34 awards, Showtime wins 10. [1]
- January 16
- In Pennsylvania, a magnitude 4.6 earthquake occurs. Felt throughout southeastern Pennsylvania and as far as Baltimore, Maryland and New York City. Also felt at Toronto, Canada. [53]
- January 17
- In Northridge, California, a magnitude 6.6-6.8 earthquake occurs. Sixty people are killed, more than 7,000 injured, 20,000 homeless and more than 40,000 buildings damaged in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange and San Bernardino Counties. Severe damage occurred in the San Fernando Valley. Collapsed overpasses close sections of the Santa Monica Freeway, the Antelope Valley Freeway, the Simi Valley Freeway and the Golden State Freeway. Cracks in weld joints are reported in over 100 steelframed buildings. Total damage: US$30 billion. [1] [30] [53] [720.196]
- January 19
- Record cold temperatures hit the eastern United States. The coldest temperature ever measured in Indiana state history, -36 degrees F (-38 degrees C), is recorded in New Whiteland. The coldest temperature ever measured in Ohio state history, -20 degrees F (-29 degrees C), is recorded in Cleveland. [1] [30]
- January 22
- 51st Golden Globes: Schlinder's List, Steven Spielberg. [1]
- January 25
- The Clementine deep space probe is launched by the USA. [1] [5]
- U.S. President Bill Clinton delivers his first State of the Union address, calling for health care reform, a ban on assault weapons, and welfare reform. [30]
- January 28
- Helicopter crashes into office building in San Jose, California, one dead. [1]
- February 1
- In Portland, Oregon, Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly pleads guilty to his role in attacking figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. He accepts a plea bargain, admitting to racketeering charges in exchange for testimony against Harding. [30]
- February 3
- President Bill Clinton lifts US trade embargo against Vietnam. [1]
- William J. Perry is sworn in as the United States Secretary of Defense. [30]
- February 4
- The Federal Open Market Committee raises the US Federal Funds target rate for the first time since May 1989. The rate is raised by 25 basis points to 3.25 percent. [30]
- February 5
- Medgar Evers' murderer Byron De La Beckwith sentenced to life in prison, in Jackson, Mississippi, 30 years after the crime. [1] [30] [129]
- February 7
- 21st American Music Awards: Whitney Houston wins. [1]
- February 11
- Lu Parker, Miss South Carolina, crowned 43rd Miss USA. [1]
- February 12
- 20th century premiere of six restored Haydn-sonatas in Boston. [1]
- February 15
- US asks Aristide to adopt a peace plan from Haiti. [1]
- February 22
- Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged with spying for the Soviet Union by the United States Department of Justice. Ames will later be convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment and his wife will receive five years in prison. [30]
- February 23
- A US District Court rules that Microsoft violated patents held by Stac Electronics, in data compression used in Microsoft's DoubleSpace in DOS 6. Microsoft is ordered to remove or replace the technology, and pay US$120 million in damages. The court also finds that Stac illegally used access to Microsoft's trade secrets to make Stacker compatible with DOS 6.0. Microsoft is awarded US$13.6 million in damages. [4]
- February 28
- Brady Law, imposing a wait-period to buy a hand-gun, goes into effect. [1]
- March 1
- 36th Grammy Awards: "I Will Always Love You", Toni Braxton win. [1]
- US Senate rejects a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. [1]
- Mary Ellen Withrow begins her term of office as Treasurer of the United States, serving under President Bill Clinton. [30]
- March 2
- Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh promises to surrender if taped statement is broadcast; it is, but he doesn't. [1]
- Miami begins a latin walk of fame, first star for Gloria Estefan. [1]
- William Natcher (Representative-Democrat-Kentucky) casts his 18,401st and last consecutive vote. [1]
- March 4
- Four Arab terrorists are convicted for their roles in the World Trade Center bombing, which killed six and injured more than 1,000. [1] [30]
- Space shuttle STS-62 (Columbia 16), launches into orbit. [1]
- March 5
- A gunman takes eight people hostage in the Salt Lake City Public Library in Utah. [30]
- March 7
- 8th American Comedy Awards: Carrot Top wins. [1]
- US Navy issues first permanent order assigning women on combat ship. [1]
- Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that parodies of an original work are generally covered by the doctrine of fair use. [30]
- March 8
- US Defense Department announces smoking ban in workplaces. [1]
- March 14
- Apple Computer introduces its first Power Macintosh computers, featuring 60 to 80 MHz PowerPC processors. Apple successfully managed a major processor transformation, without losing significant market share. [4]
- March 15
- 8th Soul Train Music Awards: Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston win. [1]
- U.S. troops are withdrawn from Somalia. [30]
- March 16
- In Portland, Oregon, Tonya Harding pleads guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for trying to cover-up an attack on figure skating rival Nancy Kerrigan. She is fined $100,000 and banned from the sport. [1] [30]
- March 20
- 14th Golden Raspberry Awards: Indecent Proposal wins. [1]
- March 21
- 66th Academy Awards. Film director Steven Spielberg's film Schindler's List wins seven Oscars, including Best Picture. Best Actor: Tom Hanks. Best Actress: Holly Hunter. [1] [30]
- Novell announces it is acquiring WordPerfect Corporation for US$1.4 billion, and will acquire Quattro Pro from Borland International for US$145 million. [4]
- March 24
- F-16 collides with C-130 Hercules above air force base in North Carolina, 120 die. [1]
- April 1
- Bob Feller Statue on Indians Plaza, dedicated. [1]
- April 4
- Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Mosaic Communications (later renamed Netscape). [1] [5]
- April 6
- Liberal Supreme Court Justice Blackmun (Roe versus Wade) resigns. [1]
- Rockwell B-1B Lancers break 11 world speed records. [1]
- April 8
- Smoking is banned in Pentagon and all US military bases. [1]
- Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, is found dead in Seattle, Washington. His death is believed to have been a suicide. (April 7 [1]) [30]
- April 14
- US F-15 accidentally shoots two US helicopters down over Iraq, 26 die. [1]
- April 18
- Former US President Richard Nixon suffers a stroke. [1]
- April 19
- Rodney King awarded US$3,800,000 in compensation for police beating. [1]
- US Supreme Court outlaws excluding people from juries because of gender. [1]
- April 20
- American Telephone & Telegraph changes its company name to AT&T Corporation. [228]
- Danny Harold Rolling sentenced to death in Florida for killing five. [1]
- April 23
- Libertarian party nominates Howard Stern for Governor of New York. [1]
- April 25
- 14 inches of snow in Southern California. [1]
- April 27
- President Richard Nixon buried in Nixon Library in California. [1]
- April 28
- Aldrich Ames, former US Central Intelligence Agency officer and wife Rosario plead guilty to spying. [1]
- May 2
- Dr Kevokian found innocent on assisting suicides. [1]
- May 3
- The Walt Disney Company announces plans to start a cruise ship venture. [69]
- 29th Academy of Country Music Awards: Garth Brooks wins. [1]
- US space probe Clementine launched. [1]
- May 6
- US House of Representatives passes the assault weapons ban. [1]
- May 8
- US President Bill Clinton announces US will no longer repatriate boat people. [1]
- May 11
- Grease opens at Eugene O' Neill Theater in New York City for 1,503 performances. [1]
- May 18
- Tropical Butterfly Garden at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo opens. [1]
- May 20
- Sony Theaters and Cineplex (New York City) hike movie ticket prices to $8.00. [1]
- June 12
- Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman are murdered outside the Simpson home in Los Angeles, California. O.J. Simpson is later acquitted of the killings, but is held liable in a civil suit. [30]
- June 17
- NFL star O.J. Simpson and his friend Al Cowlings flee from police in Simpson's white Ford Bronco. The low speed chase, which unfolds live on television, ends up at Simpson's mansion in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, where he then surrenders to police. [30]
- June 24
- Buena Vista Pictures generally releases the animated feature film The Lion King to theaters in the USA. (On its first weekend, it grosses US$41 million, a record for an animated film. World theater gross receipts: US$770 million.) [6]
- June 26
- Philip N. Diehl begins term as US Mint Director. [466.92]
- July 6
- Fourteen firefighters die in the South Canyon wildfire on Storm King Mountain in Colorado. [30]
- July 12
- American president Bill Clinton visits Berlin and states to the Berliners, "America stands at your side - now and forever." [37]
- July 15
- Microsoft reaches a settlement with the US Department of Justice regarding alleged monopolistic operating system licensing practices. Microsoft agrees to change some of its practices of how it sells its operating systems to vendors in the United States and Europe. (Judge Stanley Sporkin rejects the decree in February, but Judge Thomas Jackson approves it in August 1995.) [4]
- August 11
- The Columbus Iselin, a ship conducting oil spill research, runs aground in the Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary off the Florida Keys and leaks fuel. [522]
- August 12
- Woodstock 1994 begins in Saugerties, New York. It is the 25-year anniversary of Woodstock in 1969. [30]
- August 20
- In Honolulu, Hawaii, during a circus international performance at the Neal Blaisdell Arena, a female elephant named Tyke crushes her trainer Allen Campbell to death before hundreds of horrified spectators. [30]
- August 24
- Jeffrey Katzenberg resigns from the Walt Disney Company. [6]
- September 2
- The National Corvette Museum opens in Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. 4000 Corvettes attend. Over the three-day weekend, 118,000 people visit the museum. The gift shop does US$1 million in business. [8]
- September 7
- Apple Computer announces its intention to license the Macintosh operating system in 1995. A Mac OS logo is announced, which will be used to identify Mac application programs and Mac-compatible systems. [4]
- September 8
- USAir Flight 427, a Boeing 737 with 132 people on board, crashes on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport; there are no survivors. [30]
- September 13
- US President Bill Clinton signs the Assault Weapons Ban, which bans the manufacture of new weapons with certain features for a period of ten years. [30]
- September 15
- Disney Chairman Michael Eisner meets with Peter Rummell to discuss the Disney's America project. Projections of revenues and expenses show that the park would operate at a loss. Eisner decides to abandon the idea to build the historical theme park in Virginia, for financial reasons and due to negative press. [6]
- September 19
- American troops stage a bloodless invasion of Haiti in order to restore the legitimate elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to power. [30]
- October 14
- Mosaic Communications makes available the first 0.9 beta test version of the Mosaic Navigator Web browser software as a file download on the Internet. Versions are available for Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh, and X Window environments. The software is free for personal use, or US$99 for commercial use. [4]
- October 20
- In Coleman, Michigan, USA a meteorite penetrates the roof of a house. [521]
- October 26
- Walt Disney Home Video releases the animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on videotape in the USA. (50 million copies are sold worldwide.) [6]
- October 29
- Francisco Martin Duran fires over two dozen shots at the White House; he is later convicted of trying to kill President Bill Clinton. [30]
- October 31
- An American Eagle ATR-72 plane crashes in Roselawn, Indiana, after circling in icy weather, killing 64 passengers. [30]
- November 4
- In San Francisco, California, the first conference devoted entirely to the subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web opens. Featured speakers include Marc Andreessen of Netscape, Mark Graham of Pandora Systems, and Ken McCarthy of E-Media. [30]
- November 5
- A letter by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan is released that announces he has Alzheimer's disease. [30]
- November 7
- WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, provides the world's first Internet radio broadcast. [5]
- Apple Computer, Motorola, and IBM announce that they will create a computer platform to run all major operating systems, except the Intel x86-based Microsoft Windows 3.1 and successors. To be included are the Mac OS, OS/2, AIX, Solaris, Windows NT, and Netware. [4]
- November 8
- Georgia Representative Newt Gingrich leads the United States Republican Party in taking control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in midterm congressional elections. This is the first time in 40 years that the Republicans secure control of both houses of Congress. George W. Bush is elected Governor of Texas. [1] [30]
- November 16
- A Federal judge issues a temporary restraining order, prohibiting the State of California from implementing Proposition 187, that would have denied most public services to illegal aliens. [30]
- November 21
- Nintendo releases the Donkey Kong Country video game for the Super NES in the US and Canada. Price is US$69.95. The game was developed by Rare in England. (First week sales amount to US$35 million. 7.4 million copies sell within six months.) [9]
- December 6
- Orange County, California, files for bankruptcy, due to risky investments. [1]
- Warner Brothers announces a 5th TV network in the USA to begin on January 11, 1995. [1]
- December 13
- American Eagle commuter plane crashes in North Carolina, killing 15. [1]
- December 14
- A Learjet piloted by Richard Anderson and Brad Sexton misses an elementary school and crashes into an apartment complex in Fresno, California, killing both pilots and injuring several apartment residents. [30]
- December 19
- A planned exchange rate correction of the Mexican Peso to the US Dollar becomes a massive financial meltdown in Mexico, unleashing the 'Tequila' effect on global financial markets. This will prompt a US$50 billion 'bailout' by the Clinton administration. [30]
- The Whitewater scandal investigation begins in Washington, DC. [30]
- December 21
- A homemade bomb goes off on the #4 train on Fulton Street in New York City. [1] [30]
- December 31
- The Walt Disney Company signs a preliminary agreement to commit up to US$34 million to renovate and lease the New Amsterdam Theater in New York. [6]
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