Topics: Chicago Bears, Janet Jackson, Anita Baker, She's Gotta Have It, 227-(TV Sitcom)(Bonus Artist: hidingtobefound)

General Snapshots 1. Ronald Reagan is President 2. Jan - The first federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day, honoring Martin Luther King Jr., is observed. 3. Jan - The first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll HOF, included Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, and 3 other white performers. Also inducted were, James Brown*, Little Richard*, Fats Domino*, Ray Charles*, Chuck Berry*, Sam Cooke*, Robert Johnson*, and Jimmy Yancey*. 4. Jan - Super Bowl XX: The Chicago Bears defeat the New England Patriots 46–10 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. 5. Jan - Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch, killing the crew of seven astronauts, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe (see Space Shuttle Challenger disaster). President Ronald Reagan postpones for one week the State of the Union address that had been scheduled for the evening and instead addresses the nation on the Challenger disaster. 6. Mar - Halley's Comet is a comet visible from Earth every 75–76 years. It last appeared in the inner parts of the Solar System in 1986 and will next appear in mid-2061. 7. Apr - The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults, hosted by Geraldo Rivera, is a two-hour live American television special. 8. Apr - In Ukraine, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear plant explodes, creating the world's worst nuclear disaster. 31 are killed directly by the incident, many more die from cancer in later years, many thousands more are exposed to significant amounts of radioactive material, and vast territories in Ukraine and Belarus are rendered uninhabitable. 9. May - Hands Across America: approximately 6.5 million people form a human chain from New York City to Long Beach, California, to raise money to fight hunger and homelessness. The event raised about $15 million. A total of 24 cities participated along the route, including: Champaign, Illinois (with Walter Payton), Chebanse, Illinois (A cornfield in central Illinois served as center-point of the nation with 16,000 people in attendance), Springfield, Illinois (with 50 Abraham Lincoln impersonators), and St. Louis, Missouri (with Kathleen Turner under the St. Louis Arch) 10. Aug - In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers before committing suicide. 11. Sep - Desmond Tutu becomes the first black Anglican Church bishop in South Africa's Cape Town, the most senior position in southern Africa's Anglican hierarchy. Theologically, he sought to fuse ideas from black theology with African theology; politically, he identifies as a socialist. 12. Nov - Iran–Contra affair: The United States has been selling weapons to Iran in secret, in order to secure the release of 7 American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon. Also, profits from the covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua. National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, start shredding documents implicating them. 13. Nov - Mike Tyson wins his first world boxing title by defeating Trevor Berbick in Las Vegas. Tyson won the title by TKO in the second round, and at the age of 20 years and 4 months became the youngest heavyweight champion in history. Tyson won his first 19 professional fights by knockout or stoppage, 12 of them in the first round. 14. Dec - Three African Americans are assaulted by a group of white teens in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, New York. One of the victims, Michael Griffith, is run over and killed by a motorist while attempting to flee the attackers. 15. Open Comments: 16. Top 3 Pop Songs 17. 1 "That's What Friends Are For, Dionne and Friends 18. 2 "Say You, Say Me", Lionel Richie 19. 3 "I Miss You", Klymaxx 20. Grammy Award Winners 21. Record of the Year: "Higher Love", St