WASHINGTON — Major stories of 2025 included widespread protests, extreme weather conditions, the election of a new pope, and a surprise celebrity engagement.

The past year was influenced by pivotal moments across sports, politics, and entertainment, leaving a lasting impact.

In March, severe weather wreaked havoc across several U.S. states, producing violent tornadoes, intense dust storms, and rapidly spreading wildfires, resulting in at least 39 fatalities.

In March, unusually vicious and damaging weather across multiple U.S. states spawned violent tornadoes, blinding dust storms and fast-moving wildfires, killing at least 39 people. 

In May, another 28 people died in Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia after a mix of dangerous weather conditions across the nation’s midsection brought heavy rains, thunderstorms and tornadoes to the region. 

In July, flash floods killed at least 135 people in Texas over the Fourth of July weekend, with most deaths along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, about 60 miles northwest of San Antonio. The destructive, fast-moving waters rose 26 feet on the Guadalupe, washing away homes and vehicles just before daybreak. A girl’s summer camp where 27 young campers and counselors died during the flooding plans to reopen one of its camps next summer.

In April, “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Euphoria” actor Eric Dane publicly announced he was diagnosed with ALS. He has since become an advocate for the disease and has met with policymakers to talk about accelerating ALS research and funding to find a cure. 

In August, global pop star Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce announced their engagement on Instagram with a series of photos of the proposal in a garden. “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married 🧨,” Swift captioned the post.

In July, legendary heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne died weeks after his farewell show in Birmingham, England. His death certificate listed cardiac arrest and coronary artery disease as the leading causes of death. The document also cited Parkinson’s disease with autonomic dysfunction as a contributing condition. 

In September, 15-year-old Celeste Rivas’ decomposed remains were discovered in singer D4vd’s Tesla. He canceled concerts on his tour after the discovery. Months after she was found, officials are now viewing him as a suspect in the case. 

In October, hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced to four years and two months in prison for transporting people across state lines for sexual encounters. Combs was convicted in July of flying his girlfriends and male sex workers around the country to engage in drug-fueled sexual encounters in multiple places and over many years. However, he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind bars for life. He is now serving his jail time in New Jersey and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a new sexual battery allegation against him. 

In April, Pope Francis died at the age of 88 after he suffered a cerebral stroke that led to a coma and later heart failure. According to Vatican estimates, some 250,000 people flocked to the funeral Mass at the Vatican and 150,000 more lined the motorcade route through downtown Rome to witness the first funeral procession for a pope in a century.

The first American pope, Robert Prevost, a Chicago native and 69-year-old member of the Augustinian religious order, was elected after a two-day papal conclave. He took the name Leo XIV and appeared on the loggia of St. Peter’s Square wearing the traditional red cape of the papacy — a cape that Pope Francis had eschewed on his election in 2013. He has since demanded “firm” action on sex abuse, called on no tolerance for abuse of any kind in the Catholic Church and poked fun at the Chicago Cubs during a Vatican appearance.

In January, Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the United States was held inside the U.S. Capitol rotunda due to cold weather. Shortly after returning to office, Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” The Associated Press decided not to recognize the change, resulting in reporters and photographers being blocked from attending events in the Oval Office, where Trump frequently addresses journalists, and on Air Force One. 

In February, thousands took to the streets to protest the Trump administration’s early actions, decrying everything from the president’s immigration crackdown to his rollback of transgender rights and a proposal to forcibly transfer Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. A few weeks later, “No Kings on Presidents Day” by the 50501 Movement, participants in dozens of cities protested Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk’s actions. Another “No Kings” protest was held in June, bringing out an estimated 4 million to 6 million people to protest nationwide. A third protest was held in October and organizers estimate 7 million people participated via at least 2,600 rallies across the country. 

Later that month, Trump and JD Vance berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for being “disrespectful” in an Oval Office meeting. It resulted in an abrupt calling off of the signing of a minerals deal that Trump said would have moved Ukraine closer to ending its war with Russia. The deal was signed a few months later, but the war continues. 

In March, immigration enforcement agents arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a legal U.S. resident and Palestinian activist who played a prominent part in protests at Columbia in 2024. A few weeks later, they detained Rumeysa Öztürk, a Turkish doctoral student at Tufts University. Khalil was released from immigration jail after his first child was born, but still faces deportation. Öztürk’s immigration case is still pending. They are among many others ICE has detained and readied for deportation. 

Later that month, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, was inadvertently included in a group chat on the Signal messaging app where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed plans for upcoming military strikes in Yemen. The New York Times later reported Hegseth created another Signal messaging chat that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of the airstrike. 

In June, Trump and Musk had a public falling out as Trump threatened to cut Musk’s government contracts and Musk claimed that Trump’s administration hasn’t released all the records related to sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein because Trump is mentioned in them. Musk said he would form a new political party, but it’s unclear if that went anywhere. The two have since been seen at events together, including at Charlie Kirk’s funeral and the White House dinner with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

A week later, Melissa Hortman, the Democratic former Speaker of the Minnesota House, and her husband, Mark, were killed in their Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, home. State Sen. John Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, were injured at their Champlin address, about 9 miles away. Authorities identified the suspect as 57-year-old Vance Boelter and arrested him after a two-day manhunt. 

In September, conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, who brought young, conservative evangelical Christians into politics, was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University during one of his many campus stops. Authorities arrested 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson just over a day after the shooting. 

From Oct. 1 to Nov. 12, the federal government was shut down as Democrats tried to get a vote on extending health care subsidies. After the longest shutdown in U.S. history, the government reopened. The agreement did not guarantee the health care subsidies would be extended, as Democrats had demanded for almost six weeks. 

The Justice Department released thousands of files Dec. 19 from its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein even as it acknowledged that its documents disclosure about the wealthy financier, known for his connections to President Donald Trump and other influential people, was incomplete.

The files were being released in accordance with a congressionally set deadline of Friday, but the Justice Department signaled that it would not fully meet that mark, with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche telling Fox News Channel that he expected the department to release “several hundred thousand” records Friday and then several hundred thousand more in the coming weeks.

At least 16 files disappeared from the Justice Department’s public webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein — including a photograph showing President Donald Trump — less than a day after they were posted, with no explanation from the government and no notice to the public.

Among the documents made public are around 4,000 files — mostly photographs — under a subset the Justice Department described as “DOJ Disclosures.” The vast majority of the photographs were taken by the FBI during searches of Epstein’s homes in New York City and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Also included were images of envelopes, folders and boxes containing investigative materials from various probes related to Epstein. Many records are redacted and anything containing a victim’s personally identifiable information, including materials depicting sexual and physical abuse, isn’t authorized for release.

Various other files released by the Justice Department on Friday include court records, public records and disclosures to House committees. At least some of that material has already circulated in the public domain after years of court action and investigations.

In January, the Nasdaq and chip company Nvidia dropped sharply in response to China unveiling their Deepseek large language model, which was believed to be competition with U.S. giants AI but potentially a fraction of the cost. The drop resulted in Nvidia losing $600 billion of its value, making it the biggest drop for a single company in U.S. stock market history.

That same month, President Trump promised to take on what he called waste, fraud and abuse in government. He tapped billionaire Musk to lead the effort and the Department of Government Efficiency, which fired thousands of government employees from various departments, stopped millions of dollars from being sent to the Department of Education, and dismantled USAID. Musk’s special government employee contract expired at the end of May, where he left the position. 

In April, Trump announced his far-reaching new “reciprocal” tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners on what he called “Liberation Day.” The tariffs have fluctuated by country throughout the year. Trump is now floating the idea of a $2,000 rebate in the form of a “dividend check” from the “trillions of dollars” he says is coming into the U.S. from tariffs, but budget experts say the math doesn’t quite add up.

Throughout the year, Rite Aid and Joann stores closed hundreds of locations amid bankruptcy filings. The pharmacy company ended up closing all locations in October and the fabric store closed their remaining stores in May. Joann materials and branding is now found in-store and online from Michaels Stores. 

In March, scientists at the biotech company Colossal Biosciences tried to genetically engineer living animals with qualities to resemble extinct species like the woolly mammoth. They said scientists edited seven genes in mice embryos to create mice with long, thick, woolly hair. They nicknamed the extra-furry rodents as the “Colossal woolly mouse.”

In August, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, two NASA astronauts who had been stuck in space for more than nine months, returned home. They ended up spending 286 days in space — 278 days longer than anticipated when they launched. They circled Earth 4,576 times and traveled 121 million miles by the time they got back on the planet.

In October, Amazon’s cloud computing service went down, impacting people around the world trying to connect to online services used for work, social media and video games. The outage lasted roughly 15 hours and impacted various services from flights and McDonald’s app to university services and Fortnite. 

In February, the Dallas Mavericks traded Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis in a three-team deal facilitated by the Utah Jazz. The trade talks, which took place over about a month, were kept extremely tight-lipped by Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka. Not even the players knew it was happening, sending shock through the NBA world. Harrison was fired nine months after the trade. 

In April, Alexander Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals forward, surpassed Wayne Gretzky’s record of all-time goals scored. He scored his 895th goal against the New York Islanders. In November, he became the first person in NHL history to score 900 goals. 

In June, Coco Gauff won the French Open for the first time by defeating top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4. The 21-year-old became a two-time Grand Slam champ and the first American woman to win the French Open since Serena Williams in 2015. 

In November, the Los Angeles Dodgers won their second consecutive World Series championship, knocking out the Blue Jays in a nail-biter seventh game of the World Series. The 2025 World Series ended 4-5, in a dramatic turnaround finish. The Dodgers were down to their final two outs before Miguel Rojas smashed a home run, tying the game. The winning run was Will Smith’s homer ending the game in the 11th inning. 

Multiple former and current sports players, teams, coaches have been accused of illegal betting and gambling throughout the year. Investigations began after the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and a player for the Miami Heat were arrested along with more than 30 other people in a takedown of two sprawling gambling operations that authorities said leaked inside information about NBA athletes and rigged poker games backed by Mafia families.

Portland coach Chauncey Billups was also charged with participating in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes card games tied to La Cosa Nostra organized crime families that cheated unsuspecting gamblers out of at least $7 million. Heat guard Terry Rozier was accused in a separate scheme of exploiting private information about players to win bets on NBA games.

In January, a mid-air collision involving an Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet over the Potomac River in Washington D.C. The crash was the deadliest in decades, killing 67 people, including three soldiers and more than a dozen figure skaters. The National Transportation Safety Board and other agencies are still investigating the crash. 

In June, an Air India plane bound for London crashed in a residential area of Ahmedabad shortly after takeoff, killing 241 people on board. One passenger, who was thrown from the plane, survived.

In November, 14 people were killed and more than a dozen others injured after a UPS cargo plane’s left wing caught fire and its engine fell off just before it crashed and exploded after takeoff in Kentucky. The crash is still under investigation. 

In December, former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family were among seven people killed in a North Carolina plane crash.

Air traffic controllers have been understaffed throughout the year, but especially as the federal government shut down for 43 days, making many miss work as they would have been working unpaid. The absences forced delays at airports across the country and led the government to cut some of their flights at 40 busy airports. Now that the government is reopened, restrictions have lessened, but travel impacts may still be felt. 

In January, an Islamic State group-inspired attacker, identified as U.S. Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, killed 14 people and injured about 30 in a truck rampage in New Orleans before police shot and killed him. 

In February, a man identified as Diogenes Archangel Ortiz entered UPMC Memorial Hospital in York, Pennsylvania with zip ties and a pistol. He took staff members hostage and was killed in a shootout that left a police officer dead and seven people injured. It was later found out the officer killed was shot by friendly fire. 

In July, a man identified as Shane Tamura shot and killed four people, including a New York City police officer, in a Manhattan building which holds the headquarters of both the NFL and Blackstone, one of the world’s largest investment firms, as well as other tenants. He blamed his mental health problems on chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known at CTE, and accused the NFL of hiding the dangers of brain injuries linked to contact sports. A medical examiner later confirmed he had CTE, which can be diagnosed only by examining a brain after death.

In August, a shooter identified as Robin Westman opened fire during Mass at a Minneapolis Catholic school, killing two children and injuring 18 other people before dying by suicide.

In September, an ex-Marine identified as Thomas Jacob Sanford smashed a pickup into a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church in Michigan, opened fire and set the building ablaze during a crowded Sunday service and then was fatally shot by police. At least four people were killed and eight others were wounded.

In December, a shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded nine others in a classroom at Brown University during final exams. After a dayslong manhunt, and the killing MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro two days later at his home in the Boston suburbs, suspected shooter Claudio Neves Valente, 48, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.