WThe tornado outbreak of April 6–8, 2006, was a major tornado outbreak in the central and parts of the southern United States that began on April 6, 2006, in the Great Plains and continued until April 8 in South Carolina, with most of the activity on April 7. The hardest-hit area was Middle Tennessee where several strong tornadoes devastated entire neighborhoods and left ten people dead. The worst damage took place in Gallatin, Tennessee. Other communities north of Nashville were also hard hit.
W"Gunwalking", or "letting guns walk", was a tactic used by the Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office and the Arizona Field Office of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which ran a series of sting operations between 2006 and 2011 in the Tucson and Phoenix area where the ATF "purposely allowed licensed firearms dealers to sell weapons to illegal straw buyers, hoping to track the guns to Mexican drug cartel leaders and arrest them". These operations were done under the umbrella of Project Gunrunner, a project intended to stem the flow of firearms into Mexico by interdicting straw purchasers and gun traffickers within the United States. The Jacob Chambers Case began in October 2009 and eventually became known in February 2010 as "Operation Fast and Furious" after agents discovered Chambers and the other suspects under investigation belonged to a car club.
WOn December 26, 2006, Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States, died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California at 6:45 p.m. local time. At 8:49 p.m. local time, President Ford's wife of 58 years, Betty Ford, issued a statement that confirmed his death: "My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age. His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country." The causes of death listed on the subsequent death certificate were arteriosclerotic cerebrovascular disease and diffuse arteriosclerosis.
WThe DePauw University Delta Zeta discrimination controversy occurred at the end of 2006 when the Delta Zeta national leadership was criticized after The New York Times published an article accusing the sorority of deactivating certain members of the Delta Chapter at DePauw University based on their perceived attractiveness. The controversy made national headlines and resulted in the chapter's closing and various legal actions.
WOn September 5, 2006, Newsweek revealed that Hewlett-Packard's general counsel, at the behest of HP chairwoman Patricia Dunn, had contracted a team of independent security experts to investigate board members and several journalists in order to identify the source of an information leak. In turn, those security experts recruited private investigators who used a spying technique known as pretexting. The pretexting involved investigators impersonating HP board members and nine journalists in order to obtain their phone records. The information leaked related to HP's long-term strategy and was published as part of a CNET article in January 2006. HP hired public relations firm Sitrick and Company to manage their media relations during the crisis.
WIn 2006-2007, millions of people participated in protests over a proposed change to U.S. immigration policy. These large scale mobilizations are widely seen as a historic turn point in Latino politics, especially Latino immigrant civic participation and political influence, as noted in a range of scholarly publications in this field. The protests began in response to proposed legislation known as H.R. 4437, which would raise penalties for illegal immigration and classify illegal aliens and anyone who helped them enter or remain in the US as felons. As part of the wider immigration debate, most of the protests not only sought a rejection of this bill, but also a comprehensive reform of the country's immigration laws that included a path to citizenship for all illegal aliens.
WThe student walkouts of Friday, March 24, 2006 in Los Angeles, California commenced protests that spanned several days. That day, hundreds of students representing all ages walked out of at least five high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Over 40,000 students staged walkouts in Los Angeles on the 27th. The protests were against the Border Protection, Anti-terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. This act would make it even harder than ever for immigrants to attain residency status and would criminalize undocumented immigrants as well as individuals and organizations that aid them. Both Southern California immigrants and residents worked together to create a community response to legislative proposals that would scale back immigrant rights. Hundreds of thousands of people gathered at Los Angeles City Hall to demand a stop to H.R. 4437.
WCarolyn Kreiter-Foronda was named Poet Laureate of Virginia by the Governor, Tim Kaine, on June 26, 2006. She succeeded Rita Dove and served in this position from June 2006 – July 2008. While serving as Poet Laureate, Carolyn started the "Poetry Book Giveaway Project" and added the "Poets Spotlight" to her webpage highlighting one poet from the Commonwealth each month, in addition to traveling widely to promote poetry in every corner of Virginia.
WThe United States Military Commissions Act of 2006, also known as HR-6166, was an Act of Congress signed by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006. The Act's stated purpose was "to authorize trial by military commission for violations of the law of war, and for other purposes".
WMiss America 2006, the 79th Miss America pageant, was held on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada on Saturday, January 21, 2006.
WMiss Teen USA 2006, the 24th Miss Teen USA pageant, was televised live from Palm Springs Convention Center, Palm Springs, California on August 15, 2006. The pageant was won by Katie Blair of Montana.
WMiss Universe 2006, the 55th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 23 July 2006 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, USA. Zuleyka Rivera of Puerto Rico was crowned by Natalie Glebova of Canada at the end of the event. This is the fifth time that Puerto Rico has won Miss Universe. 86 contestants competed for the title.
WThe 2006 State of the Union Address was given by the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush, on Tuesday, January 31, 2006, at 9 p.m. EST, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives to the 109th United States Congress. It was Bush's fifth State of the Union Address and his sixth speech to a joint session of the United States Congress. Presiding over this joint session was the House Speaker, Dennis Hastert, accompanied by Dick Cheney, the Vice President of the United States.
WThe 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot was a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives, carried on board airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada, disguised as soft drinks. The plot was discovered by British police during an extensive surveillance operation. As a result of the plot, unprecedented security measures were initially put in place at airports. The measures were gradually relaxed in the following weeks, but passengers are still not allowed to carry liquid containers larger than 100 ml onto commercial aircraft in the UK and most other countries, as of 2020.
WThis article details the security measures taken in response to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot.
WThe 64th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), styled L.A.con IV, was held in Anaheim, California, United States, from August 23–27, 2006. The venue for the 64th Worldcon was the Anaheim Convention Center and the nearby Hilton and Marriott hotels. The organizing committee was chaired by Christian B. McGuire.
WThe 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) began on June 25, 2006 with "satellite" events, with regular play commencing on June 26 with the annual Casino Employee event, and the Tournament of Champions held on June 28 and 29. Forty more events in various disciplines including Omaha, seven-card stud and razz, plus ladies' and senior tournaments led up to the 10,000 US$ no-limit Texas hold 'em main event starting July 28 and running through the final table on August 10.