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 | Thursday, January 1, 2026 | | | Happy New Year! On this day in 45 B.C., January 1 was officially recognized as the start of the new year under the Julian calendar, a system that continues to shape how much of the world still marks time today. In this special New Year's edition, we're looking back at 2025 through two lenses. First, we've ranked what we see as the five biggest stories of the year, the headlines that most shaped the national conversation. Then, we're sharing five editors' picks, stories that may not have topped every list but stood out to us for their impact, significance, or sheer interest. Of course, narrowing a full year down to just 10 stories wasn't easy. There were plenty of moments that could have earned a spot, and that's where we want to hear from you. What did we miss? What didn't warrant inclusion? Tell us what defined 2025 in your view. If you're ready to finally take control of your weight and your health, today's sponsor, DirectMeds, makes it simple to start—with trusted GLP-1 treatments prescribed online and delivered straight to your door. If you're looking for a more expansive year-in-review, check out The Flyover Podcast. In a special episode, Ayla Brown goes month by month, breaking down what we see as the top story from each month of 2025. If a story you think defined the year isn't included in this edition, there's a good chance Ayla covered it there. If your top story didn't crack our top five here, it may have made our top 12, and Ayla runs through them all. However you slice it, this edition is about reflecting, debating, and closing out 2025 together. We're eager to hear your thoughts. 
| | | |  Jan. 20: Trump Inauguration
On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president in a ceremony moved into the U.S. Capitol Rotunda because of cold weather. Carrie Underwood performed America the Beautiful to guests that included Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, and TikTok CEO Shou Chew. The administration moved quickly to implement a number of major new programs, including a reciprocal tariff program that transformed global trade policy. The policy has been challenged, but it remains in effect while it's being reviewed by the Supreme Court. Early on, President Trump also directed DHS and ICE to intensify immigration enforcement, including expanded interior raids in multiple cities, often heightening tensions with local officials and sparking numerous court appeals. Enforcement operations are still ongoing in late 2025. Also in his first week, Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to push spending reductions. Headed by Elon Musk, it became closely tied to efforts to dismantle some federal agencies, including USAID and its foreign aid program. Musk has now moved on, but the cost-cutting efforts continue. In a December speech marking his first year in office, Trump highlighted his accomplishments on the economy, immigration, tax reform, and healthcare. May 8: First American Pope Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of Chicago was elected Pope Leo XIV on May 8, 2025, becoming the first American pontiff in the Catholic Church's 2,000-year history after cardinals chose him on the second day of the conclave. The 69-year-old Augustinian missionary, who spent decades working in Peru where he became a naturalized citizen, was considered a dark horse candidate. Vatican insiders believed an American pope was unrealistic given U.S. geopolitical power, but his missionary background and centrist approach won over the 133 cardinals. Leo chose his papal name in honor of Pope Leo XIII, who developed modern Catholic social teaching during the Second Industrial Revolution, signaling his intent to address challenges of artificial intelligence and technology. See highlights from his election. In late 2025, Leo completed his first foreign trip, visiting Turkey and Lebanon to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and pray at the site of the 2020 Beirut explosion. | Sept. 10: Charlie Kirk Slain Christian conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking at an outdoor debate event for his American Comeback Tour at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025. Kirk was fielding questions before an audience of roughly 3,000 people when he was fatally shot by a sniper positioned on a nearby rooftop. A disturbing level of celebratory commentary on social media followed the attack, resulting in aggressive doxxing and subsequent job terminations for many people. Despite the political fury, Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, made headlines by publicly forgiving the alleged killer. The accused gunman, Tyler James Robinson, is facing aggravated murder charges and the death penalty, with his first in-person court appearance taking place in December. Oct. 1: Government Shutdown The U.S. federal government endured its longest shutdown in history, lasting 43 days from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12, 2025. The political impasse centered on healthcare funding, as Senate Democrats refused to support the Republican-led funding measures without an extension of expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies. Approximately 670,000 federal employees were furloughed, while roughly 730,000 continued to work without pay, severely straining critical public services, including the national air travel system. Due to an increase in air traffic controller sick calls stemming from financial stress and fatigue, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was forced to take the unprecedented step of ordering airlines to cut flights by up to 6% at 40 major U.S. airports in early November, severely disrupting travel until the government finally reopened on November 12. The expansion of Affordable Care Act premium tax credits is now set to expire on Dec. 31, 2025, after Congress failed to pass either a Democratic extension or a Republican replacement, leaving approximately 22 million Americans facing sharply increased insurance costs in January. | Oct. 9: Israel-Hamas Ceasefire The long-awaited Israel–Hamas ceasefire was signed on October 9, 2025, and took effect the next day, finally pausing a conflict that had stretched nearly two years. The war began with Hamas's October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel, when the terrorist group killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. The war continued through cycles of Israeli operations in Gaza, driven by stalled hostage negotiations and Hamas's refusal to release remaining captives. Tensions spiked further after coordinated U.S.–Israeli strikes on an Iranian nuclear-related facility in June 2025, sharpening international pressure for a diplomatic breakthrough. Movement finally came after President Trump entered the negotiations directly, a step that helped break a longstanding impasse. The ceasefire is holding, more or less, but the promised stage two—withdrawals, security arrangements, and a blueprint for Gaza's future governance—is still unresolved, leaving the region in a cautious interim phase. Flying together with our sponsor
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Love reading The Flyover? Click here to share with your friends and family.  | | | Flying together with our sponsor  Ready to start your weight loss journey and take control of your health? With DirectMeds, it's never been easier. Their licensed providers prescribe clinically proven GLP-1 medications like semaglutide and tirzepatide—powerful treatments that curb appetite, support balanced blood sugar, and promote steady, sustainable fat loss. Losing excess weight doesn't just change how you look—it can lower your risk of diabetes, improve heart health, boost energy, and restore confidence. DirectMeds makes it simple and affordable to begin: complete a quick online consultation, get approved within 24 hours, and receive your medication shipped discreetly to your door. Start your transformation today with DirectMeds. | |  | | ➤ A Coldplay concert kiss-cam moment went viral in July after a jumbotron caught Astronomer executives Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot cuddling before awkwardly jumping apart once they realized they were on screen. Both were married to other people, and the clip ignited a flood of memes, including a fake Gwyneth Paltrow ad, along with intense online scrutiny. In recent interviews, Cabot said the viral moment led to public shaming and death threats. (Watch Video) ➤ The Louvre heist stunned France in October after thieves used a vehicle-mounted lift and power tools to break into the Galerie d'Apollon and steal eight pieces of French Crown Jewels worth an estimated $102 million. French police later arrested what they believe to be the entire four-person crew—all from working-class northern Paris suburbs, with backgrounds including jobs like garbage collector and delivery driver rather than elite professionals. The stolen jewels remain missing. (See Details)
➤ NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore returned to Earth in March after an unexpected nine-month stay aboard the International Space Station, far longer than their originally planned eight-day Boeing Starliner test flight. Problems with the Starliner spacecraft forced NASA to keep them in orbit and bring them home aboard a SpaceX capsule. The pair spent 286 days in space, circling Earth 4,576 times and traveling about 121 million miles. (More) ➤ The U.S. Mint ended more than 230 years of penny production in November after the cost to make a one-cent coin climbed to nearly four cents apiece. The decision was followed by a satirical funeral at the Lincoln Memorial and an auction of 232 commemorative three-coin penny sets that raised $16.76 million, putting an expensive exclamation point on the coin's long goodbye. (See Pennies) ➤ The decade-long hunt for James Howells' lost Bitcoin fortune ended in August after courts shut down his final legal bid to dig up a Welsh landfill. Howells, an IT engineer, lost access to 8,000 Bitcoin in 2013 after his then-girlfriend mistakenly threw away a hard drive containing the wallet's private key during a cleanup, when the cryptocurrency was worth little and the key hadn't been memorized or backed up. He later floated increasingly bold recovery plans, from AI-guided searches and robot dogs to buying the dump outright, but judges ruled the landfill belongs to the city and isn't worth the environmental risk, leaving what's now about $700 million permanently locked out of reach. (Full Story)
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