YEAR IN REVIEW: January 2014's Top 10 Stories
10. Stubborn High Pressure Ridge Leave California Unusually Dry In Drought
A powerful ridge of high pressure parked over Northern California was responsible for a record 52 days of no precipitation in Sacramento.
It's not the first time we've seen the dangerously dry weather pattern. A similar one happened in the 1970s, causing one of the worst droughts on record for California. Sacramento saw its previous record of 44 days without measurable rain during what should be the wet season.
That streak was broken on Jan. 20 and continued until rain finally fell on Jan. 29.
9. Thousands Of Motorcyclists Gather At Sacramento Capitol To Rally For Biker Rights
It made for a dramatic picture. Those who spoke up said they feared lawmakers were trying to silence their lifestyle.
Proud, packed in, and showing their patches at the state capitol, California bikers of all different clubs came together to form the massive crowd.
Some fear lawmakers are working to make wearing fluorescent safety vests mandatory for motorcyclists, which could force bikers to conceal the club names they proudly sport.
8. Climax Of 'How I Met Your Mother' Filmed 8 Years Ago
Producers filmed the climactic scene of CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" finale eight years ago, fearing the actors involved would become unrecognizable, and kept it under wraps.
The comedy's central conceit is that it's a story told by actor Josh Radnor's character, Ted, to his teenage children about how their mom and dad met. The children, played by David Henrie and Lyndsy Fonseca, were depicted in the series' early days sitting on a couch, shifting uncomfortably in boredom as their dad narrated the long-winded story.
7. Vacaville Man Loses 200 Pounds Without Surgery Or Going To Gym
Gary Mullins says he read a lot of books about weight loss, but in the end he kept his plan very simple and lost 200 pounds.
Just a couple of years ago, walking around the park was impossible for Mullins.
I'd walk from bench to bench and I'd just be a mess," he said.
Now he can do so many things he thought he'd never be able to do again.
"I can put on a pair of pants and tie my shoes," he said.
At his heaviest, Mullins weighed 412 pounds, and he says he wasn't the only one who felt the pain over his weight.
6. Sacramento Man Posts His $55,000 Appendectomy Bill On Reddit
Thousands of people have commented after Nic Gonzalez, 20, received the large bill from Sutter General Hospital.
He shared the $55,029.31 on the social media website Reddit, where it shot to the top of the front page with more than 10,000 comments under the title I never truly understood how much healthcare in the US costs until I got Appendicitis in October. I'm a 20 year old guy. Thought other people should see this to get a real idea of how much an unpreventable illness costs in the
5. Women Accused Of Using Stun Guns On Shoppers During Robberies
Three unsuspecting women were attacked in two days—one in the Walmart parking lot on Truxel Road in Natomas, and two others at shopping centers on Florin Road.
Investigators say the attacks happen in shopping center parking lots as women walk to their cars.
4. Study: Stock Market Declines May Be Deadly
Two U.C. San Diego finance professors conducted the study with 30 years worth of California hospital admission records and correlated them with the ups and downs of the stock market.
Professors Joseph Engelberg and Christopher Parsons found from 1983 to 2011 that hospital admissions increased following stock market drops, KMBZ reported. People admitted complained especially of anxiety, depression or other conditions of mental or emotional stress.
3. Stockton Couple Accused Of Dismembering Roommate, Burning Torso In Campfire
A tip led police to the home on Mist Trail Place. Investigators say someone told them a murder took place there, but when officers arrived they found no one there — only a trail of blood left behind.
Hours later, police tracked down Cook at a campsite in Groveland, as well as the dismembered remains of Jones inside Cook's car.
2. Call Kurtis Investigates: Homewrecker Website Lets Victims of Affairs Shame The Mistress
More than 175 women from California are now labeled as homewreckers on one website. An Amador County woman found herself on shesahomewrecker.com. She admits to having the affair, but thinks what's been posted about her is not fair.
1. Research Shows It's Better To Run To Best Nearby Shelter After Nuclear Detonation Blast
Researcher Michael Dillion, an atmospheric scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, had his research published in January by The Royal Society, which is a mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences journal.
In his research he created a mathematical model of nuclear fallout survival in an attempt to determine optimal fallout shelter times following a nuclear detonation. His relatives inquired with him about what they should do if they did indeed see a mushroom cloud.
