Major news events of the year

June 2006

June 1 - Seven people were found shot to death on Indianapolis' Near Eastside - three of them children. The victims were Alberto Covarrubias and Emma Valdez; their children Alberto Covarrubias, 11, and David Covarrubias, 9; Emma's daughter Flora Albarran, 22, and son Magno Albarran and Flora's son Luis Albarran, 5. Within 48 hours, Desmond Turner and James Stewart were arrested for the murders.

June 1 - Katherine Close, 13, of New Jersey, won the National Spelling Bee; she was the first female winner since 1999.

June 6 - Madrid, Spain-based Grupo Ferrovial acquired the British Airport Authority (BAA), manager of the Indianapolis International Airport.

June 6 - Staff Sgt. Richard Blakley, 34, Avon, Ind., was the latest HOOSIER TO DIE IN IRAQ. He was killed when his patrol came under fire west of Baghdad.

June 7 - An Indianapolis Star review of state records showed that more than 3,300 high school seniors failed the graduation qualifying exam five times, but they were allowed to graduate anyway.

June 7 - The U.S. Senate rejected a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The vote was 49-48 - 11 votes shy of the 60 votes needed to pass.

June 8 - Terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida's leader in Iraq, was killed in a U.S. bombing raid north of Baghdad.

June 8 - The Food and Drug Administration licensed the vaccine Gardasil for use in preventing human papillomavirus infections which can lead to cervial cancer.

June 8 - Former Indiana State Police Superintendent MELVIN CARRAWAY and former Department of Transportation Commissioner J. Bryan Nicol who admitted they violated state ethics policies were fined $5,000 each.

June 9 - According to a report by the group Federal Funds Information for States, Indiana ranked 32nd nationally in the amount of money budgeted for schools that actually went to classroom teaching.

June 12 - Preliminary results from the FBI's Uniform Crime Report for 2005 found that violent crime in cities had its biggest one-year increase since 1991

June 12 - Marsh Supermarkets rejected a buyout bid that was $20 million more than an earlier offer from Sun Capital, the winner at a private auction.

Staff Sgt. Richard Blakley's funeral was held in Avon on June 15 - the same day U.S. officials confirmed that 2,500 U.S. troops had died in Iraq. Charlie Nye / The Star

June 15 - In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police armed with a search warrant were not required to knock and announce their presence before entering a home, making evidence acquired under those circumstances legal.

June 15 - President Bush signed a new law increasing by tenfold, to $325,000 per incident, the maximum fine for broadcasters who violate "the bounds of decency".

June 15 - Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates announced he would be stepping down from his day-to-day role at the company in July 2008 to devote more time to his foundation.

June 15 - The Washington Township Board agreed to a merger of its fire department with the Indianapolis Fire Department.

June 16 - A background check of employees at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center turned up criminal convictions for 24 of them - more than a quarter of the staff.

June 16 - For the first time in his 10-year professional career Tiger Woods missed the cut at a major tournament, finishing 12 over par at the U.S. Open. It was Woods first tournament since the May 3 death of his father.

June 17 - Gov. Mitch Daniels, along with 59 government and business leaders from across Indiana, left on a 12-day job-seeking mission to South Korea and Japan.

June 18 - Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of Nevada was named the first woman presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

Before the rain came, a large crowd enjoyed Herbie Hancock at the Indy Jazz Fest on June 18. Mpozi Mshale Tolbert / The Star

June 18 - The Indy Jazz Fest ended on a disappointing note with a concert by Bonnie Raitt cut short due to a storm. Attendance for the three-day event was down considerably with high heat, humidity and rain blamed.

June 19 - The Carolina Hurricanes won their first Stanley Cup championship defeating the Edmonton Oilers four games to three.

June 20 - A study by the Education Research Center found that Indiana ranked 23rd in the nation, with 27 percent of its students failing to graduate from high school. New Jersey's graduation rate of 84.5 percent placed it first. South Carolina ranked last with 52.2 percent of its students graduating.

June 20 - The bodies of two U.S. soldiers who had been missing since an attack on a checkpoint in Iraq on June 16 were found. They had been tortured and "barbarically" killed according to an official at the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.

June 21 - Seven Marines and a Navy corpsman were charged with the pemeditated murder in April of an Iraqi civilian in Hamdania.

June 21 - For the third time since the trial of Saddam Hussein began in October 2005, one of his defense attorneys was killed in Iraq.

June 22 - Seven people were arrested in Miami in connection with a terrorist plot to attack the Sears Tower in Chicago.

June 23 - The Marion County Juvenile Detention Center fired six employees who were found to have serious criminal convictions.

June 26 - The U.S. Justice Department subpoenaed records from three Indiana companies, BioMet Inc., DePuy Orthpaedics and Zimmer Holdings Inc., in connection with a probe into the manufacture and sale of orthopedic implants.

June 28 - Honda Motor Co. announced that Greensburg, Ind., would be the site of a new $550 million plant that would employ at least 2,000.

June 28 - The INDIANA PACERS chose University of Memphis forward Shawne Williams in the first round of the NBA draft.

June 29 - With the wire transfer of $3.8 billion, the State of Indiana officially turned over operation of the Indiana Toll Road to Macquarie-Cintra.