Life In 1994

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect.

Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right leg by an assailant under orders from figure skating rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband.

The 1994 Northridge Earthquake, magnitude 6.7, hit the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles at 4:31 a.m. on Jan. 17, killing 72 and leaving 26,029 homeless. In South Carolina, Shannon Faulkner became the first female cadet to attend The Citadel, but soon dropped out. Lorena Bobbitt was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of mutilating her husband John. Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, committed suicide. Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were killed outside the Simpson home in Los Angeles, California. O.J. Simpson was later acquitted of the killings, but held liable in a civil suit. Major League Baseball players went on strike, eventually causing the cancellation of the World Series. The long-running American sitcom Friends premiered on NBC, eventually becoming part of NBC's Must See TV comedy blocks on Thursdays. The first conference devoted entirely to the subject of the commercial potential of the World Wide Web happened. The web browser Netscape Navigator 1.0 is released. The Whitewater scandal investigation begins in Washington, DC.