America in 1998

Jan. 1 All California bars and clubs must be smoke-free

Jan. 1 U.S. Census Bureau estimates population at 268,921,733

Jan. 8 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Ahmed Yousef sentenced to life

Jan. 13 CBS pays $4 billion to televise AFC games for 8 years

Jan. 15 NASA announces John Glenn, 76, may fly in space again

Jan. 26 Intel launches 333 MHz Pentium II chip

Jan. 26 President Clinton says "I want to say one thing to the American people I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."

Jan. 28 Michelangelo's, Christ and the Woman of Samaria sold for $7.4 million

Feb. 3 Stamps commemorating Princess Diana go on sale across Britain

Feb. 5 Author Tom Clancy agrees to purchase Minnesota Vikings for $200 million

Feb. 6 Mary Kay LeTourneau, 36, former teacher, who violated probation by seeing 14-year-old father of her baby, sentenced to 7 years

Feb. 12 Intel unveils its 1st graphics chip i740

Feb. 17 Larry Wayne Harris and Bill Levitt arrested for possession of anthrax

Feb. 22 18th Winter Olympic games close at Nagano, Japan

Feb. 23 Supreme Court lets Megan's Law stand

Feb. 26 Oprah Winfrey beats Texas cattlemen in beef trial

March 5 U.S. spacecraft finds frozen water on moon

March 12 Federal officials report first drop in cancer rates since 1930s

March 16 Johnny Chung, Democratic fund-raiser, pleads guilty for illegal contributions to Clinton re-election campaign

March 17 USA Women's Hockey Team beats Canada for 1st Olympic Gold medal

March 22 Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico announce oil production cut

March 27 FDA approves male impotence pill, Viagra

March 30 Florida executes first woman since slavery

April 1 Court throws out Paula Jones case in victory for President Clinton

April 3 Third toll-free 887 code put in service

April 17 U.S. trade deficit biggest in decade

April 23 James Earl Ray, 70, convicted of killing Martin Luther King Jr., dies in prison

May 6 Astronomers detect giant explosion in outer space second only to "The Big Bang"

May 14 Last episode of Seinfeld airs on NBC

May 28 Comedian Phil Hartman slain by wife, who then takes her own life

June 4 Terry L. Nichols gets life sentence for bombing of Oklahoma City Federal building

July 17 Russia buries Tsar Nicholas II and family, 80 years after they died

July 24 Gunman kills two police officers and wounds tourist in Capitol Building

Aug. 17 Clinton testifies to grand jury about relations with intern Monica S. Lewinsky

Sept. 30 U.S. surplus first in three decades as fiscal year ends with record of about $70 billion, largest surplus on record.

Oct. 31 DNA tests show Thomas Jefferson fathered at least one of slave's children

Nov. 25 Dr. Kevorkian charged with murder

Dec. 1 Exxon to buy Mobil for $80 billion in stock

Dec. 19 House impeaches President Clinton

Dec. 20 Octuplets born in Texas; one dies

Dec. 31 U.S. movie box office hits record $6.24 billion for year