Shrouded in secrecy—and boldly declared the wedding of the century—the interfaith nuptials of Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky came and went, briefly shining a spotlight on the tiny town of Rhinebeck in upstate New York. “America needed Chelsea’s wedding,” wrote The Daily Beast’s Tina Brown, for they were “a happy throwback to the carefree 1990s.” Barbara Kinney Every four years, the entire world gets swept up in soccer (football) hysteria. Delectably diverse snacks, shin guard-sporting hunks on the pitch — what’s not to love? While Spain ultimately beat Germany for the title, it was fairly anti-climactic given all the heart-stopping performances by the up-and-coming U.S. squad early on, including its much-ballyhooed tie against England, not to mention their last-minute victory against Algeria. Whether the sport’s popularity will last in America remains to be seen. Emilio Morenatti / AP Photo The April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig caused one of the worst ecological disasters in history, leaving 11 workers dead and 206 million gallons of oil spewing from BP’s undersea well into the Gulf of Mexico. Despite the world’s outrage—augmented by shocking photographs of the spill — it took 107 days to plug the well. The catastrophe, according to The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove, villainized BP CEO Tony Hayward and tarred Obama’s good name. Charlie Riedel / AP Photo Led by superstar swingman Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers clashed with the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, renewing one of basketball’s most storied rivalries. The series went all the way to seven games, before Kobe and the Lakers took home their 16th NBA title, 83-79. The championship victory gives Kobe five rings—one shy of Michael Jordan’s six. Nathaniel S. Butler / Getty Images “Arizona’s crackdown on unauthorized immigrants ensured that the state will continue to be ground zero in the immigration wars for the foreseeable future,” wrote The Daily Beast’s Terry Greene Sterling. The immigration debate has been one of the summer’s most widely covered news stories, and will undoubtedly influence the midterm elections. Jon Stewart explored Arizona’s harsh immigration measure on The Daily Show back in April. Seth Wenig / AP Photo Steven Slater, the JetBlue flight attendant who become a cult hero for his emergency-slide escape from his job left an indelible impression on the nation’s collective dislike of work. So much so, in fact, that people have even compared him Captain Sully. “While Sully’s ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ reminded us that there are still some people who are genuinely brilliant at their jobs,” writes The Daily Beast’s Jessie Klein, “Slater’s story seems to have been sent to remind us that there are still some jobs so genuinely awful that it’s okay to leave them.” Slater got many other flight attendants talking, too, Bobby Laurie among them. Andrew Theodorakis / NY Daily News via Getty Images Fox News wingnut Glenn Beck took to the National Mall in Washington on the same day that Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech there in 1963. Not surprisingly, it caused some consternation among liberal talking heads. Some commentators, however, thought it was harmless. Under the banner “Restoring Honor,” Beck delivered “a rambling speech that was equal parts sermon, history lesson, and motivational seminar,” as The Daily Beast’s Jon Avlon put it. “There is growing hatred in the country,” Beck said. “We must be better than what we’ve allowed ourselves to become. We must get the poison of hatred out of us, no matter what smears or lies are thrown our way.” Reihan Salam compared Beck to the black leader Malcolm X. Both men, Salam argues, possess the ability to make liberals very afraid. Alex Brandon / AP Photo Many wondered if—and when—President Obama would go for a swim in the Gulf after the oil spill, and sure enough, he eventually did during a summer vacation in Florida in July. Obama’s summer vacation (and swim time photo-op) was a bit of a marketing effort it for the state, which lost more than $1.2 billion in tourism revenues during the disaster. It showed us he’s human—which is good for the president and, as The Daily Beast’s Reihan Salam argued, good for us as a country. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza On August 31, President Obama announced that all combat operations in Iraq were officially over—a campaign promise well kept. As The Daily Beast’s Louise Roug writes, however, the date “is not much of a milestone. The big shift happened last year, when American troops withdrew from the cities and stopped going on patrols.” Though perhaps a lose-lose policy, Obama’s quiet, understated, gracious speech provided a mostly well-received end to the long war. Maya Alleruzzo / AP Photo Toast, anyone? After salmonella struck Iowa-based Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms this summer, some 550 million eggs were recalled. According to a recent FDA report, investigators found uncaged chickens roaming amid piles of manure, swarms of flies and maggots, and rodents running amok at the nine farms responsible for distributing the tainted products. The salmonella outbreak was faulted for over 2,000 infections but no deaths, and a reminder of the unnervingly large industrial farms most of today's food comes from. Oh, Lindsay Lohan, when will you ever learn? After resisting court-mandated alcohol training programs, she ended up in the slammer in July, which provided plenty for the tabloids to talk about. And it inspired former prison librarian Avi Steinberg, too, who made the starlet a reading list for her time behind bars: The Poems and Letters of Emily Dickinson, The Book of Jonah, Mary Karr’s Lit, and Gary Shytengart’s Super Sad True Love Story. David McNew, Pool / AP Photo Michael Hasting’s Rolling Stone profile of Stanley McChrystal, in which the general talked trash about many Obama administration officials, made huge waves that ultimately ended with McChrystal losing his job. Not surprisingly, Hastings was denied an embed spot with the military shortly after. Many worried about the chilling effect the incident would have on journalist access to high-ranking officials. AP Photo WikiLeaks was all the rage this summer after the whistleblower site released tens of thousands of pages of classified military documents about the war in Afghanistan. The responses to WikiLeaks’ reports were wide-ranging. According to a high-ranking Taliban commander, the documents were false. For The Daily’s Beast’s Tunku Varadarajan, the site’s founder, Julian Assange, is a fraud. And as for the Pentagon, well, we know what they think. The rape-allegation against Assange didn't do much to simplify the situation. Leon Neal, AFP / Getty Images When you look at Mario Tama’s poignant portraits of New Orleans’ post-Katrina life or The Daily Beast’s collection of heart-wrenching photos from the disaster, it’s hard not think about the more than 1,000 lives lost in one of the costliest and deadliest hurricanes of all time. This summer, the five year anniversary of the disaster reminded us how helpless we all felt that long week, wherever we lived. Mario Tama / Getty Images In July, Jersey Shore star Snooki got herself arrested for disorderly conduct in Seaside Heights, New Jersey—but not before doing a faceplant while trying to get on her bike. Whatever happened to class? Splash News / Newscom The story of the 33 Chilean miners trapped a half mile underground has riveted the world. The good news: The miners have continually reported they are okay. The bad news: It could take up to four months to get them out. Natacha Pisarenko / AP Photo Newsweek’s sale caused quite a brouhaha this summer and it’s easy to see why. As The Daily Beast’s Peter Lauria and Lloyd Grove point out, the ailing newsweekly’s financials were deep in the red. Despite 90-year-old audio tycoon Sydney Harman’s purchase of the publication for $1, much work remains to be done. And Newsweek’s future is still very much up in the air. Charles Krupa / Getty Images The 16-year-old superstar was everywhere this summer. And it appears, what with a 3D biopic and book deal on the horizon, he’s not going anywhere soon. Larry Busacca / Getty Images This summer was hot. Really hot. So hot, in fact, that The Daily Beast’s Heidi Cullen said it set a record, and that this type of heat is bound to return in summers to come. “If we can’t pass legislation to address the cause of global warming, we will most certainly have to deal with its consequences,” writes Cullen. “That means preparing today for the warmer world of tomorrow. That means adding new transmission lines and making the grid smarter so that it can better handle demand spikes in hot weather and better utilize intermittent low-carbon electricity sources like wind and solar.” Tina Fineberg / AP Photo Flooding in Pakistan killed more than 1,100 and left thousands more homeless or stranded. Despite the widespread destruction, the disaster didn't get nearly as much attention as other, smaller catastrophes. As The Daily Beast’s Tunku Varadarajan wrote, “no other disaster in recent times has been quite so ignored by the Western charitable tradition.” Kevin Frayer / AP Photo Apple’s iPhone 4 opened up to a frenzy of sales, but problems with the phones’ external antennas—along with other minor gizmo mishaps—caused much dismay. While Apple wouldn’t recall the devices, they did come up with some creative fixes, like free phone bumpers. Others suggested using duct tape and nail polish. Paul Sakuma / AP Photo It was the worst heat wave in 130 years of record keeping, and much of Russia was ravaged by massive fires to boot. Making an already bad situation worse, officially worried that there could also be radioactive smoke coming from areas coated by fallout from the Chernobyl disaster some 24 years ago. Misha Japaridze / AP Photo