BUFFALO, N.Y. — 10 years ago this week:
The first effort to sign up for health insurance plans under the new Obamacare did not go smoothly when the website healthcare.gov crashed due to the number of applicants trying to beat the deadline.
More than three-quarters of a million New Yorkers signed up on the state's health exchange and some found that their personal information was mistakenly shared with other enrollees, while many others discovered the options afforded to them resulted in higher premiums and reduced coverage.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius ended up resigning after what most major media outlets described as the "disastrous" rollout of President Obama's signature legislative achievement.
A week after Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson died the so called New Stadium Working Group held its first meeting. There would be no public input into their dealings and after being allowed to take some pictures of the group sitting around a table, news reporters were asked to leave the room. The "working group" didn't end up doing much work at all. According to members who spoke in subsequent years, nothing of consequence was discussed in the initial meeting which turned out to be the only one ever held as the group never convened again.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it would require, within four years, for all new cars sold in the US to be equipped with rereview cameras.
20 years ago this week:
Following a ban on smoking in bars the ashtrays re-appeared at Jimmy Macs on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo after the bar owners won a case in State Supreme Court.
The bar had sought a waiver to the ban after it built a separate smoking area, but was still denied its waiver by the Erie County Health Department.
This prompted a judge to rule that the county's waiver program under the state's smoking ban was unfair.
The Continental on Franklin Street, a bar once popular for hosting punk rock and new wave acts, was still in operation. The building was torn down in 2009 to make way for the Curtiss Hotel. The Continental stood where hotel guests now pull up to check in and have their cars parked by valets.
Boom Days at the Pier featured cannons being fired to hail the arrival of spring at Buffalo's Outer Harbor outside of the Pier Restaurant which is also no longer there.
British tabloids were reporting that Prince William had a new girlfriend about whom he seemed quite serious. It was Kate Middleton whom the prince would later marry.
Future US President Donald Trump hosted Saturday Night Live on NBC.
And, in the days before our phones took pictures, it seemed no school production was complete without dads in the audience with their ever present camcorders this week in 2004.
30 years ago this week:
One of the most notorious gang leaders in Buffalo's history, Donald "Sly" Green, was convicted of a host of charges under the federal RICO statute. The head of the LA Boys would later be sentenced to four life terms in prison plus 119 years.
Buffalo celebrated Dyngus day but not with a parade, which wouldn't become part of the annual festivities until 2007.
The Holiday 6 movie theaters in Cheektowaga were planning to close and fans of grunge music mourned after Nirvana front man Curt Cobain took his own life at age 27 this week in 1994.
40 years ago this week:
A huge sale held in downtown Buffalo attracted hundreds of shoppers seeking deals on TVs, desks, chairs, lamps, and beds. The sale is also the subject of this week's News 2 You Pop Quiz (the answer to which can be found at the conclusion of the vide attached to this story).
The Buffalo Sabres lost in the NHL playoffs to the Quebec Nordiques in a series where ticket prices ranged from $9-19.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became the NBA's all time scoring leader, breaking the record previously set by Wilt Chamberlain. Jabbar would remain the NBA scoring king for 38 years before his record was finally eclipsed by LaBron James.
The price of the Sunday Buffalo News rose to 75 cents (it's $3.75 today).
Ground was broken for the new Erie County Holding Center on Delaware Avenue downtown and, not far from there along the city's waterfront, another groundbreaking was held for the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial at what is now the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park.
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