celebrations at buckingham and it all unfolded before our eyes. we mourned. we marvelled at the moments that defined the year. >> not guilty. >> and changed everything. tonight, we look back and "outfront." we begin with the saga of amanda knox, the american exchange student convicted in italy of murdering her roommate. she was vilified by the press, but insisted she was innocent, and said on appeal that the dna evidence would prove it. and the trial lasted for months as a pale and frail knox waited for her fate, and waited for the verdict to be read. the appeal was successful and the conviction was overturned and she sobbed, lighting up the world to fly home to start her life over. shortly after, i spoke to her dad, curt knox. >> how is amanda doing? >> well, it she is doing remarkably well, and she has not missed a beat with the family, and that is nice to see. >> how is she handling her adjustment? >> well, she is adjusting and reconnecting with the family and friends and sisters and so on and so forth, so it seems to be really working out favorably right now, and hopefully it will continue in that direction. >> it sure does. has she thought, and it seems almost obscenely early to ask, does she plan to go back to school, or has she thought at all about what she might do next? >> well, you know, with this whole circumstance, and what she experienced i think that at some point in time down the road, she going to be some type of an activist for wrongfully convicted people, and, you know, she does want to finish her degree through the university o washington. it is a matter of, you know, when that gets to work out and, you know, how she continues to progress. >> well, we all hope that she does. it is an amazing story. i wanted to ask you one more question, curt, if i could. >> sure. >> there is a report that her stepfather asked her old boyfriend to seattle, and obviously, he is someone who knows what she went through and he was in prison as well. are they still communicating with each other at all? >> well, yeah. they actually sent mail back and forth while they were in there, in prison and in their incarceration, and you know, they have stayed in contact, and it is a true statement that they were invited to come to seattle, the family, and rafael is going through the same thing as amanda and needs to get reconnected. at some point in time, they may come over and that would be nice to see. >> thank you, curt, for speaking with us, and your time is more valuable than ever and we hope to hear from you again and good luck. >> thank you very much for having me. and from the international murder trial, we head back home to the number 10 story of 2011, the massive and deadly tornado that destroyed joplin, missouri. it happened in may. the tornado, one of the most powerful ever recorded, an ef-5 on that scale, and it swept across the city. a twister that obliterated nearly everything in the path. buildings and homes reduced to rubble and entire neighborhoods gone. lives were lost. more than 150 people died. but then, incredible stories of hope and survival. thousands of americans from around the country came to joplin to pitch in and rebuild. we talked to the mayor about life since that tornado. mayor mike wallston, thank you for being with us. >> you're welcome. >> what do you remember most from that day? >> i guess the thing that i remember most, erin, is the amount of destruction. the event happened before 6:00 on a sunday evening and by the time i was notified and got down to the emergency operations center, i spent the rest of the evening and all night there. and at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning the city manager and the fire chief and i went out to get a visual assessment of the damage and the power was out and you could not see anything other than the headlights of the vehicle. so as you drove down the streets that you had driven down 20 years, you could recognize the house from the corner or maybe the second house from the corner, but you virtually felt like you were in a place that you were not in before, because all of the landmarks were gone. >> and how does it look now? how far have you come? >> it is different. we have the debris cleaned up by august 7th, and everything on the ground, and we have started the demolition process and worked through that, the buildings that could not be rehabilitated economically or uninhabitable from a safety standpoint. >> how are some of the families? i know you have spent time with them, the people who died, and one of the worst national disasters that we have ever had. >> i guess the families are coping. i think that we were terribly fortunate, even though you talk about the destruction and the loss of life that we did, we could have easily in my mind had maybe 1,000 or 2,000 deaths if the storm had veered south and hit the second hospital, our high school public class was just graduating and if they had the event at the high school rather than the university, the high school was totally demolished. and that could have easily been 1,000 to 1,500 folks there. and if it was a monday in the day time rather than sunday evening, we had a couple of other school buildings destroyed, one being an elementary and another school building less than two years old, and the students in those buildings if it had come at a different time or the storm took a different path, we could have had devastating loss of life. >> truly amazing american story. thank you mayor mike woolston for being with us. >> you are welcome. coming up on this special edition of "outfront," the royal wedding. we will take you to the day in london when kate became princess katherine. i watched. you probably did, too. and what the end of the mission in iraq means. and the courage and triumph of gabby giffords and the young man who saved her life comes out front as the topics and stories that changed our life in 011. i can't figure out what to get for my husband. easy. name some things that aren't on your list. jumper cables, camo anything, a power drill -- ooh! [ male announcer ] the only place to go for every guy on your christmas list with great deals throughout the store. walmart. i thought i was invincible. i'm on an aspirin regimen now because i never want to feel that helplessness again. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. talk to your doctor, and take care of what you have to take care of. for a hot dog cart. my mother said, "well, maybe we ought to buy this hot dog cart and set it up someplace." so my parents went to bank of america. they met with the branch manager and they said, "look, we've got this little hot dog cart, and it's on a really good corner. let's see if we can buy the property." and the branch manager said, "all right, i will take a chance with the two of you." and we've been loyal to bank of america for the last 71 years. welcome back "outfront" for 2011. we start out the beginning of the year with amanda knox and the devastating tornado in joplin, missouri. now, number nine. this was watched live by 2 billion people on tv, and people including me and likely you. i remember watching princess diana's wedding. well, it was a love story with a lot of pomp and circumstance and everybody loved it. the beautiful day in may. we are talking of course of the royal wedding and the moment that kate became a real princess. here are the highlights of what was really an unforgettable day. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ applause ] >> i loved all of it especially at the end with the cheering and the little girl was doing that, it was a great day. from the royal wedding we turn now no the number eight story of the year, and although this is one that actually began nearly nine years ago. that's the war in iraq. earlier this month, that mission came to an official end for the united states of america. 4,487 service members were killed in the war. it's now technically over, but the cost and the consequences will be with us for years if not decades. twice as long as america's involvement in world war ii and just as polarizing as vietnam, the mission in iraq will be debated for generations to come. it started with bombs over baghdad. shock and awe is what it was called. saddam hussein was toppled and executed. for eight years, eight months and 26 days, americans served their country and many paid the ultimate sacrifice. more than 4500 american troops died and it's believed that 100,000 iraqis perished in the war. on december 15th, the battle came to an official end with a ceremonial casing of the colors. for the troops, a message of honor and courage. >> you will leave with great pride, lasting pride, secure in knowing that your sacrifice has helped the iraqi people begin a new chapter in history. >> but was the mission accomplished? some military experts say the u.s. left too soon. >> in my judgment, we could have used the next few years training and developing the iraqi security forces so that the security forces so that the hard-won gains soldiers have achieved would be permanent and not speculative. >> and that is all anyone can do, speculate what can happen in iraq next, speculate, following nine long years of fighting. dick cheney was the vice president when the war began and he defended the war criticizing president obama about how he has handled iraq and the middle east. >> if you look at the broader area out there, we are now in a situation where we are pulling troops out of iraq, period. no stay behind forces. and he is trying to accelerate the withdrawal from afghanistan after putting in a surge basis and taking them out early. it looks like a u.s. withdrawal from the region and you add to that the fact that the iranians are actively pursuing nuclear weapons, i think it depresses the presence and leverage and it will significantly alter our position in that part of the world, and i believe that is a mistake. the number seven story of the year is one that was hard to imagine at first. remember the wall of water triggered by a earthquake measuring 9.0, and that was the picture of the tsunami that destroyed japan businesses like toys. and it created a nuclear crisis for the country, fukushima. thousands perished in the disaster and the scenes were hard to believe. they are the images that we will never forget from this year. >> oh, my god. that is the biggest earthquake to date. it is still going. oh, my god, the building's going to fall! [ screaming ] ♪ >> translator: i thought that japan would disappear. i thought japan would disappear under water.japan would disappe. i thought japan would disappear under water. i have no idea what i will do next or where i will go. ♪ ♪ and next on this special "outfront," the remarkable story of survival of gabby giffords and the intern who cradled her head in his hands coming up next. and the casey anthony trial and what some considered the trial of the decade. and the ieverything, the genius of steve jobs, the life and the legacy. that's why we created the share the love event. get a great deal on a new subaru and $250 goes to your choice of 5 charities. with your help, we can reach $20 million dollars by the end of this, our fourth year. okay... uhh. the bad news, it's probably totaled. the good news is, you don't have to pay your deductible. with vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance, you got $100 off for every year of safe driving, so now your deductible is zero. the other good news ? i held on to your coffee. wow. ♪ nationwide is on your side ( laughing ) it's actually a pretty good day when you consider. that's great. we are counting down the top stories of 2011 tonight. there were a lot to consider. we made our choices, but we want to know yours as well, so let us know what you think were the biggest stories of the year. you can go to our facebook page or of course on twitter, and let us know. there may be ones that we didn't think of. but we are up to number six right now. she may not call herself a hero, but gabby giffords we can all agree is that. woman marked for death by an assassin and going about her daily life as a public servant and now a symbol of hope around the world. giffords, the morning began as a official meet and greet, but then it turned to horror. there were gunshots that left six dead, including a 9-year-old. giffords was in critical condition and at the time, there were conflicting reports as to whether she was alive or dead. she was rushed to the hospital and surgeons operated for hours to save her life. her recovery was nothing short of remarkable. and four months after that tragic day, giffords was flown to florida to watch the launch of the space shuttle "endeavour" which was commanded by her husband mark kelly, and then in an unexpected and emotional return to washington, giffords returned to the house floor to vote on the debt ceiling, and there she was when everybody was taken aback. her condition continues to improve. she is someone we are all going to be watching. we want to go back now to that day in january when giffords was clinging to life. by her side, the one who rushed to stop the bleeding was daniel hernandez, an intern in her office and many credit him for saving her life and doing the opposite of what people told him to do. they said to run away from the shots, but he ran towards them and toward her. i spoke to daniel hernandez about the shooting and his future. >> all right. daniel, thank you so much for coming to tell your story. >> thanks for having me. >> it is a story that fascinates so many people, and when i started to read about you and i read every piece i could not stop either. but tell me again what you remember happening that day. >> you know, january 8th is a day that i think will be something that i will always remember and those of us in tucson, arizona, will remember for a really long time. i was helping the congresswoman as an intern. at that point, i was actually managing the line. so every person, every victim who passed away or who was injured, i had a conversation with, because i was letting people in as they came in. ten minutes into the event, and being 30 to 40 feet away from where the congresswoman was, we ended up hearing the shots fired and someone yelled "gun." i dropped what i was doing and went to the front of the line, because i knew if people were injured, it would likely be the front of the line where the congresswoman would be. i got to the congresswoman, and she was shot once in the head, and still alert. she was still conscious, and i used my bare hand at this point, because i didn't have any other tools to try to stop the blood loss as much as possible until the emergency medical services arrived. and i stayed with the congresswoman, talking to her, keeping her alert until the emergency medical services were cleared to come into the scene. >> i know that you have people have talked about you as a hero and you have said, i'm not a hero a lot of times. i guess i know it is hard to say that about yourself, right. you can't sit here and say that. >> it is hard to disagree with the president, but i am doing it. >> it is. it is amazing what you have done and you have spoken to her a couple of times since then and what did you talk about? >> well, they have not been lengthy conversations, and we have not had the opportunity to see her, and the last time i saw her was january 8th as we left the ambulance because i rode with her from the site to the trauma center. and the last time i saw her, she was carted in, but for eight hours, i was under the impression that she had been passed away, because i was sequestered to be questioning by the authorities and the last thing i heard was a nurse come out after gabby went in and they said she was dead. they took me away to a separate area, because they didn't want me to hear something from the nurses or passing by and that changing the quality of the testimony that i would give to the authorities. >> so, how has this changed your life? i know you were there and one of the things that speaks even more, because this is not at the moment that you knew someone well, because you had just started to be an intern, and this was the instinct to go? >> well, i had been working in 2008 for a legislator in her congressional district, and there is by no means a close relationship from that point, but it is someone i admired, but it didn't matter at that point. but the thing that was most important for me was to do the thing that i could do the most amount of people. >> do you see a career of politics for you? >> heck no. i have enjoyed the role i have had, but however, being 21, i have no idea what i will be doing in the next six months, let alone the next six years or ten years, but i know i will help others. and whether that is an advocate to do lobbying like i have on higher education or k-12 education or running for office, i don't know what it really holds in the future, but i know that for right now, i am content exactly where i am. there is too much politics on the school board and i can't imagine going any further than that. >> thank you, daniel, so much. >> just an amazingly inspirational story of someone choosing to go into public service and make a difference. and next is casey anthony, did she get away from murder? and the violent end of a brutal dictator. and remembering the visionary, as the stories of 2011 come back "outfront." 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