Top 7 National Stories

WSVN -- From superstorm Sandy to the fall of a four-star general. 2012 had it all. 7's Craig Stevens takes a look back at the stories that made national headlines in tonight's edition of 7's top 7.

Superstorm Sandy struck the Northeast in early November. High winds and waves battered the northeast, forcing a rescue on the high seas and left millions on land in the dark.

And the New Jersey shore was destroyed. New York brought was brought to a standstill with flooded subways and streets. In all, the storm caused $50 billion in damage.

2012 was also rocked by sex scandals.

General David Petraeus stepped down as CIA Director after he admitted to an affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell.

The affair was made public after Broadwell sent threatening e-mails to Tampa socialite Jill Kelley. Kelley, who is a friend of Patraeus and his family, reported the e-mails to the FBI. The president stood by his Security Chief.

Secret service agents were also involved in a sex scandal.

Nearly a dozen agents were linked to prostitutes in Colombia when President Obama visited that country. It came to light after one of the prostitutes complained about not being paid.

The Penn State child sex scandal came to a close with the conviction of Assistant Football Coach Jerry Sandusky.

Sandusky was sentenced to 80 years in prison on 45 counts of sexual crimes against children.

Mass shootings left a trail of terror across the country.

In Aurora, Colorado, a masked man walked into the midnight premiere of the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises and opened fire. Twelve people were killed and 58 others injured. Police said the shooter, 24-year-old James Holmes, also booby-trapped his apartment with explosive devices before heading to the theater.

There was also another mass shooting. This time at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. Wade Michael Page fired shots on people at a prayer service. Six people were killed. Page, who had ties to neo-nazi groups, killed himself after a shootout with police.

Deadly storms rocked the south and midwest.

Harrisburg, Illinois was hit hard by a twister as wide as two football fields. A strip mall was flattened. Mobile homes were leveled.

A storm of trouble occurred at MIA after American Airlines started cutting jobs.

Pilots protested after a federal judge allowed the airline to dump their contracts in an attempt to balance the books.

Florida's space shuttles made their final journeys this year.

Atlantis was moved to the Kennedy Space Center's visitor complex. Endeavor was flown to California where it moved through the streets to it's new home at a space museum in Los Angeles.

The space shuttles may be grounded, but it was one man's jump that was literally out of this world.

Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian daredevil, jumped from 24-miles up, free falling at speeds of 833 miles per hour. Baumgartner now holds the record for the highest and fastest jump in history.

(Copyright 2012 by Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)