Crime, business closings, and debates over ambulance service and economic development dominated reader interest in 2016.
Here by category, from among 4,037 stories we published in 2016 are the 16 most read stories by the 20,215 regular weekly readers of our websites:
BUSINESS
1. Straub implement dealer to close; poor sales cited
2. Flint Hills Market and Bakery closes, later resurrected as ‘organic alternative’
3. Prices drop, labels change with grocery merger
4. New MacGregor’s restaurant and bar coming to downtown Marion
5. Antique store selling out to Fam-Lee Bakery
6. Marion Pizza Hut closes permanently
7. Marion lands new sliding farm door business
8. Hillsboro Wal-Mart closing
9. Former Mom and Pop’s Café purchased
10. Vinduska sells dental practice to Wichita couple
11. Enseys buy Elgin Hotel
12. Flint Hills Gold closes
13. New C.W. Bakery features bierocks, bolsos
14. Marion group assists with Peabody Market purchase
15. Fay husband-wife duo buy chiropractic clinic
16. MKC merger rejected; co-op moves on
CRIME
1. Lincolnville business owner faces multiple charges in drug case
2. Sex offender allegedly rapes girl days after plea bargain
3. Preschool worker charged in connection with Hesston shooting
4. Peabody woman arrested on arson, assault charges
5. Phone threats evacuate Tabor
6. Hillsboro preacher’s wife faces domestic battery charge
7. Gun-toting teen arrested on drug charges
8. Former resident jailed for alleged rape of minor here
9. 5 teens arrested on multiple drug charges
10. Marion police chief saves neglected lapdog
11. Hillsboro drug suspect accused of weapons threat a week later
12. Mother, son arrested in Oklahoma credit card case
13. Woman escapes; man faces battery charges in Hillsboro domestic dispute
14. Marion man, 55, arrested for alleged sex offense involving woman in her 40s
15. Attempted manslaughter charge stems from shots woman allegedly fired in domestic dispute
16. Botched car theft just got worse for one-shoed suspect in Peabody
GOVERNMENT
1. Paramedic Larsen reinstated on split vote
2. Economic development discussion turns testy
3. Leiker resigns as Marion-Florence superintendent
4. Dallke temporarily blocks Lalouette as commission vice chair
5. Florence school goes to county; demolition in limbo
6. Legislature could force schools to consolidate
7. County concerned with low-income housing
8. Holub edges out contenders in primary, loses to Novak in general
9. 190th Rd. closes indefinitely
10. Resident offers to pay, do work to keep 80th Rd. open
11. County won’t budge, labels Lincolnville site a salvage yard to be regulated
12. Lake developer at odds with county over cove dock
13. Neighbor’s chickens ruffle feathers; Marion agrees to review ordinance
14. Big rigs banned from dam
15. ‘Dirty’ politics about dumping site for dirt mire Marion council candidates in conflict
16. County keeps paying student loans
JUSTICE
1. Leniency for rapist of 9-year-old girl
2. Courtroom outburst draws harsh penalties in Peabody underage drinking case
3. Burns man sentenced to 59 months for indecent liberties with girl, 14
4. After 29 years, justice served in speeding case
5. Former resident sentenced for torching her Marion home
6. $8 million fraud case linked to Hillsboro
7. Guilty on 24 counts, fines zero for Peabody animal ordinance violations
8. Dodge City woman faces prison for sex crime against Marion child
9. Manhunt crashes through northern tier of county
10. Former Centre school bus driver sentenced for abuse
11. Nursing home fraud allegations investigated at Westview Manor
12. Former Peabody honor student seeks to withdraw rape plea, get new lawyer
13. Judge orders corporation running Hillsboro hospital to pay up
14. County attorney to decline similar position in Ellsworth
15. Longtime judicial journey continues for Powers
16. Drug court not coming soon to county
ODDITIES
1. Puzzling pentagram found at lake
2. Jar of weed found under sleeping child
3. Facebook erupts over Hillsboro abduction rumors
4. Farmer discovers forgotten historic trail
5. Cop’s nose leads to drug arrest in his yard
6. Souvenir hand grenade goes out with a bang
7. Is her roommate a poltergeist?
8. Kid-napped? Pregnant nanny’s disappearance gets couple’s goat
9. Tased and confused, bewildered buck freed from clothesline
10. Retired police dog lives out bucket list
11. Retired conservationalist’s man cave is not metaphorical
12. Expired Rx: When cocaine was legal
13. Angler catches 26-pounder on 2-pound test line at county lake
14. Little white church in the field is designed to inspire
15. Marion police investigate reports of underage golf cart racing
16. record world breaks Man: HHS grad runs fastest backward mile
PEOPLE
1. Tragic Peabody woman’s death leaves young daughter on her own
2. Snakebit: Once-in-a-lifetime trip almost leads to tragedy
3. Rare deadly disease strikes Peabody woman
4. Feared brain dead, Marion accident victim returns home
5. Home at last, Vietnam MIA Klenda receives full military honors as emotions swell
6. Peabody football player recovering from scary head injury
7. Romance blossomed at Camp Wood YMCA for Marion couple
8. Cindy’s Café owner seeks help battling painful abdominal hernia
9. There’s a job out there that’s waiting for developmentally disabled Ella
10. From Russia to Hillsboro, new studio owner on a mission to dance
11. Hero for a day: Tabor student rescues toddler
12. Boxer’s bronze turns into gold for Marion shirt maker
13. From darkness to light: Blind woman regains some sight
14. MHS grad parlays local connection into top job with behavioral health firm
15. Injured cyclist on long road to recovery
16. Birthday ‘gift’ took years of hard work for new state FFA president Meyer
TRAGEDY
1. Elevator fire forces 2½-hour evacuation
2. Apparent suicide victim found dead in cemetery near Hillsboro
3. Train rips car in half near Ramona but driver escapes
4. Florence pedestrian dies in train accident
5. Missing blind man found dead
6. Driver thought she fell asleep before tumbling toward creek
7. Resident walks away from care center
8. Another care facility resident still missing a year later
9. Centre rollover kills Nebraska woman
10. Mail carrier narrowly escapes vehicle fire
11. Fire jumps road, races toward Marion
12. $182,000 fire burns for 4 days near Durham
13. Wind-whipped rescuers save two at reservoir
14. Rollover accident sends 17-year-old to Wichita hospital
15. Man in wheelchair hit by truck
16. Arsonist ignites 1,200-acre blaze near Florence
OTHER
1. Surprises dot list of tax delinquencies
2. Code red for rural hospitals
3. Collapsed garage raises asbestos disposal questions
4. Crafty farm owner builds ‘Windturbinehenge’ from scratch
5. Wind energy company eyes county
6. Summertime, and the algae are blooming
7. Bogus bills crop up in county
8. Facelift coming for Marion downtown
9. Alpine 7’ work crew invades Homestead II apartments
10. Retiring instructors reflect on teaching in Marion schools
11. Marion band teacher Barlow resigns
12. Driller seeks permission flush, not frack, at well in county
13. Aulne’s overflowing church prepares for makeover
14. Misfires mar Peabody fireworks
15. Grandpa, grandsons begin resurrecting historic stone house south of Marion
16. Schafers, Ensey saluted as Old Settlers’ grand marshals