Election coverage, memorial stories fill top 10 most read stories online
The past year was a big one for elections. In 2012, many local and county offices were up for election, plus all state house and senate seats in addition to other state and national races.
The Sun-Focus covered school board, city, county, state legislature and congressional elections, with candidates stepping up to represent Columbia Heights, Fridley, Mounds View and New Brighton.
The stories listing candidates and providing their pictures and profiles were many of the best-read stories on the Sun-Focus website, which was updated and re-established in May 2012 from MinnLocal.com to focus.mnsun.com. (As such, records for online readership prior to May 2012 are not considered for this informal analysis.)
Coming in at the fourth most popular story on the website as of mid-December was “Totino-Grace community mourns the loss of 23-year-old Sasha McHale.” In November, the former Totino-Grace High School student athlete lost her battle with lupus. She was an excellent student at the Fridley private school and a standout athlete, particularly in basketball. This story talks about her achievements, her diagnosis and memories of McHale.
The other non-election story in the top 10 most read online stories is “Fridley Police officer killed in accident.” Officer Barry Pankonin was killed Aug. 21 in a motor vehicle accident when his motorcycle went off the road and struck a tree. The story shares some of Pankonin’s previous experiences and statements from the police department.
Other most-read stories include a feature on a 21st-century classroom model in the Columbia Heights School District, “North Park teachers, students settle into new classroom” (No. 12, published Oct. 9); followed by a story about a bowling center closing in Fridley, “AMF Maple Lanes Bowling in Fridley to close” (No. 13, published Aug. 8); and “Teachers come with new ideas for school technology grant,” a story about grants awarded with Fridley School Districts funds to teachers with unique ideas for using technology in the classroom (No. 17, published June 9).
Headlines that come next include “Level 3 sex offender moving to Mounds View” (No. 18), “Totino-Grace HS alum to become Wild play-by-play announcer” (No. 19) and “Erin Brockovich town hall highlights superfund sites in Fridley” (No. 20).
Find these stories and more by visiting focus.mnsun.com and entering keywords in the search bar on the right-hand side of the page.
