Local News

Your guide to the latest news from around the Northwest

Mitch Davie, center right, makes a one-handed catch of a flying bat off the swing of Atlanta Braves second baseman Dan Uggla during a spring-training baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays on March 4, 2011. A blog post about this photo came in at no. 3 of most-read stories of the year. (Photo by David Goldman / AP)

So what were the stories you, the readers, viewed more than any others in 2011? Prepare to be surprised.

Sometimes the top 10 most-read stories are not what you might expect. The number of times a story is viewed is affected by a variety of things and is often unpredictable.

For example, when other websites link out to our stories on seattletimes.com, viewership skyrockets.

At other times, Google searches bring in readers far from Mount Rainier’s shadow.

Sometimes the smallest stories, only one paragraph, will garner huge readership. (See the No. 1 story on the list.) And we’re not sure why …

Stories that are popular on the website might not get much attention in the newspaper. In fact, it’s not unusual for a story to appear online and not appear in the paper at all. Different audiences, different news appetites?

Stories that stood up for the little guy or shed light on an issue that needed to be brought out of the dark drew your attention, as did pieces about people with remarkable stories that needed or wanted to be told.

Before we get to the Top 10, here are some stories that missed the cut, but fetched high readership:

• Why straight-A’s may not get you into UW this year,
• Family faces $2,500 water bill for a leak not even on their property
• Danny Westneat’s column on a perfectly legal $800 tow.
• And you can’t leave out Amanda Knox’s overturned murder conviction

And now, here are the top 10 most-read stories:

1. Woman dies in fall at high school reunion at a Shelton casino (July 31, 2011)
2. Seattle murder conviction tossed out over ‘racist’ comments (June 9, 2011)
3. Sign him up! Fan catches bat, saves beer (March 6, 2011)
4. OK for suspect to view child porn in Tacoma jail (July 13, 2011)
5. 40 kittens later, ‘Harry Potter’ movie franchise calls it a wrap (July 9, 2011)
6. Educating Gabriel, 13, an off-the-charts prodigy (Oct. 8, 2011)
7. Wis. Democrats say AWOL lawmakers will return (March 9, 2011)
8. 12 wounded as gunfire erupts at Kent car show (July 23, 2011)
9. 96-year-old woman confesses to 1946 murder (June 8, 2011)
10. Together 74 years, Kirkland couple die less than a day apart (Aug. 7, 2011)