The most popular stories of 2012
As 2012 comes to a close we went through our site logs to find the most popular stories of the year. As is often the case, this year's list is a mix of bizarre, humorous and tragic news from right here in Seattle and around the world.
Here are the stories komonews.com users clicked on more than anything else in 2012:
20) Woman fatally shot in Downtown Seattle by suspected cafe gunman
After the shootings at Cafe Racer that left several people dead, Ian Stawicki carjacked and shot a woman at a parking lot at Eighth and Seneca Street. Full story >>>
19) Airline fined for in-flight bikini show
A group of bikini-clad beauty queens in Vietnam strutted through a packed airplane as dance music blasted a song with the lyric "I'm crazy for banana." Full story >>>
On January 17, snow fell in many areas around Western Washington, closing schools and making the commute very difficult for many drivers. Full story >>>
17) Hidden camera shows workers on 520 Bridge project drinking on job
A KOMO investigation discovered workers drinking on the largest construction job in the state. Full story >>>
16) Suspected gunman dies in hospital
Ian L. Stawicki, who killed 5 people in a shooting rampage in Seattle, died at a hospital after turning the gun on himself. Full story >>>
15) Bus driver says caffeine made him grope girls
The bizarre defense from bus driver Kenneth Sands had readers quickly clicking on and sharing this story. Full story >>>
14) Jordan McCabe - Now this kid's got game
The video of Jordan McCabe's amazing basketball skills was first posted on komonews.com in 2010, but it continues to be shared and spread around the world. It made the list of most popular stories in 2010 and 2011, and in 2012 it was again one of the most-viewed posts on our site. Full story >>>
13) Mary Kay Letourneau now a grandmother
This story didn't even make the annual most popular list the year it was posted. But the 2011 story caught fire in 2012 as people found it when searching for news about the infamous teacher. Full story >>>
12) Half-naked woman in hot pink duct tape attacks, injures 3 cops
This is one of those headlines that readers couldn't help but click, and coverage of the outlandish incident was quickly shared around the world. Full story >>>
11) Man kills mother, then 26 at grade school
The horrifying tragedy in Newton, Connecticut captured the attention of readers last week and made this initial story about the killings one of the most-viewed posts of the year. Full story >>>
10) Third grader shot at Bremerton elementary school
A young student took a gun to Armin Jahr Elementary School and the weapon fired through his backpack, striking then 8-year-old Amina Bowmen. Full story >>>
9) Eastern Washington hole is shrouded in mystery
Some believe what lies beneath the Manastash Ridge near Ellensburg is a deep, dark hole with supernatural powers. Full story >>>
8) Longtime KOMO News anchor Eric Slocum dies
Eric was a part of the KOMO News team for 16 years, starting in 1991. He died in February at the age of 54. Full story >>>
7) Mayor issues emergency order after mayhem in Seattle
Violent protesters clashed with police and smashed windows throughout Downtown Seattle during May Day demonstrations. Full story >>>
6) Josh Powell, 2 young sons, killed in powerful house explosion
Readers were shocked by the violent deaths of two young boys caught up in their father's ongoing legal troubles. Josh Powell killed himself and his sons in February, more than two years after Powell's wife Susan vanished under suspicious circumstances. Full story >>>
5) Gunman sought after 3 killed, 2 injured in U-District shooting
The initial coverage of the mass shootings at Cafe Racer dominated readers' attention throughout the day of May 30, making it the fifth most-read stories of the year. Full story >>>
4) Officer threatens to make up evidence after arrest of innocent men
Tracy Vedder's story about a Seattle police officer caught on tape talking about "making up" evidence while two wrongly arrested men sit in jail was quickly shared far and wide. Full story >>>
3) New museum celebrates America's love affair with the car
Eric Johnson got a sneak preview of Harold Lemay's cars at a new museum in Tacoma, and fans of classic cars were quick to click and share the story ahead of the grand opening. Full story >>>
2) Pros and cons of Shellac nail polish
Number 2 on the 2012 list is another example of how news stories can continue to drive large amounts of traffic long after they are first published. Connie Thompson's coverage evaluating the pluses and minuses of Shellac nail polish was posted in 2011 and already made last year's list of most-read stories. It was again one of the most-viewed stories on komonews.com in 2012, as people from around the world looking for information about the new nail polish came across Connie's story. Full story >>>
1) Kathi Goertzen dies after long battle with brain tumors
Coverage of the death of KOMO 4 anchor Kathi Goertzen was the most-read story on komonews.com in 2012. Viewers from around Washington and all over the world left thoughts and remembrances of Kathi and spent time looking back at her amazing career. Full story >>>
Violence, violence, violence, make-up, violence, death, snow.
Nail polish? Really? sad
Nail Polish? I guess you have pin pointed your target audience.. :-D
I thought the Powell boys and Conneticut would be top three. Saw well over 1000 comments on the school shooting. But yeah, Kathi's without a doubt would be number 1. Yeah, it's been a rather interesting year.
Woot!! The "mysterious hole" loved that one. Why not a series on "haunted" houses or mines or stuff?
Did i miss the story about gays being able to marry and pot being legal. I would of thought they would have been on the top ten list.
 @Just my say Most people--like it shows on the list, are interested in nail polish, human interest stories and mass carnage. Gay marriage and pot are only interesting to the people involved
@chandler @Just my say I'd say it has more to do with the fact that no SINGLE gay-marriage or pot article stood out. There were simply too many of them floating around.
 @Scoondog  @virtual anomaly  @chandler Ditto with the privatization of liquor sales in Washington State.
 @virtual anomaly  @chandler The pot bill I mean... the gay marriage thing, whatever.
 @virtual anomaly  @chandler  @Just Yeah but getting it passed... now that was pretty major!
 @virtual anomaly  @chandler  @Just true. They kind of blur after awhile. I remember the arguments on the comment threads more than the articles themselves.
The majority of the photos and news stories attached are tragic events in one way or another. Even Mary Kay Letourneau was a tragedy. We remember tragedies more because they hit home, they are heart wrenching, they leave us without a complete understanding. We remember the events most recent like the Sandy Hook School massacre of just days ago. That being most recent and most tragic should be the most forefront in our minds.
The Powell tragedy...again, children involved, questions unanswered and local to us here in the Pacific Northwest will be held firmly in our minds and hearts.
For me, they are all heart breaking and I will remember them the rest of my days but the passing of Kathi Goertzen I think, will always effect me the most. Such a beautiful, caring and talented woman...so full of life and hope. Not just for her to overcome the tumors that plagued her incessantly but her belief and hope and the assurance she would beat this...we all believed she would. My heart was broken when she passed away. I was in total shock and disbelief when I heard she had left us. She wasn't suppose to go...she was going to come back any day to her post as news anchor next to Dan Lewis. Sadly, this was not to come.
So, for me, Kathi's life and passing were the most memorable for me.Â
We all miss her........
Â
This list is not KOMO's fault it is ours. We clicked on these stories. We read about the loss of Kathi and left comments of haw we will remember her. She was such a beeautiful lady and a great news person. The other stories we clicked on may not mean much but we still clicked on them. Some of these stories have been the top stories for maore than a year and still we clicked on them. Dont blame KOMO look in the mirror or your computer history and see if you clicked on them. I know I did on quite a few (not the nail polish). Clicking on a story of killers doesn't mean it glorifies them it means we wanted information at the time.
Man, What a year.. We had great loses, horrible stories and some weird stories.. I just hope that 2013 is more calm, but then again, I seem to say this every year :/ RIP Kathy Goertzen
Thanks Komo for continuing to glorify these killers and give other mentally sick people ideas. Komo you disgust me!
 @CB You clicked and commented and the CT shooter story.  Welcome to being the problem.
The trivial and ludicrous ranked right up there with appalling tragedies? Â How incredibly sad. Â And the fact that a couple of these non-news stories are in the line up twice goes beyond sad and becomes pathetic. Â Happily I missed several of these fascinating tidbits when they were "top news". Â
@newsie So I guess bad news is the only news worth seeing? I am also sadly surprised by the nail polish story, but more sad that there is not a single political story on the whole list. Only thing missing was a story on Snooki.
I'm having SERIOUS trouble believing these numbers. I really do not think it's possible that nail polish and a car museum came in ahead of such as that creep killing his two boys.
 @Commenter87643 Please remember that the komonews.com site is used and accessible by people well beyond just the Puget Sound area. While the nail polish story might not have resonated as much with our local readers, it got a tremendous amount of traffic from people around the world who found it when searching for information about the product. This doesn't mean that the story was more important or otherwise judged to be more significant locally than the Powell story. This is a list of what stories were viewed the most during the year.
I'm still stunned and saddened by the loss of Kathi Goertzen.Â
Oh good...the annual re-hash of old news. The utterly boring editorial chestnut. But hey, content is content, right KOMO?
How pathetic is it that #2 is something about fake nails and #18 is about a snow shower? Â
The mysterious hole? Â Seriously? Â What about your daily posts trying to create Marijuana drama?
Break the Taboo - commentary provided by Morgan Freeman -Â https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8UtNF-Le2L0
 @Hueski hey--the mysterious hole was interesting. I clicked on it again.