Each year I try and create a Top 10 News Story List for the year.

It really is not as easy to do as it might sound. Or maybe it does not sound that easy to you. Maybe you think it takes a lot of work.

It does.

First, it involves re-reading all 52 issues of the Register from 2015. Well, re-scanning the issues anyway.

I look for interesting stories in each issue. And, if there are any really creative photos to save for the ‘Our favorite photos of 2015’ feature I plan on doing.

And, if there are any great sports events going on, we save those for the Top 10 Sports Stories of the Year box which you can see on page 12.

Some years there are some pretty obvious selections for the Top 10 List. Other years, not so much.

We write hundreds of stories each year. Selecting just 10 is not easy. Often I combine similar stories into one selection.

For example, this year there were many stories about buildings. Buildings being demolished and the debate over who was going to pay for that razing.

We have an awful lot of those in Faribault County. I predict that our taxpayer dollars are going to go towards tearing down a lot of structures here in the next few years.

In Blue Earth, the city and/or county quietly demolished at least one business building and a couple of houses.

But, in neighboring Wells, the United South Central School District spent nearly a half a million dollars taking down the old USC school building.

And the tearing down of an old elevator in Wells caused some controversy when the county, which had agreed to pay half the cost, found out the bill was twice what was expected.

One of our Top 10 stories has to do with the recent purchases of larger buildings in Faribault County. The Wells Food Processing purchase of the former Singleteary Foods plant, and the sale of the former Elmore Academy (also the former Elmore School building) to a person who wants to put in an assisted living facility, are big stories for our area.

So is the story of the new industrial park in Blue Earth, which also includes a building a huge new facility for the Kibble Equipment John Deere dealership.

There was also the story of the Winnebago Elementary School being closed and the building being leased to the Southern Plains Educational Cooperative.

Maybe we could call 2015 the year of the building story.

But, we also had other types of stories on the list.

Of course, it is easy to include such big stories as murders, except that most years we don’t have that option.

This year we did. Although, the actual murder happened 35 years ago. Even the solution to the murder happened a long time ago.

But, the final mystery in that case from long ago, the identity of who was killed, was finally solved in 2015.

It seemed like a natural that this story be our choice for No. 1.

Was it yours?

There are also quite a few stories that were on our list of possible stories for the Top 10 List, but did not quite make it.

Some of those are so close to being chosen that I can honestly call them our ‘Honorable Mention List’ selections.

Here they are:

New welcome to Blue Earth signs. While the news that the Blue Earth EDA and the City Council are ready to move on this project, it still has a ways to go before it becomes reality.

Moto Fest plus Brew Fest equals ‘Bago Fun Fest. The story of Winnebago combining its two festivals into one is a very interesting one. And it seemed to turn out to be a good idea.

Winnebago’s potential $6.6 million sewer/street project. This one had stories in the Register all year, and it will continue to have them this year I am sure.

Blue Earth Community Foundation. The new Blue Earth Foundation is off to a fast start, including financing a new downtown mural. I am sure it will be doing more newsworthy items in the future.

New Blue Earth Chamber of Commerce Giant Building project. This is another story that is still developing and I am sure we will be doing more stories about it this year.

I hope you enjoyed our Top 10 List again this year. I am sure you have your own ideas of what should be on the list and what should not. And in what order.

As we start off on year 2016, I wish you nothing but good news all year.