Another year is in the books, and 2024 didn’t disappoint.  Lots of big stories, but that’s true of every year, I suppose.  Some of the big stories in the United States last year:

Politics – This would probably be the biggest story of the year for our country.  Donald J. Trump, elected President in 2016, defeated by Joe Biden in 2020, ran for the third time in 2024 and was once again elected President.  Trump is the second President to serve two non-sequential terms, the first being Grover Cleveland in the late 19th-century.  Some people love Trump, some people hate Trump, but he survived two assassination attempts, and won a clear election victory in November.

Hurricanes – Hurricane Helene hit Florida in September then moved inland, causing huge amounts of flooding and destruction, leaving millions without electrical power, and over 200 persons dead.  Then in October Florida was hit again by Hurricane Milton.

Solar Eclipse – for the second time in only seven years, a total solar eclipse crossed the country.  The eclipse moved from Mexico to Texas, then proceeded northeast to New England.  Any one location on earth gets a total solar eclipse only about once every 300 years, on average.  Brownwood was just outside the zone of totality, but the sun was still obscured over 99% here.  Many Brown County schools, including Brownwood, Bangs, and Early, provided eclipse glasses for all their students.  Most people never get to see a total solar eclipse, so we were lucky to have this one.

Economy – While inflation did not go away, it did slow down some in 2024, but people still felt it in their back pockets.  The stock market was strong, with the Dow Jones index hitting 40,000 for the first time ever, and the total stock market in 2023-2024 had the best two years since 1997-1998, according to the Wall Street Journal.  The computer chip maker Nvidia’s market valuation reached $3.34 trillion in June, making it the world’s most valuable company.  Almost as valuable as…

Taylor Swift – She performed her Eras Tour, which covered five continents, sold ten million tickets, and earned gross receipts of $2 billion.  Ragging on your ex-boyfriends seems to be popular.

Sports – Willie Mays, arguably the greatest baseball player in history, died in June at the age of 93.  I’m sure he went “Say Hey!” as he passed through the Pearly Gates.  Ricky Henderson, another one of baseball’s greats, and the game’s all-time stolen-base leader, passed away in December.  The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series for the eighth time in their history.  The Dallas Cowboys completed their schedule.  But the biggest sports story of the year was Caitlyn Clark, who set the world on fire in NCAA Women’s Basketball last winter, then was drafted first by the WNBA and brought that league its highest level of attention ever.

Space – In June NASA launched two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, to the International Space Station in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, for a three-hour tour.  While they reached the space station safely, concerns with some problems in the spacecraft caused NASA to decide that it is not safe to bring the astronauts home on the Starliner.  So Butch and Suni have their hitchhiker’s thumbs out, waiting for a SpaceX craft to come get them.  The soonest that can happen will be late March.  So a mission that was supposed to last six days will last almost ten months, at least.  I hope Butch and Suni packed some extra underwear.

Well so much for national stories.  Below are the Top Ten stories of the year on Brownwoodnews.com.  Well, there are actually twelve stories on this list, but who’s counting.  We had another good year in 2024 at Brownwood News, with one-million active users and 5.7 million page views over the course of the year, for which we humbly thank you, the readers.  Here are the stories, with the number of page views for each story, and a hyper-link to the original story.

Happy New Year!

12.  “Threat Against Brownwood High School Leads to Lockdown, No Arrests Made”, 4,671 page views.  Hyperlink:  Threat

11.  “Greenleaf Cemetery Future in Question”, 4,845 page views. Hyperlink: Greenleaf

10.  “MICHAEL BUNKER: Steve Harris Died”, 5,127 page views.  Hyperlink:  Harris

9.  “Panda Express to Begin Construction in Brownwood in June”, 5,279 page views.  Hyperlink: Panda

8.  “Early ISD Superintendent Leaving for Lubbock ISD, Last Day Will Be March 17”, 5,688 page views.  Hyperlink:  Superintendent

7.  “Jaw-Dropping Event Center Complex Now a Reality with Grand Opening”, 6,057 page views.  Hyperlink:  EventCenter

6.  “Davis-Morris Building to be Sold at Auction on Tuesday”, 6,211 page views.  Hyperlink:  Auction

5.  “Significant Renovation Taking Place as Brownwood Walmart Experiences Total Face Lift”, 6,849 page views.  Hyperlink:  Walmart

4.  “Brown County on List for Oversize Travel Restriction During Solar Eclipse”, 10,648 page views.  Hyperlink:  Eclipse

3.  “ROC Black History Spotlight – The Miller Boys: A True Brownwood Story”, 12,793 page views.  Hyperlink:  Miller

2.  “PHOTOS: Feels Like Home Festival”, 13,243 page views.  Hyperlink:  Festival

And the most popular story of the year…

1.  “PHOTOS: Widespread Flooding in Brownwood and the Surrounding Area”, 42,547 page views.  Hyperlink:  Flooding