STORIES THAT CHANGED OUR LANDSCAPE

Mark Dayton was elected the first Democratic-Farmer-Labor governor in 20 years after a monthlong recount. Republicans took control of both houses of the Legislature for the first time in 38 years. The departing DFL Legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty plugged a $3 billion hole in the state budget — but left a $6 billion mess for the next governor and Legislature to clean up. And Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar lost his 36-year hold on the 8th Congressional District seat in an upset almost no one saw coming. (November)

Controversies and progress continue to characterize the most ambitious — and expensive — public works project ever attempted in St. Paul, if not the state: the Central Corridor light-rail line. from a civil rights lawsuit to construction headaches, the saga lasted all year and will continue into 2011: The project awaits official federal approval — and funding. (All year)

More than 20 churches are slated to close and dozens more will share pastors in a restructuring of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The move by Archbishop John C. Nienstedt was brought on by financial and demographic changes in the archdiocese. (October)

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman took the oath for a second term. His challenges: Falling revenues from the state and no increase to the city's property tax levy. Matt Bostrom, a St. Paul police commander, unseated longtime Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, while department veteran Thomas Smith became St. Paul police chief in June following John Harrington's retirement. Valeria Silva became St. Paul public schools' new superintendant, and Eric Kaler was chosen to become the University of Minnesota's 16th president.

In February, the last of Taste of Minnesota co-founder and personality extraordinaire Ron Maddox's self-described nine lives expired. The festival's new owners put on their second July 4 event. soon it was clear that Event Marketing LLC couldn't pay its bills to vendors, talent or even the city. Creditors forced the operation into bankruptcy, and the future of Taste is uncertain. (All year)

Minnesota gained its first large state park in more than three decades when the state completed a land deal with U.S. Steel transferring about 3,000 acres along the east side of Lake Vermilion.

CAUSED A CONTROVERSY

Imprisoned Toyota driver Koua Fong Lee won his freedom after attorneys — alerted by a Pioneer Press story — argued that a 2006 accident that killed three people in St. Paul was caused by "sudden unintended acceleration." End result: A Ramsey County judge threw out Lee's conviction for criminal vehicular homicide, and the county attorney said she would not re-try him. he was released that day after more than two years in prison. (August)

More than three years after law enforcement launched an investigation into Republican National Convention protest activities, the cases of the "RNC 8" were resolved. One of the eight members of the "RNC Welcoming Committee" pleaded guilty of a gross misdemeanor and was sentenced to 91 days in jail. four others pleaded to gross misdemeanor charges but served no additional time. (October)

Bethany Morton breastfed her child twice in public in early April and a scene erupted each time when she was asked to cover up. in the most serious case — at a Maplewood old Country Buffet — police were called. "They're within their rights to ask me, but I don't have to comply," she said. Morton eventually led a "feed in" on the steps of the buffet. (April)

An icestorm and snowstorm around Christmas 2009 left western portions of the city with fouled-up roads, prompting some city council members to give a tongue-lashing to public works higher-ups, including Director Bruce Beese. in the spring, Beese came under fire again — and was forced to step down — after KSTP-TV cameras documented what appeared to be pothole-patching workers loafing on the job while roads remained rutty. Rich Lallier took over as public works director, and months later one of the largest snowstorms in Minnesota history struck the Twin Cities, burying some streets for days.

Fallout from the Metro Gang Strike Force continued. Lawsuits were settled, including one for $3 million. Federal prosecutors investigated the unit but charged only one member in 2010 — a former Minneapolis police officer accused of violating a teen's civil rights by kicking him. A jury acquitted the officer. (November)

The Minneapolis police officer who gained notoriety for his 2006 shooting of Fong Lee spent more time in a courtroom in 2010 than he did on the beat. Jason Andersen's travails included a federal criminal trial on a civil rights charge (he was acquitted); challenging his 2009 firing by Chief Tim Dolan (an arbitrator ordered he be reinstated); an order by superiors to take a drug test (a state judge stepped in and said there was no justification for the test); and a fight with the city over whether he could collect unemployment benefits (a judge ruled he was eligible). (All year)

Progress on building a $668 million bridge across the St. Croix River stalled in October when the National Park Service — reversing an opinion issued five years ago — said the bridge should not be allowed because the river is protected by the U.S. Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. (March)

MADE US TALK

A former assistant Hennepin County attorney was charged with six felony counts of promoting prostitution, and pleaded guilty of three counts, in an operation that set up supposed "nice guy" customers for prostitutes. John Paul St. Marie, 66, of Minneapolis received free or reduced-price sex in exchange for his services, prosecutors said. His sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 20. seven men who were allegedly customers — arrested during a police sting at the Hotel Minneapolis — face gross misdemeanor charges. (July)

Longtime Washington County Commissioner Myra Peterson's bid for re-election was upset by 20-something Autumn Lehrke, who has no political experience. Peterson, also a former mayor, looks ahead to her first break from government service in 17 years. Lehrke, a gas station manager and graduate student, starts her new job in January. (November)

There were three fatal officer-involved shootings in 2010 in Washington County, on the heels of a fourth that happened in December 2009. Jeffrey Lee Clausen, 33, of St. Paul Park, was shot during a traffic stop as part of an ongoing weapons investigation. Robert "Bobby" Wilson, 27, was shot during a traffic stop after dragging an officer caught in the vehicle as Wilson attempted to get away. Timothy Hanson, 55, shot at officers as they responded to a domestic-disturbance call, wounding one before being shot and killed in return. And Gerald Propps fatally shot his wife in Stillwater and fired at a responding officer, who returned fire and killed him. (All year)

MADE US PROUD

When Donna Mae Larson handed her high school sweetheart a journal, she didn't know it was against military regulations. or that the tiny, 60-page book would sail the South China Sea, nearly sink to the bottom of the ocean, presumably get lost forever — and be returned anonymously and land in the Library of Congress, where it is a treasured item. Dale Reishus left his diary behind on the destroyer where he spent four years during World War II. Donna and Dale were married for 57 years. After Dale died, Donna gave the diary to the Library of Congress' Veterans' History Project, where it is held up as an example of stories the project hopes to preserve. (October)

Carol Beggs, who owned a modest home, had few visible assets and led a humble lifestyle, left $2.5 million to Hamline University when she died. The former 3M chemist graduated in 1966, pinched pennies and invested wisely. her gift was the fifth-largest in the school's history. Friends said Beggs hoped a Hamline student would someday find a cure for cancer, the disease that ended her life at 62. (October)

No amount of political pressure could get Betty Lou Adelmann to sell Adelmann's Farm Market at Minnesota 13 and Shawnee Road in Eagan. Adelmann, who opened her old-fashioned vegetable stand with her husband in the 1950s, employed generations of Eagan residents and refused to budge when the Metropolitan Council attempted to acquire the acre beneath her worn greenhouse for a bus garage. in October 2003, she told the Pioneer Press, "All I can do is what I can do. ... Someday, I will be gone, but I will be here as long as I can wiggle." After 11 years of pickling and canning while on kidney dialysis, she died in February at 73. her family-run stand closed at the end of October.

Downtown Stillwater was the site of the weighing of the world-record 1,810.5-pound pumpkin in October. The pumpkin, grown over the summer by Chris Stevens of new Richmond, Wis., set the world record at Stillwater's Harvest Fest on Oct. 9, appeared a few days later on "Live with Regis and Kelly" and was displayed at the new York Botanical Garden. (October)

A hunter in the Fish Lake Wildlife Area south of Grantsburg, Wis., found a trumpeter swan bleeding from a shotgun wound. The bird had difficulty flying and it was believed to have only days to live. it was rehabbed at a local animal clinic and released back into the wild. Weeks later, it reunited with its mate. (October)

Thousands of Minnesotans — from lone individuals to churches, organizations, corporations and aid groups — rushed to dispatch aid after an earthquake demolished poverty-stricken Haiti. (January)

MADE US MAD

Maplewood police Sgt. Joseph Bergeron was in his squad car, still wearing his seatbelt, when Jason J. Jones reached in the door and fatally shot the 49-year-old in the head May 1. Bergeron had come into St. Paul looking for carjacking suspects and encountered them on the Bruce Vento Trail. Joshua Michael Martin later admitted to trying to distract Bergeron while Jones approached. St. Paul police officer Dave Longbehn fatally shot Jones during a scuffle later that night, and Martin was sentenced to more than 35 years in prison. (May through August)

Even after reports surfaced that his foreign investment accounts were shaky, Trevor Cook convinced dozens of hopeful clients to trust him and his Minneapolis-based firms with their savings. Pat Kiley of Burnsville trumpeted Cook's supposedly foolproof schemes through the syndicated faith-and-finance radio program "Follow the Money." in the end, Cook, 38, of Apple Valley, lost $158 million of his investors' $191 million in what prosecutors called one of the largest frauds in state history. Cook was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison, the final prison term handed down by U.S. District Judge James Rosenbaum, who reminded Cook's defense attorney at the time "what a jerk he had for a client." more than 900 investors lost money in the fraud, and most are expected to recoup pennies on the dollar. (August)

Sean Fitzpatrick, 18, of Woodbury was sitting in the back seat of a friend's Pontiac G6 when it was rear-ended by a Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Edward T. Jaworski. Jaworksi, 38, of Mahtomedi, was charged with driving while intoxicated; court records showed he had been charged with driving while intoxicated four times since 1997. After spending the past two months recovering, Sean returned to East Ridge High School in Woodbury — half days. Fellow students at the school plan to lobby the Legislature this spring to tighten drunken-driving laws. (August)

SHOCKED US

Two Lakeland ninth-graders were found dead in a wooded clearing in Lakeland one chilly fall evening. The medical examiner ruled that Jacob Campbell, 14, shot Lisa Grijalva, 15, before turning the shotgun on himself. (October)

The masked robber who stuck up banks, convenience stores, coffee shops and even a woman at a bus stop wasn't your typical bandit. The 29-year-old Rosemount man was a military-trained Minneapolis cop and a member of the police department's hard-charging SWAT, or special operations, force. Timothy Carson was sentenced to eight years in federal prison. (August)

Fire raced through a 98-year-old Minneapolis building that housed McMahon's Irish Pub, killing six people, including the pub's bartender and three young children who were living with him. (April)

Less than a month after Sabrina Schumacher got her driver's license, she was involved in a two-vehicle crash in Cambridge that claimed the lives of her four passengers and both occupants of the other car. She was the lone survivor. (April)

Bilha Omare lived in fear of her husband. Justus Ogendi Kebabe had beaten her unconscious in the past and threatened to kill her numerous times, she told a sheriff's deputy nearly two years ago. Finally, in October, deputies found the bodies of Omare and the couple's 9-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son in their Vadnais Heights apartment. Kebabe later admitted to the killings. (October)

Patrick McHugh strangled himself in the Ramsey County jail after being charged with fatally shooting his sister, Mary Malicki; her husband, Clyde Malicki; and Mary and Clyde's daughter, Kristy Malicki, in Highland Park where McHugh resided with his mother. McHugh's sister, Kathleen Dorgan, 56, was shot but survived. The mother was in the home but was not shot. (August)

The dangers of living with a violent spouse are well publicized, but not as much is written about the dangers women face after their relationships end. in August, Svetlana and Charles Hanson were shot to death through the living room window of their Eagan home by Svetlana Hanson's ex-husband, who was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in their yard. in April, Minneapolis tattoo artist Trace Maxwell crisscrossed the metro, killing former girlfriend Amy Terborg of Eagan, Excel Manufacturing co-founder Bryan Andrew Fisher of Inver Grove Heights and roofing contractor Jason Rand of Brooklyn Park before taking his own life during a police chase. in March, Joel Munt of Burnsville rammed his ex-wife's car with his SUV and shot Svetlana Munt to death in a Mankato park as their three young children looked on. (All year)

Two masked marauders entered the Seward Market & Halal Meat on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis and within seconds, three people had been shot dead in a robbery gone bad. Two teens, Mahdi Hassan Ali and Ahmed Shire Ali, were later charged with first-degree murder in the case. although Ahmed Ali eventually pleaded guilty in a plea bargain, the attorney for Mahdi Ali contested the state's claim that his client was old enough to be tried as an adult. A judge later ruled he was old enough to stand trial as an adult, and that trial is scheduled to begin in January. (January)

... AND, OF COURSE, THE WEATHER

The fifth-worst snowstorm in Minnesota history dumped 17 to 20 inches on the Twin Cites metro area over a single weekend. City officials in St. Paul struggled for days to clear city streets, irritating some residents who had no easy egress from their homes. (December)

One chilly night in November, ice-coated roads and sidewalks wreaked havoc across central and southern Minnesota, resulting in hundreds of crashes and hospitals filled with patients injured from slips and falls. Two people died, including a 12-year-old girl in Stearns County, and one trio of elderly friends were trapped in their car for nine hours. they passed the time chatting and hung out even longer in front of the television eating ham sandwiches when they finally reached one's home, having gone just over a dozen miles in nine hours.

Over the summer, 104 tornadoes spun through Minnesota, shattering the state record of 74 in 2001. that number gives Minnesota the highest tornado count in the nation. And although some areas of the country could see more tornadoes this year, Minnesota is on track to be 2010's top twister state for the first time. (All year)