KTUU.com's Top 10 stories of 2017

As the year comes to a close, we’re looking back at some of the most-viewed stories on KTUU.com in 2017. While politics and sexual harassment dominated national news, locally there was a mix of tragedy, public safety, and animals, among others.

Note: These stories represent only the top 10 most-read single stories. News events that covered multiple days and multiple stories’ worth of coverage, like the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting, and the Royal Suite fire (still representing

) are not reflected in this list.

1.

The deadly attack on a teen during a mountain running race garnered national attention, and prompted other race organizers to change safety procedures, or cancel races all together. It was one of two deadly black bear attacks in Anchorage that week.

2.

An Anchorage family shared video of a lynx family with seven kits. The video got a lot of attention here, and other media outlets picked it up as well. Then, two months later,

.

3.

A 13-month-old boy was in critical condition after his baby sitter allegedly threw him across the room, where he hit his head on a piano bench. The baby sitter pleaded guilty to Assault 3 in early December.

4.

An armed man along the Seward Highway near Beluga Point prompted an overnight closure of the lifeline between Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula. The suspect, Kevin Thibodeau’s, body was

.

5.

Susan Aikens, the star of “Life Below Zero,” sued BBC and others, claiming she was badly hurt in a crash that happened when producers demanded that she drive a snowmachine into overflow.

6.

A 20-year-old cat that had been the unofficial Mayor of the mountain town of Talkeetna, died in his sleep this summer. He’d held his ‘position’ – often at Nagley’s store – since 1997.

7.

Five young girls were killed in a trailer fire in the Butte in September. The Fire Marshal’s office later said the fire began in the kitchen, but the blaze is still under investigation.

8.

The first woman in Alaska to be charged with possessing child pornography was sentenced to three years in prison with three suspended, meaning if she obeys her conditions, she will serve no jail time. Brittany Robinson, who was a daycare worker at the time of her arrest in 2013, said she was sexually abused by her grandfather. The judge said she had good prospects for rehabilitation.

9.

Nine Alaskans arrived in Anchorage from southeast Alaska, expecting to be sworn in as U.S. Citizens, when they found out a computer error had told them to come to Anchorage, when their ceremony was actually scheduled to be held in Juneau, closer to their own homes. An impromptu ceremony was held that day, swearing them in as U.S. citizens.

10.

Israel Payton harvested a bull moose with an 80-inch rack this fall, which many believed to be a world record.