We asked online readers which local story they felt as the top one of 2014. The poll is unscientific, in that people might be able to vote twice by using different computers or, if they know how, the same computer. But most people tend to vote a single time. The results nevertheless are fun to view.

Here are the top 15 selections:

1. Winter was the harshest in 35 years: 158 votes

2. VA Clinic opens at Skyline Plaza: 78 votes

3. Albert Lea school calendar debated, then voted down: 71 votes

4. City reorganization debated, then voted down: 63 votes

5. Freitag defeats Kindler following vicious sheriff’s race: 59 votes

6. USC student expelled for pocket knife in locker: 18 votes

7. Bennett defeats Savick in House District 27A: 13 votes

8. Legislature approves $7.5 million for lake dredging: 11 votes

8. Blue Zones returning to Albert Lea: 11 votes

9. Ellendale man convicted of burning down his own house: 9 votes

10. Minimum wage increases for thousands of workers: 8 votes

11. Northwood evacuated after fertilizer plant catches fire: 7 votes

11. Albert Lea has ties to movies “Survivior” and “Interstellar”: 7 votes

13. Nelson’s Marketplace closes, sells, reopens as MarketPlace Foods: 6 votes

14. Heavy June rains flood streets: 3 votes

15. Tesla installs car chargers on north side of city: 3 votes

15. Albert Lea native wins HGTV interior decorating reality show: 3 votes