Highland Park Patch's Top Stories of 2011

2011 was quite the year for Highland Park, and for this news website the year couldn't have been more exciting. 

The city elected , rejected and for the controversial, city-owned. One Highland Park native while another became embroiled. 

, and the city in the face of frequent outages and intense summer storms.

See the full list of top stories below, and feel free to let us know what other stories you loved in 2011.  

1.  The  and  were both  in September.
2. : One day after he was removed as president of Penn State, Highland Park High School alum Graham Spanier has lost another distinction.
3. : After a hotly contested mayoral race, Nancy Rotering defeated former councilwoman Terri Olian by 347 votes in April.
4. : Oded Orbach, a Highland Park resident, was arrested in February and charged with agreeing to provide weapons to the Taliban.
5. : Moishe (left) and Isaac Nava pull an all-nighter this year to get ready for La Casa de Isaac and Moishe's grand opening.
6. : After 18 years, Dave Limardi decided to resign from his post effective Jan. 1, 2012.
7. : Highland Park High School senior Aaron Shapiro was among 30 high school students from across the country chosen to perform in the Grammy's 2011 Jazz Ensemble, leading up to the Grammys.
8. : After months of community contention, voters strongly defeated a.
9. : Dan Weiss, co-creator of "Game of Thrones," has been an avid fantasy fan since he was a kid growing up in Highland Park. Now his fantasy series, based on the book series by George R.R. Martin, was nominated in 13 Emmy categories, including best drama series, best director and best screenwriting.
10.  Everyone from to the to had harsh words for Comed after the summer was rocked by power outages throughout the city.

And, as an added bonus, the most-read columns of 2011 were:

Thanks for making 2011 so fulfilling, education and fun. I'm looking forward to bringing more news to more readers in 2012. Happy new year!