BLOOMINGTON - Nothing draws reader interest on Pantagraph.com like a good breaking news story - or naked celebrities. | Best Pantagraph Photos of 2008 | Pantagraph Video Highlights of 2008

One of the most exciting developments of the past few years has been the complementary way many readers use our Web site to keep up to date on news in between fresh copies of the morning paper.

One advantage the Web site has over the newspaper is the ability to track which stories people are reading online. Not only does this tell us what readers want to read, but it allows us to compile fun lists like the following Top 30 most-read stories of 2008.

Some of these will come as no surprise to readers who've been following along all year, but others, fueled by high-placement in search engine results or links from national sites may leave some scratching their heads. (Click on the headlines to see the original story).

1. Jennifer Aniston poses nude on January cover of GQ magazine

DEC. 16: Jennifer Aniston put her nearly 40-year-old body on display on the January cover of GQ magazine to generate buzz for her new movie, "Marley and Me."

Editor's note: If Aniston was trying to catch people's attention, it sure worked for our Web site, with our story showing up as the top news headline in Yahoo! searches for the actress' name for more than a week, adding up to nearly 125,000 page views. A perfect example of the power of search engines on local Web site traffic.

2. 21-year-old charged in murder of pregnant sister-in-law in LeRoy

OCT. 29: A 21-year-old man was charged with sexually assaulting, beating and strangling to death his pregnant sister-in-law in a room where his wife and three children were sleeping.

Editor's note: This was a story, viewed more than 60,000 times, that built interest from early in the morning of Oct. 28, and drew a huge online following through successive updates over the course of two days.

3. Men becoming priests at mid-life

SEPT. 13: In what he calls his past life, the Rev. Geoffrey Horton worked at a Bloomington-Normal insurance company, coached a women's softball team, owned a home and invested in a 401K.

Editor's note: This story, sharing a local angle on the trend of older men joining the priesthood, garnered national interest with a link from the Drudge Report, accounting for more than 58,000 views.

4. 2 dead, at least 2 wounded after Riley Dr. shooting

FEB. 12: Two people were killed and two more were wounded in a shooting on Riley Drive in Bloomington. Police spokesman Duane Moss said two people were killed in the shooting reported about 8:32 p.m. in the apartment building at 333 Riley Drive.

Editor's note: This is another story that reporters and photographers scrambled to cover late in the evening and break on the Web site. It also gained a ton of views with subsequent updates.

5. Bloomington man dead after stabbing outside downtown tavern

NOV. 16: Bloomington police continue to investigate the death of a 26-year-old Bloomington man who was stabbed outside a downtown tavern, at least the sixth homicide in the Twin Cities this year.

Editor's note: This incident occurred after Sunday's newspaper went to print late Saturday, making efforts to break and update this story on the site Sunday morning crucial to keeping readers informed.

6. Blagojevich arrested, allegedly put 'for sale sign' on Senate seat

DEC. 9: Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich found himself at the center of a national firestorm after he was arrested by the FBI on charges he tried to get cash and favors for appointing a successor to Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.

Editor's note: Readers seemed shocked but not surprised to find the Gov. in hot water over what many have played off as typical Chicago politics.

7. Ex-police sergeant Pelo convicted on all counts of rape, stalking

JUNE 18: In a courtroom overflowing with spectators and emotion, former police officer Jeffrey Pelo was convicted Wednesday of raping four Twin City women and stalking another - a decision that could mean he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Editor's note: We devoted unprecedented online resources to the coverage of this case, supplementing our print stories with video, audio and photo galleries. It was rewarding to see readers stick with us through the end of the trial.

8. Lockdown ends at State Farm; sighting was of custodian

JULY 3: A gun scare at State Farm Corporate Headquarters ended peacefully Thursday afternoon after a suspected gunman turned out to be a custodian carrying what may have been a pipe on his shoulder.

Editor's note: This started out with phone calls reporting a large group of police officers amassing at State Farm. In the post-9/11 era of terrorist threats and corporate and school shootings, it set everyone on edge on the day before a long Independence Day weekend. Luckily it turned out to be nothing serious. This story also brought a spike in users to the mobile phone version of our site, www.pantagraph.com/mobile, as many sequestered SF employees used it to keep up on the developing situation.

9. Earthquake rattles Central Illinois, but no major damage reported

APRIL 18: Like many other Central Illinoisans, Julie Crowe of Normal had two reactions that don't usually go together after Friday morning's 5.2-magnitude earthquake.

Editor's note: I was one of the many who woke up when the quake rattled the lighting fixtures and one of a handful of editors who jumped online to report the initial story on the site. After I checked to make sure the kids were OK, of course.

10. 22-year-old shot during alleged break-in charged with burglary

SEPT 24: A 22-year-old Normal man who was shot during an alleged break-in at a Bloomington apartment was charged Wednesday with one count of residential burglary.

Editor's note: This strange story also got national attention when a link was placed on the satirical Web site Fark.com. It turned out even weirder when the suspect in this case was also charged in the November stabbing in downtown Bloomington.

11. Helicopter landing at Pontiac prison draws ire, not fire

MARCH 24: Passengers in a helicopter that landed in a parking lot at one of Illinois' toughest prisons "are lucky to be alive," say officials representing the state's prison guards.

Editor's note: Another quirky story that got a big boost from Fark.com.

12. Coroner IDs ironworker found dead after Normal crane collapse

JULY 23: A 33-year-old Mason County construction worker died Wednesday when a crane collapsed onto a raised basket in which he was working at a north Normal construction site.

Editor's note: I got to watch this story unfold from a reader's standpoint, learning of this accident from Pantagraph.com via my mobile phone while on vacation in Alaska. Interesting to be on the outside looking in.

13. Man dead from self-inflicted gunshot wound in Heyworth standoff

14. Woman killed, 16-year-old boy injured in stabbing in Normal

15. College student from Bloomington ID'd in fatal Logan Co. crash

16. Lindsay Lohan recreates Marilyn Monroe's last nude photo shoot

Editor's note: Nothing like "Lindsay Lohan" and "nude" in a headline to generate views. This story ranked highly on search engines for a couple days.

17. Police: Boy threw rock through Soulja Boy's windshield

18. Danvers man dead after getting caught in farm equipment

19. If traditions hold true, disgraced Spitzer can create new career

20. Mother of five stabbed to death in Bloomington

21. Lindsay Lohan says she's dated Samantha Ronson for 'very long time'

22. Lizard reportedly found in salad at Applebee's

23. Maureen McCormick tells all about 'Brady Bunch,' drug addiction

24. Worker at Kappa strip club accused of prostitution attempt

25. Woman dead after two-vehicle crash on Market Street

26. 100 best first lines from novels

Editor's note: Another example of the power of Internet search engines. This list accompanied a story from 2006, but still managed more than 18,500 views in 2008.

27. Family's 2 pit bulls kill infant daughter

28. Pantagraph endorses Barack Obama for president

Editor's note: The Pantagraph's first endorsement of a Democratic candidate for president in many years got a lot of attention and was also the most-commented article of 2008.

29. Police arrest familiar face in stabbing death outside tavern

30. Two teen girls die in fire in basement of Gibson City home

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Most-viewed photo galleries

1. Pontiac Flooding reader-submitted 01/10/08 187,248 views

2. Pontiac Flooding 01/10/08 156,323

3. Lockdown at State Farm 07/03/08 130,847

4. Riley Drive Shooting 02/12/08 121,905

5. Pontiac Flooding 01/09/08 113,930

6. Death of Jodi McGrew 10/28/08 102,948

7. Fatal Crash on I-74 01/22/08 88,276

8. Firefighter killed in Forrest Blaze 07/23/08 88,001

9. Obama Rally in Springfield 08/23/08 70,254

10. Pontiac Flooding 01/11/08 65,406

Note: All told, Pontiac flooding photos accounted for 546,839 views