Top 10 news Stories Won't soon Fade Away

Annual top 10 story lists often skew to events that happen close to the date when the list is compiled, but this year's top story in the 2014 Associated Press rundown has had almost a half year's shelf life.

The No. 1 story, as chosen by United States AP editors and news directors, is listed, interestingly, as police killings, referring to the incidents that occurred in the summer in Ferguson, Mo., and Staten Island, N.Y., and perhaps elsewhere, in which black men who had broken the law died while in police custody or while an attempt was made to bring them into police custody.

What gave the stories national attention was not the killings themselves but the fact grand juries who examined actual evidence chose not to indict the officers, and the protests and unnecessary violence that followed the grand jury decisions.

The protests, which have continued well into this last month of the year, may have helped incite the assassination of two minority police officers in New York last weekend.

Helping make the story No. 1 is the fact it has elements of other stories simmering around the country such as police actions, black crime, race relations and incendiary activists and protesters.

Unlike some of the stories on the list, this one is not likely to fade from the national scene as 2014 turns into 2015.

Other stories on the list, as ranked by AP:

2. Ebola outbreak: In the U.S., this may go the way of Legionnaires disease, toxic shock syndrome, West Nile virus and other illnesses driven by panic and an overexcited media, but it's no joke in Africa, where nearly 7,000 have died, mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, in the worst outbreak on record.

The first cases involving U.S. health workers, and the movement of people with the disease to the U.S., sent panic through the airline industry, hospitals and people who might have been in casual contact with those infected. Fortunately, the U.S. health system proved equal to the task for most patients. And what was learned through the few cases in the U.S. should be of assistance in helping control the disease in Africa.

3. Islamic State: The organized band of terrorist fighters that President Barack Obama once compared to a "jayvee (junior varsity) team" rapidly seized territory in Iraq and Syria, but few in the administration took much notice until they began to behead several Western hostages.

Finally, reluctantly, the president responded with air strikes and sent some advisers in the hopes Iraqi and Kurdish troops could put down the uprising. To date, air strikes have killed some 1,000 fighters, but the group is reported still to be sizable and undaunted in its goal to thwart democracy.

4. U.S. elections: The more President Obama acted on his own in the first 10 months of the year, the greater the odds for a Republican Senate became. When the November midterm elections were over, the GOP held 54 of 100 seats and expanded its majorities in the House and in state governorships.

Whether Republicans will continue to be Democrats-lite in the last two years of Obama's term or press him on issues such as immigration, tax reform and Obamacare is anybody's guess. The fact it is anybody's guess does not portend well for the American people.

5. Obamacare: Though the administration loves to mention how many millions signed up for health care under the Affordable Care Act, what it doesn't mention is how many companies have dropped their insurance or made it so bad employees looked elsewhere. That others not on the plan have seen their premiums skyrocket because of it continued to make the ACA unpopular in opinion polls. What the new GOP Congress and Supreme Court do with it during 2015 is likely to keep it on the list another year.

6. Malaysia Airlines mystery: While the news of the doomed March 8 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing fades with no wreckage found, the mystery will be one for the history books. Aircraft, ships and searchers from two dozen countries sadly couldn't turn up anything of the 239 people on board.

7. Immigration: The porous Southern border, the arrival of unaccompanied minors from Central American countries and Obama's executive actions in November to grant illegal immigrants longer stays in the country will assure this issue is on the 2015 list. The next question is whether the GOP Congress or the courts can help stem the tide.

8. Turmoil in Ukraine: Russia, emboldened after the president of Ukraine was toppled in February, annexed its neighbor's Crimean peninsula in March and helped arm and defend separatists in the eastern part of the weaker country. A lesser need for its oil and slight sanctions from the U.S. and its allies have calmed the Russian bear a bit, but leader Vladamir Putin wants to return the country to its Cold War-era power.

9. Gay marriage: Votes or liberal court rulings have trumped state laws to now permit same-sex marriage in 35 states, but several courts upheld time-honored traditional marriage. Both sides hope the Supreme Court will make a final ruling, one that will change laws but not hearts.

10. VA scandal: As can be the case with a government-run organization, the Department of Veterans Affairs was cited for misconduct in its operations across the country and a cover-up of the misconduct. From several dozen to more than 1,000 are reported to have died for lack of or improper treatment. While VA Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned, mid-level bureaucratic mismanagement and hiring practices probably were at the heart of the problem.

(The voting was conducted before the announcement that the United States and Cuba were re-establishing diplomatic relations and Sony Pictures' decision to withdraw its film "The Interview" in the wake of computer hacking and threats.)

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