My choice for Collinsville's top story of 2014 is a two part story ... starting with the "move" of Collinsville's newspaper to Owasso in April 2014 (with Collinsville news items printed inside the "Owasso Reporter") ending almost 115 years of "standalone" printed news with Collinsville on the front page. The second part of that story was the introduction of a new Collinsville dedicated printed newspaper (the Times Star) which published issue Vol. 1 - No. 1 on November 6, 2014.

There are numerous "runner-up" top stories in a year with a continuation of excellence by Collinsville High School sports and academic teams. The CHS wrestlers won their 4th consecutive set of state championships. The CHS Cheerleaders were the top academic team at their state cheer competition. The CHS volleyball, softball, cross country teams all made trips to 5A state competitions. The CHS football Cardinals had a playoff win before being eliminated by the eventual state champs. The CHS band had an excellent tribute to our nations veterans as their 2014 marching program. The CHS chorus is outstanding and has a rare 6-time All-State member (Molly Stanford). The CHS academic team has earned a spot at the national competition in 2015.

2014 was a year of transitions with a new mayor (Bud York), a new school superintendent (Lance West), a new grocery store (J.B's Market), a new CHS girls basketball head coach (Susie Vaughn), a new chorus director (Samantha Taylor), and thankfully a new state superintendent of schools starting in 2015 (voting out Janet Barresi in a June 2014 primary).

-- Ted Wright -- Dec. 28, 2014

You can also click the calandar month logos above for the archived news index for that month (as well as the individual stories).