News Image by Justin A. Hinkley This collage of News file photos shows, from left to right, Adrienne Pavelka appearing via videoconference at a court hearing, Cori Williams, family nurse practitioner for Thunder Bay Community Health Service entering information into a patient’s chart, and Autumn Darga, budtender at Meds Cafe near Rogers City, displaying products at the store.

ALPENA — The death of a toddler.

The ongoing threat of the coronavirus.

Northeast Michigan’s booming marijuana industry.

Those stories and more drew significant reader interest in 2022.

Below is a look at the top five most-read News stories of the year, the stories you cared about most.

BODY FOUND IN THUNDER BAY RIVER

A city worker checking sprinklers in Washington Avenue Park in Alpena encountered a body in the Thunder Bay River on July 21.

The worker, attracted to the river by a bright piece of clothing, discovered a woman face-down in the water and unresponsive, according to police.

The worker jumped into the water and pulled the woman onto the riverbank while coworkers called 911. The workers performed CPR on the woman until the arrival of paramedics, who were not able to revive the woman.

Police said they had no reason to suspect foul play in the death of the woman, who they said was an elderly resident of the Alpena area.

Her body was only in the water for a short time before it was found, they said.

Police did not release the woman’s name or a cause of death.

CORONAVIRUS RISK

By the summer of 2022, the coronavirus pandemic had all but unofficially ended, at least in the minds of most residents who returned to essentially normal living, including attending festivals and other events with big crowds.

But, in the first months of the year, the pandemic remained very much with us.

In May, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised the virus risk level for Northeast Michigan from “low” to “medium” as cases spiked. But the warning level returned to “low” within a few weeks.

As 2022 came to a close, COVID-19 was making a bit of a comeback, with 547 new infections reported in the last three months of the year, compared to 412 in the three months of summer. Forty-one Northeast Michiganders died after contracting COVID-19 in the last three months of the year, compared to 12 in the three months of summer.

Still, public response to the threat has remained muted at the tail of end of 2022. About 59% of Northeast Michiganders have received at least one complete round of coronavirus vaccinations and 39% have received at least one booster shot, figures that have remained essentially unchanged for months.

DEATH OF A CHILD

The Alpena hospital went into lockdown and police raced to catch a killer when a mother walked into the MyMichigan Medical Center Alpena emergency room on July 22 carrying her dead child.

Aaron Trout, of Glennie, faces accusations he physically attacked 2-year-old Jayde McDonnell, inflicting massive damage that led to her death from head trauma several days later.

The alleged attack followed weeks of torture, witnesses said later, as Trout and the girl’s mother, Adrienne Pavelka, attempted to toilet train the toddler.

Police say Pavelka neglected to get help for days after the child sustained critical injuries. She finally carried her child, then deceased, into the Alpena hospital on the morning of July 22.

When she told hospital staff Trout had dropped her off, threatening further violence, administrators closed the hospital to incoming visitors. Meanwhile, police surrounded Trout’s Alcona County home, believing him the killer.

Trout was soon charged with murder, and charges against Pavelka followed.

Trout and Pavelka have both pleaded not guilty.

According to Pavelka, as related by witnesses, Trout taped the girl to a toilet training seat, locked her on a porch with her hands bound, and inflicted other abuse for several weeks before on July 19 picking the child up in a rage, causing her head to strike against a wall and floor in his home.

Pavelka told police Trout would not let her call a doctor or go to the hospital after the incident, but police said she was out of Trout’s control and could have sought help while at work and at other times before the child died.

According to an autopsy, the child showed evidence of more than 80 bruises, wounds, and other marks in various stages of healing. She died of blunt force trauma to the brain, the autopsy showed.

Trials for Trout and Pavelka are scheduled to begin in April and May, respectively.

ELECTION DAY

Perhaps the most-watched race during the 2022 election cycle was for the Alpena Public Schools Board of Education.

That heated contest was amped even further when one of the candidates got involved in an alleged altercation in Alpena in the weeks leading up to the November election. George Pena, who was accused of assaulting an Alpena man, did not win a seat.

Four new faces will soon join the APS board, as A.J. MacArthur, Eric Hansen, Anna Meinhardt, and Sarah Fritz were the top four vote-getters.

There will also be several new faces on the Alpena County Board of Commissioners. After several years of a divided board, some new faces will take seats with the hope of unifying commissioners.

Newcomers Jesse Osmer, William La Haie, Burt Francisco, and Travis Konarzewski all won seats in November.

Several property tax proposals passed in August. In Alpena County, countywide taxes for youth and recreation programs, senior services, and veterans all passed. However, a tax that would have supported the Alpena Township Fire Department failed in both August and November, which leaves questions about the future of the department heading into 2023.

Northeast Michigan’s state and federal representatives will remain Republican, as voters elected Cam Cavitt to represent the region in the State House, Michele Hoitenga to represent the region in the state Senate, and reelected Jack Bergman to represent the area in Congress.

At the state level, the Democrats took majorities in the both state chambers, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was elected to a second term.

MARIJUANA COMES TO TOWN

This year, several new marijuana businesses opened in Alpena — and more are on the horizon.

The first Alpena dispensary to open in 2022 was Neighborhood Provisions in April. Meds Cafe followed suit in July. Another new Alpena dispensary is slated to open in the coming weeks, as Zella Cannabis plans to open its doors on Chisholm Street near McDonald’s. A marijuana shop is also slated to open in Alpena Township on U.S.-23 South, but the timeline is not known.

The new marijuana shops will provide revenue to the local municipalities where they operate, as well as to the county. This year, local governments received $56,453 for every licensed retail store and microbusiness located within its jurisdiction, according to the Michigan Department of Treasury.

In Northeast Michigan, Presque Isle County received $112,907 for two licensed marijuana businesses there. Onaway and Rogers Township each received $56,453.

Harrisville received $56,453 and Alcona County received the same amount.

Neither the city nor Alpena County received state money this payment cycle because no stores were open at the cutoff date.

The state projects marijuana tax revenue to continue to climb, which could mean larger paydays for the municipalities.