The Idaho State Journal recently held an online poll to find out what our readers thought the top East Idaho stories were for 2020. 

Here is a look at those stories as selected by Journal readers.

1. Readers selected the discovery of the remains of 8-year-old J.J. Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan in June and the subsequent charges filed against their mother Lori Vallow and her new husband Chad Daybell as the top story of 2020. Lori Vallow and Daybell are currently awaiting trial after pleading not guilty to multiple charges in the case.

2. On March 25, Gov. Brad Little ordered all Idaho residents to remain at home except for necessary activities and directed all non-essential businesses to temporarily close in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus. At the time, Idaho had yet to report any COVID-19 related deaths. 

3. After the Pocatello-Chubbuck School District 25 Board of Trustees voted to retire the Pocatello High School Indians mascot effective June 2021, opposition to the move has mounted. Multiple petition drives on both sides of the issue have begun and the school board's decision to rename Pocatello High's mascot as the Thunder has done little to quell the controversy.

4. A 6-year-old Chubbuck boy, Jack Moser, was seriously injured in July on a camping trip when he was run over by a trailer being pulled by a truck. Despite his serious injuries, Moser is making a strong recovery. 

5. The United States has been heading into the bleakest part of the COVID-19 pandemic and Idaho is one of the hardest hit places in the nation in terms of the virus' impact, according to a November report by the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

6. A local group of concerned parents submitted to the Bannock County Elections Office petitions to recall three members of the Pocatello-Chubbuck School District 25 Board of Trustees. The recall effort was launched in September, primarily because of the school board’s overall inability to fully represent the electorate on a number of issues, particularly the board’s decision earlier this year to implement and continue the district’s hybrid learning model in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2018 school boundary issue and the decision to retire the Pocatello High School Indians mascot, the parents said.

7. Nine earthquakes, including one capable of causing significant damage, rocked Idaho on March 31. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the first and strongest of the quakes was a powerful 6.5 magnitude temblor that occurred about 44 miles west of Challis around 5:52 p.m. 

8. Bannock County sheriff’s deputies arrested Tyler D. Carter, 38, in connection to the March 13 hit-and-run death of a local bicyclist. Bannock County Prosecutor Steve Herzog said at the press conference that Carter will face one felony count of leaving the scene of an accident for the hit-and-run crash that caused the death of 40-year-old Bobette “Bobbi” Wilhelm of Pocatello.

9. Less than 48 hours after the US Bank in Pocatello was robbed in January, local police had all three of the suspects in custody. Patrina Morris, 37; Jonathon Brewer, 26; and Aaron Hernandez, 25, were all arrested in connection to the robbery.

10. In February, Pocatello police fatally shot a 23-year-old local man who charged at officers while wielding a knife outside of a south Pocatello residence. Neal Stuart Nevada, of Fort Hall, was fatally shot after fleeing the scene of a reported dispute with a woman, Pocatello police said.