The last week of spring was another hectic one, but considering that there was no local flooding, little elections news and the fire season looks to be off to a very slow start, we're not complaining.

Top Five Stories

1. Man jumps from fourth floor of Deadwood hotel

Weekend revelry in the Historic City turned tragic early Sunday morning as a despondent man tried to take his own life by jumping out of the fourth floor of a downtown hotel window.

2. Rapid City man allegedly stored porn images of infants, animals on his computer

The case against 32-year-old Ryan Murphey likely caught readers' attention as much for the charges against him - prosecutors say he possessed 8,000 images of pornography on his computer, some which were violent - as the fact that he may be charged with two counts of statutory rape in Pierre.

3. Four establishments fail alcohol compliance check

One of the most surprising things I've learned about readers' viewing habits since taking over this job: People are interested in compliance checks. When we ran a story a while back about a compliance check in which no businesses were cited, it still landed in the top 10 stories

4. Mountain lion struck by vehicle near Lawrence-Meade county line

Mountain lion sightings - even postmortem ones - are always big news here in the Hills.

5. End of credit cards at fuel pumps?

Nationally, many gas stations are forgoing the practice of allowing customers to pay with credit cards. Locally, it has happened - yet. And judging by the Rapid Replies to this story, it doesn't look like consumers want to see that happening anytime soon.

Top Five Videos

1. Plague Doubles In Conata Basin

Crews set out to try to stem a rapidly growing wave of plague in the prairie dog communities in the Conata Basin. Some great scenes of the Badlands in this one.

2. Russert Remembered on Meet the Press

Last week's sudden death of television journalist Tim Russert was covered exhaustively on the small screen, but readers tuned in to the Net as well to check out Sunday's tribute on the show that he had hosted for 17 years.

3. Shiny New Truck

Videographer Tim Appel captured the dedication ceremony by the Rapid City Fire Department for a new truck. Nothing like a big, shiny red truck, a whole lot of water and a bunch of strapping firemen to bring viewers to www.rapidcityjournal.com.

4. Flying Fortress Lands in Rapid City

Shot in black and white to give it an old time look, this video caught as much attention for the tales from a couple of old school B-17 fans as it did for the dramatic montage that wraps it up.

5. Scouts Killed by Twister Laid to Rest

The funeral for four Boy Scouts killed in a tornado that struck their camp near the Nebraska/Iowa border marked a solemn end to a highly active string of days where devastating winds and rain pounded the nation's mid section.

Rapid Reply of the Week

Normally, I'm not one to promote Rapid Replies that are written in all caps. They're generally hard to read and simply annoying. But this one on the story about gas stores throughout the nation adopting a no credit card policy and the fact that it hasn't happened yet in the Black Hills had me chuckling.

GET REAL…. wrote on Jun 18, 2008 10:40 PM:

" DO THAT AND YOU CAN KISS YOUR GAS GOODBYE "

Poll Question of the Week

How do you pay for your gasoline?

Cash 19 percent

Credit card 32 percent

Debit card 40 percent

Check 10 percent

Editor's Pick

Have you checked out our new community bloggers page? With 10 new author groups writing on such diverse topics as cooking, video gaming, fashion, coin collecting running and much more, it's one of the fastest growing sections of our Web site. And expect the site to more than double in the coming weeks.