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The tragic death of nine firefighters dwarfed any other local news story this year. But 2007 also saw the departure of the often-embattled Charleston Schools superintendent, the arrest and downfall of a local economist, and a mother arrested for the deaths of her two children who were left in a hot car while she worked.

Click the buttons above to view the top stories of the year, as chosen by the Post and Courier, as well as stories that just missed the top 10, lighter moments from 2007, photos and videos, and the Associated Press's top picks.

Top 10 local stories

Story of the Year: Sofa Super Store Fire: It started as a routine call. But in a blurry instant on June 18, a small trash fire spiraled into an inferno that destroyed a sprawling business and claimed the lives of nine Charleston firefighters.

The deadly blaze at Sofa Super Store left a city shaken to its core from a loss that came out of nowhere on a lazy Lowcountry night.

As the sun rose over the smoking tangle of concrete and metal, the nation turned its eyes to the Holy City and watched the community grieve. Solemn officials called the blaze the nation's deadliest firefighting tragedy since Sept. 11, 2001.

Burly firefighters hugged and cried. City leaders choked back tears. From across the nation, more than 10,000 people came to pay tribute at a moving memorial service. Hundreds more visited the ruins to say prayers, deposit flowers or light candles in remembrance.

Then, hard questions came. Why were so many men sent into harm's way? Could their deaths have been prevented?

As federal and state investigators probed the incident, critics assailed the fire department's leadership, training, equipment and proud tradition of aggressive firefighting.

Fire Chief Rusty Thomas and Mayor Joe Riley initially defended the department's tactics, but later embraced recommendations for widespread change put forth by a city-appointed panel of fire experts. Riley pledged to make Charleston's fire department a national model.

Charleston's efforts helped convince the state to reduce penalties levied against the city for alleged safety violations at the fire scene.

But the final chapter in the tragedy has yet to be written. Police have not completed a criminal investigation into the blaze. Federal agencies also are working on various critiques and studies of the fire.

2 Charleston Southern University professor Al Parish appeared able to multiply money faster than anyone on Wall Street. But the loud clothes favored by 'Economan' couldn't conceal the fact that a mega-million-dollar collapse was coming.

His Ponzi scheme fell apart in March. Accountants estimated that he'd squandered nearly $90 million entrusted to him by 600 investors. The cash bankrolled his own high living and a collection of unusual investments: smiling painted gnomes, coins, pens and even Disney animation.

Parish pleaded guilty to government fraud charges and is free on bond while awaiting sentencing, probably in February. Estimates are he'll receive between 15 and 20 years in a federal prison.

Less than 20 cents on the dollar will be returned to his victims.

3 A fiery, eight-car freeway pileup claimed five lives on Interstate 526 on July 13, the deadliest crash in recent memory.

An 18-wheeler hauling an empty trailer west over the Don N. Holt Jr. Bridge failed to slow down as it approached heavy traffic near North Rhett Avenue, causing a chain reaction.

Killed were an engineer from India who had been working in Charleston for several months, three house painters and a sales representative who taught people how to paint cars.

The North Carolina truck driver at the center of the accident, Bobby R. Davis, 54, escaped his cab with minor injuries and tried to aid others. North Charleston police charged him with driving too fast for conditions.

4 Moncks Corner police Cpl. Marcus Stiles, 26, and Pfc. Lonnie Wells, 40, were shot and killed during a domestic violence call March 25 on Connie Lane.

Gary Douglas, a 51-year-old electrician, burst from his double-wide mobile home with two shotguns, opened fire on the officers and took flight in one of the police cars. Berkeley County deputies chased down the stolen cruiser at Berkeley Alternative School and fired at Douglas, who died from a gunshot wound.

Two thousand mourners attended the officers' funeral a week later in the Berkeley High School gym.

5 Sametta Heyward left her children in the car on a hot July day while she went to work.

Hanahan Police found 4-year-old Shawn Campbell Jr. and his sister, 1-year-old Triniti Campbell, dead the next day in trash bags under the sink at home. Heyward, 27, is in jail on two counts of homicide by child abuse.

Heyward left a note for police that said she had wanted to check on the children during the eight hours and 45 minutes she worked for the Charleston County Disabilities

Board, but she feared that she would get in trouble. She told a witness that she found both children with slight pulses and that she tried CPR. When it didn't work, she said she bathed the children and put them in the bags under the sink. An autopsy would later determine that there were no signs that she attempted CPR.

6 Fireworks or bomb? The debate raged for weeks this summer while two Egyptian students from the University of South Florida sat in the Berkeley County jail on state charges of carrying explosive devices.

A sheriff's deputy initially pulled over Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed in Goose Creek for speeding, but became suspicious of their behavior. Authorities searched the trunk and found what they believed were explosive devices inside. The two men claimed they were homemade fireworks. An FBI spokesman said as much shortly after the arrest.

Then, in late August, the men were indicted on federal charges. Court documents say Mohamed told authorities that he filmed a how-to video on turning remote-controlled vehicles into bomb detonators to help Arab countries defend against American troops and other 'infidels.'

Megahed's attorney later filed a motion to suppress the evidence because of stereotypical comments the deputy made about the men before the search.

7 In June, six months after taking office as State Treasurer, Charleston Republican Thomas Ravenel was indicted on federal cocaine charges and suspended from office.

U.S. prosecutors said that during 2005 and 2006, while running for statewide office, Ravenel was buying cocaine and sharing it with his friends at parties.

Ravenel pleaded not guilty in early July, resigned his seat in late July — citing “personal mistakes” — and then pleaded guilty to the charges in September. The charges carry penalties of up to $1 million in fines and 20 years in prison. In December, Ravenel’s attorneys asked that he receive only probation.

8 Constable Robert Bailey's disappearance riveted the Lowcountry for five days in May as hundreds of law enforcement officers and volunteers scoured the countryside searching for clues to his whereabouts.

Bailey, 67, was gunned down May 14 while patrolling the little town of Lincolnville as an unpaid volunteer.

His killers torched his cruiser and carted off his body, sparking a search that sprawled across three counties.

Searchers followed a trail of scorched and discarded evidence before finding Bailey's body in a shallow grave in woods near Orangeburg. He had been peppered with gunshots and stripped of his uniform. Five people are charged in connection with his killing.

9 Change is coming to an unsafe and unreliable fleet of buses that transported South Carolina's children to and from school for decades.

A Post and Courier investigative series published in March found that the state's 5,700 buses are the oldest, most polluting and least safe in the nation. Many buses lacked modern safety features, had logged more than 400,000 miles and had been in use since the mid-1980s.

In June, legislators overturned a veto by Gov. Mark Sanford and established a 15-year replacement cycle, which requires the state to buy about 375 new buses every year at a cost of nearly $30 million.

10 The Charleston County School District had a major leadership change when its superintendent, Maria Goodloe-Johnson, left the Lowcountry this summer to take the top schools job in Seattle.

Goodloe-Johnson made history as Charleston County's first black and first female superintendent. During her three and a half years at the district's helm, the sometimes embattled superintendent established the Charleston Plan for Excellence, a six-year plan to make the district the best in the state, brought in a company to resuscitate a defunct discipline school, and fought off state takeover of Burke High School.

Former Chief Academic Officer Nancy McGinley was hired as Goodloe-Johnson's replacement.

The best of the rest

Mayor's race: Charleston city elections rarely get national attention, but that changed after the gunfight outside the El Cheapo convenience store.

Mayoral candidate Omar Brown, a 39-year-old police officer, had stopped to buy snacks at the El Cheapo. There, he apparently offended customer Antonio Rivers, a 22-year-old felon wanted on several warrants.

In the parking lot, according to police, Rivers retrieved a gun and headed for Brown, but Brown saw him coming and grabbed his own gun. A firefight ensued, and both men were wounded. Despite the attention that followed, including an appearance on CNN, Brown took last place in the election.

Violence: The bloodiest year in North Charleston's history, 2006, may not have been a fluke; the city saw nearly as much violence in 2007.

By Dec. 21 the city had 26 homicides, compared to 29 last year. As in 2006, most involved young, black men felled by gun violence. Others included a murder-suicide in a Sam's Club parking lot, a mother and her adult son stabbed to death in their home near Park Circle, and a woman from Oregon shot and left on the railroad tracks near Montague Avenue.

The number of slayings increased in Dorchester County, from three in 2006 (including one stabbing in a state prison) to eight in 2007 , among them a family of three gunned down at the Archdale Forest Apartments near Dorchester Road. Killings were down this year in Berkeley County and Charleston.

Missing money: Dorchester County Council in August ordered an audit of Sheriff Ray Nash's office to see why he kept going over budget.

Nash called it a witch hunt. Auditors uncovered evidence of the embezzlement of tens of thousands of dollars and mishandling of other funds, and the jail chief resigned. The audit produced a document more than 300 pages long, and Council in early December ordered an expanded audit.

Nash has taken responsibility for poor fiscal oversight of the office. Coming in a sheriff's election year, the scandal re-ignited a long controversy over fees the office collects and disburses independent of the county budget.

Money trail: State Sen. Jake Knotts, R-West Columbia, found a little more than $100,000 sitting around after he started following a money trail Gov. Mark Sanford used to host his counterparts in Charleston in 2006.

Knotts discovered in November that the balance from hosting the National Governors Association's annual meeting had been transferred to a private organization with ties to Sanford. The governor raised $1.2 million in private funds to host the event but also accepted a $150,000 state grant. After being criticized by Knotts, Sanford asked that the balance of $101,524 be transferred into state coffers. The governor's office had directed in August that the money be transferred to Carolinians for Reform Inc., which is run by Sanford's friends.

Deadly fire: A carefree October weekend at a North Carolina beach house for a group of college students turned deadly when an early-morning fire engulfed the home.

Cassidy Pendley, a 2007 graduate of Fort Dorchester High School, was one of seven friends who died in the blaze. The University of South Carolina freshman and Delta Delta Delta sorority pledge was mourned by friends, family, former teachers and community members. Hundreds posted online tributes and attended memorial services.

In high school, Pendley was a popular cheerleader, soccer player and National Honor Society member who dated Summerville star quarterback Reid McCollum. Her college career and future were cut short two months into her freshman year.

Armed forces: This year's biggest call-up in South Carolina Army National Guard history included many Charleston-area men and women.

The 1,800 troops, who first left home in February for training and then arrived in Afghanistan in April, have passed the midway point in their deployment.

The 218th Brigade Combat Team comprised of smaller units throughout the state has been tasked with training the Afghanistan army. This spring the brigade will begin teaching the next batch of soldiers to take over their job before finally coming home in May.

Two 218th Combat Brigade members have died since deploying.

Politics: The 2008 presidential contest kicked off here before 2007 even began, and presidential hopefuls were a common fixture in the Palmetto State as about 20 of them sought success in South Carolina'&rquo's first-in-the-South primaries.

The buzz kicked up a notch in April when South Carolina State University hosted the first presidential debate in the nation, which would lead to many more, including a GOP debate in Columbia in May and another Democratic presidential debate at The Citadel in July, a debate marked by a talking snowman and other offbeat-style questions posed via YouTube.

While Charleston native and Comedy Central personality Stephen Colbert dipped his toes into the presidential waters, the race here was mostly remembered for its many lead changes on the Republican side and by Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama vying for the support of black women.

The lighter side

Raising sails, part 1: The Spirit of South Carolina, the Lowcountry's own tall ship, settled into the water of Charleston Harbor in March, the culmination of a seven-year, $4 million labor of love among sailing enthusiasts.

The two-masted pilot schooner, modeled after a an 1879 ship built in Charleston, went to work as a floating eco-classroom for students and others. Championed as a proud symbol of the heritage that is the very blood of the town, the ship with its elegant sails has become one more striking sight in the grand harbor seascape.

Top schools: Only two Lowcountry schools earned the highest ratings on this year's state report cards.

Charles Pinckney Elementary School in Mount Pleasant and Academic Magnet High School in North Charleston got the best possible marks, excellent absolute and improvement ratings.

Pinckney Elementary isn't a magnet school and enrolls any third- through fifth-grade student who lives in its attendance zone. Academic Magnet is a magnet school and has academic admission requirements.

Academic Magnet also ranked 27th in U.S. News & World Report's list of America's Best High Schools and 10th in Newsweek magazine's best high schools list for the second consecutive year.

Rescue efforts: The loggerhead turtle, the threatened-species treasure of the Lowcountry coast, continued to capture people's imagination.

The South Carolina Aquarium augmented its effort rehabilitating and releasing injured sea turtles, mostly loggerheads, by setting free nine this year at Folly Beach and elsewhere, for a total of 30 since 2003.

An aquarium Web site allows people to follow the 300-pound ocean wanderers via satellite tracking.

The latest one to be released, Cape Romain, is a heart-tugger, having lost one of his flippers in a crab pot line. Set loose among a slew of admiring beach-goers at Isle of Palms in November, he swam nearly 200 miles in two weeks to the warm Gulf Stream off North Carolina.

Honoring sailors and civilians: After eight years of planning and fundraising, the Greater Charleston Naval Base Memorial opened in November at Riverfront Park in North Charleston.

The $3.5 million outdoor memorial on the banks of the Cooper River pays homage to the tens of thousands of sailors and civilians who worked on the 1,600-acre former military installation from its opening in 1901 until it fell victim to a round of national base closures in 1996.

The memorial, with photographs and flowing water, gangplanks and statues, and maps and memorabilia, is a popular attraction, especially for the many veterans who live here and visit the Lowcountry.

Museum opens: The new Medal of Honor Museum aboard the USS Yorktown opened in May with a gala that featured a keynote address by NBC News anchorman Brian Williams, who broadcast 'The Nightly News' live from Patriots Point.

At 2,500 square feet, the modernized museum is twice the size of the old one. Visitors can hear the story of Ralph H. Johnson, the namesake of the Charleston Veterans Administration Medical Center, or experience 'the fog of war' in sight and sound in The Combat Tunnel.

Mount Pleasant Mayor Harry Hallman spearheaded a near $1 million fundraising effort for the $1.5 million museum, which tells the story of some of the hundreds of Medal of Honor recipients from the Civil War to now.

Storm-free: One of the brightest spots in a year of events was the one that didn't happen. No hurricanes threatened the Lowcountry for the second year in a row, despite forecasts of active seasons and powerful storms.

Upper atmosphere winds unexpectedly sheared apart storms for the length of the season. The vaunted 'Bermuda high,' a high pressure trend in the atmosphere that sometimes forms in the western Atlantic, massed over the Southeast coast and helped deflect the storms that did form into the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

Good works: Vasanth Kuppuswamy, 17, represented The Post and Courier at the Jefferson Awards for Public Service in Washington, D.C. in June. The Academic Magnet High School senior left for India the day after the ceremony to continue his volunteer work to improve schools in the rural town of Maganurpatti, Tamil Nadu.

Since he was in sixth grade, Vasanth has been working summers in the village where his father grew up. He's raised more than $50,000 for benches, desks, a science lab, athletic fields, a water filtration system and other items for individual students. The Indian government was so impressed with the improvements that it built a new wing on one of the schools for a computer lab.

Raising sails, part 2: A sail-shaped wall of glass raised atop Charleston's downtown. In October, the Medical University of South Carolina dedicated the Ashley River Tower.

The $275 million facility will begin treating patients with cardiovascular and digestive diseases in early 2008. The new hospital is about 641,000 square feet and has 156 beds, 32 of which are in intensive care, and nine operating rooms. A four-story procedural space stands next to a seven-story patient tower, connected by a tall, light-filled conservatory.

The hospital is part of the first phase in the university's 20-year expansion that will break out other specialties and eventually replace the current teaching hospital.

Landmark reopens: After more than $10 million and nearly three years under renovation, Charleston City Hall reopened to the public in June.

The landmark building at Broad and Meeting streets is one of the 'Four Corners of Law' because the intersection houses federal, state, local and religious institutions. It houses the office of Charleston's mayor and the meeting place of City Council, but most day-to-day city business is conducted elsewhere.

The renovation sought to restore City Hall to its 19th century condition while improving its energy efficiency, handicapped access, and ability to withstand earthquakes. Features include a geothermal heating and cooling system, and high-tech surveillance systems to protect the art collection.

Seeing green: In Charleston County, people began seeing some environmental benefits from a new half-cent sales tax as a new Greenbelt Bank Board approved a host of projects protecting rural lands. It recommended spending almost $12 million to ensure that about 2,300 acres will remain as farms or forests, and that about 1,400 acres will be publicly accessible. More deals are in the works. Meanwhile, the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission also used some of the tax money to help protect a few large tracts in the southern part of the county. It also agreed to spend money to help protect the northern end of Morris Island, home of the Morris Island Lighthouse, in a deal that's yet to close.