PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The pandemic continued. Vaccines were available. Boosters were set. Masks became a flash point. There were a record number of homicides in Portland.

Those were all big stories and KOIN 6 News covered them all. Collectively those stories were the most widely read and shared. But 10 stories individually got your time and attention this year more than any other.

Here are the Top 10 most-read stories on KOIN.com in 2021

Stimulus checks aren’t tax-free for Oregonians

February 4, 2021: Stimulus checks are not required to be paid back and they’re not taxed at the federal level. But they are being taxed at the state level in Oregon…

COVID-19 economic Stimulus check in female hand on blurred USA flag background. Relief program concept.

Stimulus checks: Could payments turn into monthly guaranteed income?

August 2, 2021: Progressive Democratic lawmakers proposed legislation on Friday that would issue recurring stimulus checks, or guaranteed income, with monthly payments of up to $1,200 for adults and $600 for children…

(File/Getty)

Oregon changes cannabis rules for the new year

December 30, 2021: New year, new cannabis rules. In response to the rapid growth of the legal cannabis market, the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission (OLCC) has greenlit several changes regarding recreational marijuana regulations in a meeting on December 28, 2021. …

FILE – In this April 8, 2019, file photo, a jar of medical marijuana sits on the counter at a dispensary in Sherwood, Ore. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus, File)

Inauguration Day in Portland: Tear gas, arrests, demonstrations

January 20, 2021: Crowds of people across Portland turned violent on Inauguration Day, smashing windows at the Democratic Party of Oregon and later targeting the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement facility where federal officers declared an unlawful assembly…

Protesters in NE Portland unfurled this banner on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2021 (Zane Sparling/Portland Tribune)

Doctors warn about slightly different symptoms with delta variant of COVID

July 25, 2021: As concern grows regarding the delta variant’s spread across the globe, health leaders are warning about somewhat different symptoms that come with it…

Coronavirus delta variant. (File/Getty)

Nike abandons acres of office space in Beaverton area

February 2, 2021: Nike is leaving its 280,000-square-foot office space in Sunset Corridor at the Tektronix campus in Beaverton. According to a report from the real estate firm JLL Capital Markets, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to a rapid decline in demand for office space not seen in past recessions…

tektronix now_1558323664677.jpg.jpg

Human composting now legal, begins in Washington

January 12, 2021: Walt Patrick slowly rolls a giant wooden spool-shaped cradle back and forth. Inside, a human body is gradually being turned into compost, one of the first licensed “natural organic reductions” to be performed in the entire country…

Walt Patrick, a senior steward at Herland Forest, stands next to the natural organic reduction cradle on January 3, 2021. The cemetery is currently performing one of the first “human composting” burials in the country (KOIN)

Snow in Portland? Here’s the outlook for first half of January

January 5, 2021: So here is a quick refresher of what snowfall in Portland during the wintertime normally looks like, how our La Niña pattern has impacted our winter so far, and what the first half of January may bring to the lowlands…

Snowda in the Portland metro area during a winter storm, February 13, 2021 (Courtesy: @Malderine)

Winter Weather Advisory late Saturday-early Sunday in Oregon

December 18, 2021: The National Weather Service issued a Winter Weather Advisory from 9 p.m. Saturday until 10 a.m. Sunday, mostly for the hills and locations above 500 feet…

Snow falling in Happy Valley, December 18, 2021 (Courtesy: Corey Davis)

Here we go: The Old Farmer’s Almanac Winter Forecast is here

August 31, 2021: It’s that time of the year again: The 230th edition of The Old Farmer’s Almanac is out on Tuesday and you can dive in to all that it offers. …