It was a year of comings and goings in southcentral Kentucky. The past 12 months were marked by many noteworthy arrivals and departures, which the Daily News reporters and editors selected as among the region’s top 10 stories of 2016. A slew of high-profile criminal cases also made headlines in the past year. Here are the top 10 stories of 2016 ranked from top to bottom.

1. “Transformative” has been a common word to describe Western Kentucky University President Gary Ransdell’s tenure. Indeed, during his 20 years on the Hill, WKU evolved from a sleepy regional campus to the third-largest university in the state with a self-described “international reach.” Programs, buildings, endowments and enrollment all expanded substantially under Ransdell, who announced in January that he will be stepping down from his post June 30.

“In these decisions, you always want to have a good sense of timing and we certainly wanted to go out on positive circumstances,” Ransdell said at the time of the decision he made along with his wife, Julie. “We wanted to do this on our terms … and we just felt like our health is good, and I’ve seen so many people in this job retire and not have the best of circumstances with their health.”

At the news of his upcoming retirement, local officials offered strong praise for the 65-year-old Louisville native, who has been WKU’s president since 1997.

•State Rep. Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green: “The improvements in all aspects of WKU during his years as president are truly amazing, reflecting a love for the institution that only one who is totally invested in the university could imagine and fulfill. From rebuilding the campus facilities, to greatly increasing student enrollment, to greatly raising academic standards, to giving the university an international reach, to attracting an outstanding faculty, President Ransdell’s accomplishments are truly amazing.”

•Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon: “His leadership has meant so much to Western’s growth and progress. I am going to miss the working relationship. He is an inspiring community partner. His enthusiasm and energy is a motivating factor for all of us. (It is) going to be tough finding someone with his vision, his drive and his history with WKU and his love for the community.”

•Rep. Jim DeCesare, R-Bowling Green: “He has taken WKU to another level in academics, with the Honors College, the Gatton Academy and various doctoral programs. Due to his vision the university has increased graduation rates, and expanded campuses in Glasgow, Owensboro and Elizabethtown. … He will be missed.”

•Bob King, president of the Council on Postsecondary Education: “President Ransdell has provided a level of leadership at WKU that has catapulted the university into the front ranks of higher education in the South. His 20 years at the helm has led to an array of improvements in Western’s academic standing, financial stability, relationships with area employers, physical resources and its overall stature among educators throughout the nation. We will miss him dearly.”

2. It was a four-decade wait to get commercial air service to return to the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport, but it only took about four months to discover the area would not sufficiently support the continuation of such service.

Amid much fanfare, it was announced in May that commercial service with twice-daily flights to and from Atlanta, along with seasonal flights to Destin, Fla., would begin in late August, thanks in part to about $1.8 million in local, state and federal incentives and years of working to get the service. Previous commercial air service ended here in 1972. But just months after the new service launched, the number of flights to Atlanta was decreased by more than half as the demand lagged expectations. The other shoe dropped in December, when it was announced that the flights to Atlanta would end Jan. 8 because of a lack of demand.

“Demand is there … but not substantially enough,” Airport Manager Rob Barnett said. He said that flights had to be about 65 percent full to sustain the service, a level that was never achieved for the Atlanta trips. As for why the demand was not there – “we’re not quite sure … we did our groundwork” in promoting the service around the region and offering convenient and low-cost service, he said. “It’s disappointing that our community has not responded.”

Twice-weekly flights to Destin, Fla., provided by Tennessee-based Contour Airlines will continue in 2017.

3. Bowling Green Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s presidential run led to a major change in the state’s election process.

Because state law prohibits a candidate’s name from appearing on an election ballot twice, Paul successfully pushed the state Republican Party to switch from the traditional primary to a one-day caucus. Ironically, when the caucus was held in March, Paul was no longer a presidential candidate. After struggling to break out of single-digit polling numbers in a crowded GOP field, Paul dropped out of the presidential race in early February. Paul said he saw no path to victory after getting only 4.5 percent of the vote in Iowa’s Republican caucus.

Paul then focused on his Senate re-election and got better news in November when he handily beat Democratic challenger and Lexington Mayor Jim Gray to retain his Senate seat.

4 (tie) The murder of a 7-year-old Scottsvillle girl in 2015 made national news. The case against Gabbi Doolin’s accused killer, Timothy Madden, moved ahead in 2016. No trial date has been set for Madden, 39, of Scottsville, who is charged with murder, kidnapping, first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy in the Nov. 14, 2015, death of Gabbi. Allen Circuit Judge Janet Crocker indicated at a December hearing that a jury would likely be seated early in 2018.

Allen County Commonwealth’s Attorney Clint Willis is seeking the death penalty for Madden.

The girl’s body was found in a creek in a wooded area near Allen County-Scottsville High School, where her brother was playing in a youth league football game. Manual strangulation and drowning are listed as the causes of death in court records, and Gabbi was reported missing 25 minutes before her body was found. A vigil held Nov. 14 in Scottsville’s downtown on the one-year anniversary of Gabbi’s death attracted about 300 people.

4 (tie) Numerous Democratic state legislators succumbed to a GOP wave in November’s election, including 16th District Rep. Martha Jane King. Republican Jason Petrie beat the Lewisburg Democratic incumbent as Republicans took control of the state House. The Kentucky House had been the last legislative body controlled by Democrats in the South. Among the other Democrats ousted was House Speaker Greg Stumbo as Republicans turned a 53-47 deficit to a 64-36 majority.

Bucking the trend was Bowling Green’s Richards, who won re-election to the 20th District seat he has held since 1976 after he handily beat former Bowling Green City Commissioner Melinda Hill.

6. New Gov. Matt Bevin caused a stir in the education community when his proposed budget included widespread cuts to education programs. The Republican’s proposed budget called for $650 million in cuts, including slashing higher education funding by 4.5 percent immediately and an additional 9 percent the next two years, in large part to shore up the state’s $30 billion-plus pension system shortfall. Funding for state colleges and universities had already been cut by $173.5 million since 2008, and WKU’s Ransdell joined education leaders from across the state in trekking to Frankfort to lobby against the cuts. In testimony before a House committee, Randsdell said the proposed cuts would be “devastating” for the university.

Legislators didn’t include the cuts in their final state budget, but Bevin then issued an executive order to immediately cut higher education funding 4.5 percent – a $3,359,000 reduction for WKU.

Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear, a frequent Bevin critic, filed suit and claimed Bevin lacked the authority to make the cuts. The Kentucky Supreme Court ultimately ruled Bevin couldn’t slash college budgets without legislative approval and the cuts were restored. WKU said it would return its money to reserves that had been used to make up for the cuts.

7. Anger mixed with tears in March after a 10-year-old girl was struck by an SUV and killed while crossing Gordon Avenue. Community members held protests and petitioned for changes to what they considered a dangerous intersection after Giselle Arias was killed March 30. Most community members spoke in favor of having a traffic light installed at the intersection of Gordon Avenue and Scott Way, a heavily traveled area where an 8-year-old boy was also killed in 1980 while attempting to cross the street.

State officials later unveiled a plan that included a center turn lane, but no traffic light, on the stretch of road. After continued community outcry, however, state officials relented and a traffic signal was installed at the intersection this summer.

8. It is not often that local utility rates draw the interest of the state attorney general, but they did in Glasgow in 2016. Amid community complaints about a peak rate structure by the Glasgow Electric Plant Board, Beshear held a public meeting to hear from customers.

Beshear described EPB’s coincident peak rate, which charges customers nearly $11 per kilowatt-hour during the hour of the month with the highest demand, as the worst electric rate in Kentucky. After months of complaints, proposed new rates and the introduction of an optional rate structure, the peak demand rate is still in place amid ongoing discussions.

9. A Summer Shade man was convicted in December of reckless homicide, tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse in connection with the death of 2-year-old Laynee Wallace. Anthony Barbour faced a murder charge, but the Barren County jury of six men and six women returned a guilty verdict on the lesser charge of reckless homicide and recommended a five-year prison sentence.

Laynee’s body was recovered May 25, 2015, from an abandoned well on the Barbour family farm, eight days after she was last seen alive. The child was reported missing May 19, 2015. An autopsy by the state medical examiner found Laynee’s death to have been a homicide by undetermined means. Barbour has not yet been formally sentenced in the conviction.

A second criminal case is pending in Barren Circuit Court against Barbour in which he is charged with first-degree burglary, kidnapping and resisting arrest, based on allegations that he broke into the residence of Brenda Wood while he was wanted by police and held her against her will. Barbour was arrested in the Temple Hill area after being seen in a pickup truck driven by Wood.

10. An August service at Hillvue Heights Church was disrupted by a commotion that turned out to be caused by a 21-year-old man who is accused of stabbing his father.

Ethan Buckley, 21, is charged with first-degree assault (domestic) in connection with the Aug. 14 stabbing of David Buckley, who police say was attacked by his knife-wielding son at the church on Nashville Road. Pastor David Tooley was standing at the altar and reported hearing a “weird noise,” leading him to turn to where David Buckley was standing. “He then heard David Buckley state, ‘Don’t let him kill me, don’t let him kill me,’ “ BGPD Officer Alex Wright wrote in an incident report. Ethan Buckley was then subdued by others in the church.

As emergency personnel attended to David Buckley, police recovered a bloody folding pocket knife. An arrest report said Ethan Buckley told police that he was “moved by the sermon and decided to kill his dad.” David Buckley was treated at The Medical Center and taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville for further treatment before being released.

Ethan Buckley was found competent to stand trial at a December hearing.

— Follow city government reporter Wes Swietek on Twitter @BGDNgovtbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.