It's been a long year.
As we near the end of 2017, we're taking a look back at the stories you, our readers, read the most this year. It was a year filled with plenty of politics, tragedy and crime, but also a year filled with hope, healing and investigation.
And our readers showed up to read what's important, content that they cared about and answers they needed. These are the ten stories you read the most from The Dallas Morning News in 2017.
8 dead, 1 wounded in shooting at Plano home; gunman killed by police
In mid-September, eight people were fatally shot at a Plano home during a Dallas Cowboys watch party and cookout. The shooting was suspected to have been sparked by a domestic dispute between Meredith Hight and her estranged husband, Spencer, the gunman.
This initial story updated as more information came to light and led to a handful of others, including the Plano neighborhood's hope and mourning, and profiles on each of the victims of the shooting.
"I've been here all my life," Officer David Tilley said. "I've never heard of anything like this."
Tomi Lahren sues Glenn Beck, The Blaze for wrongful termination over abortion rights stance
Tomi Lahren, known conservative commentator, sued her former boss Glenn Back and his media firm The Blaze, back in April. Lahren claimed she had been wrongfully terminated over her comments favoring abortion rights.
The lawsuit, filed days after her show had been cancelled, claims she had been fired because of her statements while appearing the month prior on The View. The termination broke a two-year employment contract Lahren had with The Blaze.
The suit also said that Lahren wouldn't be allowed access to her Facebook page, which had 4.2 million followers at the time.
Suspect in UT Austin stabbing charged with murder, had been committed before
Tragedy struck the University of Texas at Austin campus on May 1, when Kendrex J. White, a student at the college, went on a deadly stabbing rampage. He was accused of killing one student and injuring three others. He was charged with murder and booked into the Travis County Jail.
Authorities said that White had been committed involuntarily for mental health problems, previously, in another city. Texas freshman Harrison Brown died in the attack, and students and faculty spent the days after remembering him.
"Today our hearts are broken, and we have to begin the healing process," UT President Gregory Fenves said.
Dallas doctor who performed questionable surgeries gets life in prison
In February, a Dallas neurosurgeon was sentenced to life in prison after a jury heard from more than a dozen patients who testified that Christopher Duntsch maimed them while he was performing surgery. The trial lasted 13 days.
The verdict arrived almost two years after Duntsch's arrest in July 2015 on five aggravated-assault charges. Duntsch had practiced medicine at various hospitals in Dallas and Collin County, and was accused of crippling four patients and causing the deaths of two others.
15-year-old's brothers watched him die after Balch Springs police shooting, family says
Jordan Edwards, 15, was shot and killed by a Balch Springs police officer in late April, and as the weeks after progressed, more information came to light about how that night unfolded.
The brothers of Jordan Edwards discussed the circumstances of his death in the following days, and a statement from Edwards' family called him a "loving child with a humble and sharing spirit."
"Not only have Jordan's brothers lost their best friend; they witnessed firsthand his violent, senseless, murder," the statement reads. "Their young lives will forever be altered. No one, let alone young children, should witness such horrific, unexplainable, violence."
What Ezekiel Elliott did is simply wrong, and his pattern of behavior indicates trouble ahead
SportsDay's David Moore penned a column in March shortly after Ezekiel Elliott was captured on video pulling down a woman's top at a St. Patrick's Day celebration. Moore detailed a set of what he called troubling decisions, and the column was resurfaced during an assault investigation and suspension of Elliott for potentially violating the NFL's personal conduct policies.
His actions Saturday have generated a fascinating split on social media. Condemnation of what Elliott did is offset by those who brush it off as no big deal, as a momentary lapse of judgment that often occurs in these raucous environments.
Circumstance and setting are no excuse.
Texas principal who killed himself at school was not under investigation
In late May Dennis Reeves, a southeast Texas high school principal, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his pickup truck outside of Kirbyville High School. Earlier that day, Reeves resigned from his position at the school and police were called to check on him.
The Kirbyville school board held an emergency meeting as colleagues and students reacted on social media. It was later found that Reeves was not being investigated by the police or school board for wrongdoing, and he resigned to "pursue other interests."
The first casualties of Trump's trade wars are Texas cattle ranchers
Earlier in the year, Texas State University lecturer Richard Parker wrote about President Donald Trump following his inauguration, when he threatened an increase on taxes for Mexican goods coming into the United States.
Parker argued that this would affect Texas cattle ranchers, among others.
If the first casualty of war is truth, then the first casualties of trade war are the working man and woman. And first among them is about to be the iconic Texas rancher.
Bride, groom who slammed Dallas wedding photographer online, in media must pay $1.08M
In late July, a Dallas wedding photographer was awarded $1.08 million in a defamation lawsuit against a local blogger and her husband. The two launched a social media campaign that destroyed Andrea Polito's business.
"I was proud of my accomplishments, what I have done. They took that away from me," Polito said. "It's been a fight for myself to get my reputation back."
And: What entrepreneurs can learn from Dallas wedding photographer's suit over social media slams.
State Department warns of risk of traveling to Cancun, Los Cabos
Our most-read story of the year was in late August, when the U.S. State Department issued a warning to citizens looking to travel to Cancun and Los Cabos, two of Mexico's most popular tourist destinations, following a spike of violence in the regions.
The Mexico Tourism Board soon responded with a written statement, stating that there was no cause for increased concern.
"As the Travel Warning explains, there have been situations among individuals involved in criminal activities," the statement said. "We can add that the overwhelming majority of those incidents have taken place in locations not frequented by international tourists (such as inner-city areas or private properties)."
