By Miriam Raftery

January 1, 2013 (San Diego’s East County)- Last week we posted our most-read stories of the year—those that drew the most readers, and newsmakers of the year.   Now we present the year’s top stories/issues of most significance to our region--issues with major impact, as well as milestones for our communitie, in the view of our editorial staff. Some are individual articles, others ran a series.

In case you missed these, be sure to scroll down and click the "read more" button to see the stories we think everyone should read--including some hot topics that will continue to be debated in 2013 as major decisions impacting East County remain on the horizon.