Readers of The Advertiser may be led to believe that we are in lock step when it comes to what we consider news.

That's pretty far from the truth and was validated this week when I asked 16 of our editors to vote on the top national and international news stories of 2007.

The 17 editors (myself included) chose eight different top stories of the 48 offerings provided by The Associated Press this year.

Four of us selected the Virginia Tech shootings, four chose the U.S. housing slump and four picked the U.S. troop surge in Iraq.

The five other editors had their own No. 1 stories: China's export industry, the falling U.S. dollar, the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal, the debate over Guantanamo/torture and the Barry Bonds indictment.

After final rankings, with the No. 1 story on each list receiving 10 points and the No. 10 story receiving one, a top 10 list emerged.

Here are the stories that did not make the top 10: the departures of Tony Blair, Alberto Gonzales, Don Imus, Paul Wolfowitz and Anna Nicole Smith; the convictions of Michael Vick and Scooter Libby; the rising political power of Vladimir Putin, Hugo Chavez, Nancy Pelosi and Nicolas Sarkozy; or the news that came out of Myanmar, Pakistan, Darfur, the Middle East or North and South Korea.

We also skipped the Duke lacrosse case, Blackwater USA, the NASA astronaut trying to kidnap her female rival, Sen. Larry Craig and the following disasters: the Utah coal mine deaths, the Russian coal mine blast, the Minneapolis bridge collapse, the Brazil plane crash, the earthquake in Peru, Tropical Storm Noel in the Caribbean, the Bangladesh cyclone, drought in the U.S. Southeast and massive wildfires in Greece.

News about the death penalty, a Supreme Court ban on a controversial abortion procedure, illegal immigration, early campaigning for the White House and Bush fighting with Congress over health coverage, Iraq and spending also did not make the cut.

So here is what we came up with in our top 10 list and the number of points assigned:

1. The Virginia Tech massacre, the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history, which made 15 of 17 editors' lists (109 points).

2. The U.S. troop surge in Iraq which has led to some reduction in violence. The story made 12 of 17 lists (92 points).

3. The slumping U.S. housing and home-lending sectors, and the volatile stock market. The story made 14 lists (88 points).

4. Global warming and new warnings from experts, plus Al Gore winning a Nobel Prize for his advocacy of the issue. The story made 12 lists (78 points).

5. Oil prices soar worldwide. The story made 11 lists (78 points).

6. China's export industry buffeted by cases of tainted toys, toothpaste and other products (10 lists and 60 points).

7. Iran spars with the international community over its nuclear program (six lists and 37 points).

8. Wildfires ravage Southern California; hundreds of thousands evacuate homes (seven lists and 35 points).

9. Scientists create equivalent of embryonic stem cells from ordinary skin cells (six lists and 35 points).

10. Barry Bonds breaks all-time home run record, then is indicted in steroid investigation (eight lists and 28 points).

None of us came up with the same list and none of us selected the exact 10 stories that made up the overall list. My own list contained just six of the overall top 10.

But looking over the choices now, I cannot disagree that this list was pretty significant and the stories were worthy of the space we devoted to them.

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