PORTLAND (AP) — In a matter of days, a Republican will be residing in the Blaine House, with the GOP in control both chambers in the Legislature for the first time since the 1960s.

The November election that brought the GOP to power in Augusta, as well as in Congress, has been named the state’s top story for 2010 by The Associated Press.

Riding a wave of voter dissatisfaction, tea party-backed Paul LePage won the governor’s seat, while Republicans also swept to power with majorities in both the Maine Senate and House.

The runner-up in the AP’s year-end survey was Maine voters’ approval of the state’s first casino with both table games and slot machines, to be built in the town of Oxford.

Supporters say the $165 million resort and casino will create nearly 3,000 jobs while generating more than $60 million in annual tax revenues. Critics say a casino doesn’t represent real economic development and will cause other problems like gambling addiction and increased crime.

In a separate referendum in June, voters rejected a tax overhaul that would have lowered state income tax rates while placing new taxes on dozens of purchases ranging from car repairs to amusement park admissions to movie tickets and dry cleaning. It was voted the No. 3 story of the year.

The No. 4 story was a triple killing in the northern Maine town of Amity, where a local man, his 10-year-old son and a friend were stabbed to death. A week later, 20-year-old Thayne Ormsby was arrested in New Hampshire and charged with three counts of murder. Police and acquaintances have indicated Ormsby may have targeted one of the victims because of his alleged involvement with drugs.

In the No. 5 story of the year, CMP began work on a $1.4 billion power grid upgrade that’s described as the biggest infrastructure project in the state’s history, while also moving forward with installation of 620,000 so-called “smart meters.” When it’s done, the five-year power grid upgrade will allow more electricity to flow from Canada and create greater capacity for wind power projects.

Record warm temperatures, lack of snow and a close call from Hurricane Earl in September all added up to a wacky weather year, the No. 6 story.

Both Portland and Caribou have gone 13 straight months with above-average temperatures and are on track to have the warmest calendar year on record. At the same time, last winter’s snowfall in the two cities was about 40 percent below normal — Portland got only 3.3 inches after Jan. 20.

For the No. 7 story, Maine was put in the national spotlight in May when 33-year-old Mohammad Shafiq Rahman, a Pakistani man living in South Portland, was detained by law enforcement officials investigating the attempted car bombing in New York’s Times Square. Rahman was detained for 15 weeks on a visa violation but was never charged in connection with the Times Square incident.

The nation’s last full-time sardine cannery shut its doors in eastern Maine, marking the end of an era in the No. 8 story of the year. The Stinson Seafood cannery in Prospect Harbor closed in April, a victim of changing consumer tastes, cheap imports and herring shortages.

Northern Maine was almost left without a railroad line when the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway filed notice that it planned to abandon 233 miles of track that stretch from Madawaska to Millinocket because it was losing millions of dollars a year on the line.

The railroad has served as a connector between the isolated and sparsely populated expanses of northern Maine and points to the south. The No. 9 story had a happy ending for rail supporters when the state agreed to purchase the track to keep freight trains running.

Rounding out the Top 10 were a pair of visits by the commander in chief to Maine.

President Barack Obama held a rally to promote his health care overhaul in the home state of two senators whose support he was seeking — Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. Three months later, he became the first sitting president to visit Mount Desert Island since William Howard Taft a century ago when his family took a three-day vacation to Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park.

Other big stories that didn’t make the Top 10 list include the tale of New England’s champion elm, Herbie, who was cut down in January after falling victim to Dutch elm disease. Other stories included Seth Wescott’s come-from-behind race for Olympic gold, and the first significant pushback against wind power projects in Maine.