Now married, Ayaz is kept apart from his wife while awaiting her visa. The change in politics has Ayaz questioning their future in the United States and wondering if his sacrifice for the dream has been worth it.
View the complete story by Alyse Young
After the life-long dream of becoming a professional football player didn’t pan out, he pursued another desired career path – firefighting. Now working as a firefighter for the past two years at the Bowling Green Fire Department, Stafford tries to live up to the example set by his brother Jason Johnson, who died a month before he got hired for the job.
View Shaban Athuman’s story of Stafford’s journey to honor his family while building a trust in a new brotherhood. Complete Story Here
Freshman Kain Youman, of Frankfort, Kentucky, attempts to tell a friend to call his mother through the glass of a Warren County Sheriff’s car window after the anti-Trump protest on campus on November 10, 2016. Youman was charged with failure to disperse. |Justin Gilliland
JT Graves shows off his puppy Rambo while his sister Alisha watches from close by at their home in Bowling Green, Ky. on Nov. 6, 2016. |Gabriel Scarlett
Margaret Tabor has worked at voting stations in Bowling Green, Ky. for the last 42 years as a voting clerk and a ballot judge. At 80, she thinks it might finally be time to retire. Unabashedly supporting Donald Trump and toting her elephant necklace, she says, “I just don’t think Hillary would stand behind this flag if we elected her.” |Gabriel Scarlett
A man is helped by emergency workers after being hit by a car on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016, at on Highway 31W in Bowling Green, Ky. Campaigners lined the corners of the intersection where the man was hit. “I didn’t see him” said the driver while talking to police. The man that was hit moved onto the street as people were campaigning on a nearby sidewalk. |Michael Noble Jr.
Boys scouts and members of the military bring out a flag before the national anthem in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016, in Bowling Green, Ky. |Michael Noble Jr.
“You gotta be careful, my man, I got girlfriends looking for me,” Jason joked. Released from prison in 2006, he is ineligible to vote in the upcoming election. “I just can’t concern myself with that anymore.” Kentucky is one of just three states that permanently ban convicted felons from voting.
Carolyn Caplinger, 53, feels abandoned by her party this election. A registered Republican, she is disgusted with the allegations of sexual assault against Donald Trump, the GOP candidate, and “all his trash about women and these teenage girls.” Hundreds of Republican officials and legislators have left pulled their support for Trump in recent months, but he and the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton are very close in the polls.
“I didn’t see girls with my type of hair growing up,” said WKU senior, Indygo Ray, who believes that natural hair is not seen as professional in society. “Learning about my hair just made me feel at one with myself and free and beautiful,” said Ray.
Evansville senior, Jessica Jackson hardly remembers a time in her life where she did not chemically alter her hair. When Jackson was a sophomore at WKU she decided to give natural hair a try, “when I went home, I just cut it all off,” said Jackson. “I felt so good at the moment, this is my hair,” said Jackson, “I wanna wear the hair that grows out of my head.”
Sister Lucy Bonifas, 78, prepares a bouquet of flowers grown in her backyard before delivering them to the chapel of Lourdes Hospital in Paducah, where she worked from 1969 until April 2016. Though she recently retired, Sister Lucy, a member of Sisters of Saint Francis, still visits the hospital every week to deliver fresh flowers and talk to patients. “God speaks to me through flowers,” says Sister Lucy. “He suprises me with his gifts, with the beauty and love he brings.” |Skyler Ballard
Hobo, a shetland sheepdog up for adoption at the McCracken County Humane Society, introduces himself to Coy Stalions. |Skyler Ballard
Jamey Ward, 45, in his trailer in Paducah, Ky. on Oct. 22, 2016. A retiree of the river barges, Ward is now an alcoholic who spends most time at home surrounded by beer cans. Fights often break out between himself and his friends as they search for money to buy beers.| Gabriel Scarlett
Justin Griffith, 27, kisses his youngest son, Lucas, in his front yard in Farley, an area of Paducah, Ky. nicknamed “Farlem” for its low income demographic. Justin is a young father taking bible classes through the mail to become a pastor. Two of his boys are his fiance’s sons. “It’s one of the great feelings in this world when they started calling me dad,” he explains. “Not something I made them do so when they first called me that, my heart just melted.”| Gabriel Scarlett
|By Ashley Cooper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plVVgBdrhMo
|By Lex Selig
|By Josh Newell
|By Jeffrey Brown
When President Donald J. Trump announced an executive order, banning legal visitors from 7 Muslim majority countries, Elnaz Jalali was faced with the decision to sacrifice her dream or to be separated from her family living in Iran. “After 5 years staying in the U.S., investing my money, my time, my energy and my knowledge over here, if I wake up one day and someone says: ‘what you did over here is done and you should go back home.’” Jalali said. Jalali is in her final semester studying for a masters in chemistry but hoped to pursue a doctorate post graduation. “I’m terrified it doesn’t end here. Imagine for five years I won’t be able to go back home to visit my parents and my parents won’t be able to come here. I can’t live without my parents,” Jalali said. |Alyse Young
Brandon Scurlock opens the piercing pliers for Gary Fralick during a bighorn sheep wrangle near Big Piney Jan. 25, 2017. Wyoming Game & Fish Department are putting radio collars on bighorn sheep to track where they stay for the winter. |Ashley Cooper
On his senior night in high school Pancake Thomas jumped up and cut open his arm on the backboard. Since then Thomas went on to play two seasons at the University of New Mexico then transferring to the University of Hartford and playing one season there. Thomas has averaged 13.5 points a game since joining the Hilltoppers earlier this year. |Shaban Athuman
After spending over two decades in and out of prison, James Davis’ dream of success was deferred. But when he adopts his two nephews he also receives a chance to redeem his life.
Alyssa Pointer’s story follows the Louisville, Kentucky trio as they use the sport of boxing to provide discipline and goals that all three can build upon.
Abby McPeak, 7, and her siblings Jazmine, 9, and Dathan, 3, play in the front yard of their trailer home outside of downtown Brownsville, Ky. “I like this place because we have a trampoline and friends that play with us,” said Abby. April 17 2016, Brownsville, KY. |Skyler Ballard
Shaun Bridgmohan celebrates his 1st place victory riding four-year-old Miss Pink Diva during the Maiden Special Weight horse race at Keeneland Racecourse on April 17, 2016. The win was a first for Miss Pink Diva, earning $36,000. |Alyse Young
Dr. Erika Brady has not had a formal haircut since she was 12 years old, after her first trip to the salon. |Justin Gilliland
Keyshawn Brown, left, and Isaiah Brown, right, swing on a part of their porch on 14th Ave. and Stubbins St. These boys were with their uncle waiting for their mother to come home from out of town. “I’m doing well in school, I have A’s and B’s in all my classes unlike Keyshawn, he has all D’s and F’s,” Isaiah said. “I hope Isaiah and Keyshawn do what you’re doing, go to college,” said their uncle Junior Lancaster. April 12, 2016, Bowling Green , KY. |Ebony Cox
The final race of Sunday, April 17, of the 2016 Spring Race Meet at Keeneland Race Track finishes on the turf. Kasaqui (6) won, ridden by Paco Lopez. |Justin Gilliland
Jockeys relax in the Jockey’s Quarter’s before their races at Keeneland Racetrack on April 16, 2016 in Lexington, KY. |Harrison Hill
Rafey Wahlah models an Oyster Perpetual gold black faced Rolex Watch retailed at $12,550. The watch was a gift from his grandfather and matches the gold ring he wears from his grandmother that symbolizes eternal love. |Alyse Young
WKU professors Rita Meredith and George Kontos dance during the weekly Corvette City Bop and Dance club in Bowling Green, KY. Both Kontos and Johnson have been dancing with the club for over two years. “I love coming here because I am able to socialize and dance with other professors and Bowling green natives,” said Kontos. |Harrison Hill
SUNDAY APRIL 17, 2016–LEXINGTON, KY– Jockeys and horses are up early morning warming up and prepping for the last day of races for the weekend at the Keenland race tracks. |Tyger Williams
It was April 2014 when, at the push of a button, the Flint River — which hadn’t been treated for daily use in over 50 years — became the city of Flint, Michigan’s main water source. The responsibility of water treatment was passed from the Detroit Water and Sewage Department to the shoulders of the local water plant. Government leaders cited a potential savings of around $5 million over the course of two years for a city staring into the face of financial emergency.
As water plant operators used more chlorine to fight bacteria in the water, the presence of trihalomethanes (THMs), an EPA regulated carcinogenic, spiked. Many began buying bottled water and would do so for the coming months, refusing to drink the toxins coming from their taps.
Later that year, elevated levels of lead were found in many of the City’s homes, as well as in the blood of children. State officials however, did not alert their citizens. It wasn’t until an independent study conducted by Virginia Tech showed the rise of lead levels that state officials began taking action.
Today, the City of Flint is under a state of emergency declared by recent mayor elect Karen Weaver. It’s citizens are left coping with a failing infrastructure, a lost trust in their government system, and a looming sense of fear for their health. READ MORE
In the aftermath of attacks in Paris and San Bernadino, there lay a new weight on the shoulders of young Muslims living in the United States. The search for acceptance and fight for religious freedom became a daily challenge for Muslim students on campus under the pressure of stereotypes and cultural misconception. SEE THE STORY