101 images that defined Flint and Genesee County in 2019 – MLive.com
Beecher juniors Santa Jenkins, 17 from left, Leondris Davis, 18, and Davontay Lewis, 17, stand with confidence, proudly wearing matching outfits that highlight their school colors while showing out ahead of Beecher’s prom in front of hundreds of family and friends at the high school parking lot on Friday, May 10, 2019. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
FLINT, MI — As the year comes to a close, the MLive-Flint Journal photo staff wanted to share some of the best images taken or published throughout 2019.
The images — some stark others light-hearted — showcase the life of residents in Flint and Genesee County.
Scroll through the pictures below to see the documented vision from MLive-Flint Journal photojournalists Kaiti Sullivan, Kathryn Ziesig, Bronte Wittpenn, Sara Faraj, Rachel Ellis, Sean Proctor and Jake May.
Don’t Edit
A 1966 Chevrolet Impala rolls onto the bricks of Saginaw Street to showcase their classic cars during the 15th annual Back to the Bricks on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 in downtown Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
General Motors employees Bobby Caughel, 41 of Burton at left, and Flint resident James Crump, 34, shout out as they protest, united in solidarity with other GM employees, UAW members and labor supporters outside of the Flint Assembly Plant hours after shutting it down at midnight with a walkout as part of the national UAW strike against GM on Monday, Sept. 16, 2019 in Flint. The United Auto Workers union announced that its roughly 49,000 members at GM plants in the U.S. are on strike starting at midnight because contract negotiations with the automaker had broken down. It’s the first national UAW strike since 2007, when GM workers were out for two days. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Aaliyah Brewster, cousin at right, as the 19 nieces and nephews walk around the candles that spell out “RIP Manny” with a heart during a vigil to mourn the loss of their uncle Sultan Rahman-Rahim Brewster II on Monday, March 18, 2019 on Orange Blossom Drive in Beecher. Brewster, a 23-year-old that went by “Manny”, was shot and killed early Sunday morning near 13th and Saginaw Streets in Flint, where officers found him with a single gunshot wound from a handgun, before transporting him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Flint mother Rachael Lee consoles her 2-year-old daughter Aurora while embracing her 6-year-old son Grant next to the back wall where a fire engulfed and tore through her daughter’s bedroom while she was sleeping on July 1 at Genesee Forest Estates mobile home park in Flint. The fire erupted from a fully-engulfed home fire next door — the first of eight fires that have occurred in the last two weeks, according to Michigan State Police. Now boarded up, Rachel Lee has helped unite the neighborhood for an ongoing crime watch in hopes to prevent further damages, fires and find the culprit. “That was her window. (Next door) once that shed took fire, my house caught. I just laid my mom and son to bed, and my daughter had already been sleeping. I’m angry because whoever set these has no concern for human life. This is my house. That’s my kids. Like, really?” Lee said. “We’re all very vigilant. Everybody has been walking around. If something goes on, people go to that house, pound on the door, and they call management. … (We are) banding together and trying to catch whoever is doing it.” (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Londynn James, 9 at left, takes a sip from her strawberry shake while posing with her sister Laurynn James, 7 and both of Flint, who proudly holds her inflatable ice cream cone after winning it at the “Lucky Duck” carnival game during the last day of the Genesee County Fair on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019 at E.A. Cummings Event Center in Genesee Township. The sisters went to the fair with their mother and 10-year-old brother Landen for the first time Sunday. Laurynn’s shake was vanilla and Londynn’s carnival win she holds is an inflatable dolphin. “The fair is good,” Laurynn said. “I like it out here.” (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Doug Cuthbertson recites the Pledge of Allegiance before his Eagle Scout Court of Honor on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019 at Community Church of God in Clio. (Kaiti Sullivan | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Flint resident Patricia Starks hands out water bottles to her nephews on April 10 to keep them hydrated as they wait for dinner. Starks said bottled water is the only water any of them have ever drank, since each is under the age of four and born after the water crisis had already started. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Boxer Ivana Habazin runs to the aid of her trainer Bashir Ali after he was sucker punched and fell to the ground seconds after a man hit him minutes before the weigh-in to fight against Claressa Shields on Friday, Oct. 4, 2019 at Dort Federal Event Center in Flint. Ali was sent to McLaren Hospital in Flint to be treated. Shields and Habazin are scheduled to fight Saturday for the WBO and WBC super welterweight championships. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Burton resident Tim Hester, 59, salutes to the sky as planes leave a trail of white smoke during a military fly-over in honor of veterans during the 15th annual Back to the Bricks on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 along Saginaw Street in downtown Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Ja’Kayla Norris, front left, loads vehicles with free bottled water alongside other volunteers Katia Kenney, 18 at bottom right, and Sophia Janell Taylor, all of Flint, as non-profit Pack Your Back distributes more than 37,000 bottles of water to residents on Monday, April 22, 2019 at Dort Federal Event Center in Flint. “There’s still a necessity, and it has to be met. We’re just here to fill a need,” Taylor said. “This (crisis) is unacceptable. We are a strong community. We are resilient, and the fact that we can still survive through a crisis such as this is proof of that. It’s known that the problem isn’t totally fixed, and the state should’ve given water away until the problem was resolved. Nevertheless, we’re doing what we have to do to get by.” (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Jada Cuba, left, presses her face up against the window as she and her friend Serenity Smith, both 8-year-old third-graders, spying on their classmate Destiny Smith, who prepares as all three will join more than a dozen students to perform as “Flying Fantastic Acrobats,” on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019 at Doyle-Ryder Elementary School in Flint. More than 80 students participated in Big Top Circus, where the students interacted as animals and performers at the school. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Myracle Palmer struts onto the street as her family and close friends gather to celebrate her outside of her childhood home in Flint before heading to her senior masquerade-themed prom for Carman-Ainsworth High School on Saturday, May 18, 2019 at King’s Court Castle in Lake Orion. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Senior Chandler Blom, center, joins more than 650 students in prayer after being marked with an ash cross on her forehead as a sign of repentance during Mass on Ash Wednesday on March 6, 2019 at Goggins Field House in Flint Powers Catholic High School in Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Jessica Hartman, a Davison-area mother, strokes her finger across Blake’s nose after he fell asleep in her arms at the dinner table on Nov. 21, 2019 at their home days before his adoption. Blake was asleep for an hour, and even kissed his mom in his sleep before repositioning and continuing to snooze. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Stephen Busch, a former Department of Environmental Quality official, had his case related to the Flint Water Crisis dismissed by Judge David J. Goggins on Wednesday, Dec. 18 at the Genesee County District Court. Both he and Michael Prysby originally took plea bargains with former special prosecutor Todd Flood a year ago, pleading no contest to misdemeanors that would be reviewed and potentially dismissed. (Sean Proctor | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
The weather ball stands silhouetted against the blue sky as the sun kisses a rolling blanket of clouds that sweeps across the downtown skyline, lighting up the sky like cotton candy on Monday, May 20, 2019 in Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Isaac Linkowksi, one of nine siblings of his sister Corinn Linkoski, mourns the family’s loss as he sheds tears while listening to a recording of her singing played during Corinn’s memorial service on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 at Bethany Baptist Church in Grand Blanc Township. Corinn Linkowski was involved in a head-on crash on Feb. 13 at M-15 and Coolidge Road in Atlas Township, and was critically-injured, leading to her death on Sunday, Feb. 17. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Three prom-goers sits on the floor as they check their cell phones while charging them in the only available outlet as more than 85 students attend the Westwood Heights Hamady High School prom with a “Harlem Nights” theme on Saturday, May 18, 2019 at Insight Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroscience in Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Flint resident Debra Lewis raises her hand as she asks a question during an orientation with parents, students and school administration at Flint Junior High School on Monday, Aug. 5, 2019 in Flint. The junior high school is located inside of the former Flint Northwestern High School. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Imlay City resident Cynthia Casillas leans under the police tape to lay candles with her son Juan Hernandez, 8, as he looks onto the the house where three children died in an early morning fire on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019 at Maple Grove Communities mobile home park in Imlay City. Four additional family members — including a 42-year-old man, 29-year-old woman, 18-month old boy and 1-month old girl — were hospitalized and listed in critical condition. “When things like this happen, we all come together,” Casillas said. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Natalya Lampinen, 9 of Davison, watches the parade from her window during the second annual Parade of Lights in the Davison DDA’s Christmas on Main Street on Friday, Dec. 6, 2019 in downtown Davison. “It was good. I liked the Grinch because he’s always funny,” she said. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
About 119 seniors from Flint Southwestern Classical Academy and the Accelerated Learning Academy received their diplomas during the Class of 2019 commencement ceremony on Tuesday, June 4, 2019 at The Whiting Auditorium in Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Mott Community College Chief of Police Theresa Stephens-Lock shares a moment with MCC Public Safety Officer Sherry Dixon during a retirement celebration for Stephens-Lock on Thursday, Dec. 12. “I believe I stand on the shoulders of the many law enforcement women that came before me. That made it a tad bit easier for me — and even though I had many firsts, I believe it was because of their struggles I am who I am today,” Stephens-Lock said. She is set to retire after 18 years of service to Mott Community College’s Department of Public Safety and 37 years in law enforcement. (Sean Proctor | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Teri Chapman (left), the Director of the Office of Special Education with the Michigan Department of Education, and Scott Koenigsknecht, the Deputy State Superintendent, listen as students, parents, staff, and alumni take the stage and express their concerns for the Michigan School for the Deaf on Tuesday, June 18, 2019. (Kathryn Ziesig | kziesig@mlive.com)
Don’t Edit
Faurice Carr, 50 at left, and Rich Jones, 52, wear opposing Flint mayoral shirts as they encourage people to vote outside of Berston Field House on Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019 on Flint’s north side. The duo has been out, side by side, urging residents to stop in and cast their ballots since 7 a.m. “It’s very important to get people to vote,” Jones said. “There is power in numbers, and we want to make sure Flint’s showing is strong.” (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Jayden Cuba, 7, rubs his eyes before performing with more than 80 students participating in Big Top Circus, where the students interacted as animals and performers on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019 at Doyle-Rider Elementary School in Flint. (Kaiti Sullivan | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
First-grader Jada McKenzie, 6, walks up to get a cup of water from an Absopure jug at one of multiple stations located throughout the hallways and classrooms on April 12 at Freeman Elementary School. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Members of Gamma Delta Kudos perform a dance and vocal act in chains as a part of a salute to Martin Luther King Jr. during a celebration on Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 at the Flint Public Library in Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Swartz Creek senior drum major Jacob Winter, 17 at center, cheers alongside the rest of the marching band during the 26th annual Lois Craig Invitational on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019 in downtown Flint. The event is part of the HAP Crim Festival of Races. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
The Silver Lake Ski Club practices their “prebuilt pyramid” act during practice on Thursday, July 11, 2019 before a competition weekend. (Kathryn Ziesig | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Walter LeBeau celebrates his 102nd birthday on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 at his home in Swartz Creek. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Retired GM union member Roxanne Williams, 63, stood-up to a semi-truck attempting to enter the GM Davison Road Processing Center. United Automobile Workers remain on strike against GM on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019 in Burton. Williams has worked for GM for 20 years. (Sara Faraj | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Fitness icon Jake Steinfeld, known for “Body by Jake”, and other sponsors donated $100K to fund a DON’T QUIT! Fitness Center to Atherton Elementary School on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019 in Burton. (Sara Faraj | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Saginaw resident Mary Jo Stephen pats the top of her husband, Ricky Sullivan’s, marble headstone before the Memorial Day Ceremony at Great Lakes National Cemetery on Sunday, May 26, 2019 in Holly Township. (Kaiti Sullivan | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Event-goers listen to music during Beats x BBQ on Sunday, May 26, 2019 in downtown Flint. (Kaiti Sullivan | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Flint Southwestern students enter the red carpet before their Hollywood-themed prom at Signature Chop House on Saturday, May 25, 2019 in Flushing. (Kaiti Sullivan | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
A family rides the “Star Dancer” during the Genesee County Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2019, at E.A. Cummings Center. The ride spun fair goers around in a circle and swung them upside down. (Kathryn Ziesig | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Nearly 260 people take the plunge at the Michigan Law Enforcement Polar Plunge at Fenton Moose Lodge in Lake Fenton, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019 in Fenton. (Kaiti Sullivan | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Kenneth White, father at left of 32-year-old Kenneth A. White, listens on with other family and friends while attorneys question witnesses during a juvenile sentencing hearing on Friday, April 18, 2019 at Genesee Circuit Court in downtown Flint. Four juvenile defendants are in hearings awaiting Genesee County Circuit Judge Joseph J. Farah’s decision on whether they will be sentenced as juveniles in the deadly October 2017 rock throwing incident on Interstate 75. Kenneth A. White died after the rock was tossed from the Dodge Road overpass onto southbound Interstate 75. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
The Tim Dyson FMX Stunt Show took place during Bikes on the Bricks on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019 in downtown Flint. (Sara Faraj | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Bobby Younger smiles at his one-year-old granddaughter, Jameriyah Younger, and his mother Pamela Younger, while at a press conference with his attorney David L. Moffitt in front of the Genesee County Circuit Courthouse following his release from the Muskegon Correctional Facility earlier that day on Thursday, July 11, 2019. Bobby Younger had served 12 years of a 32 to 50 year sentence that was adjudged “fully served” upon the discovery of perjured trial testimony. (Kathryn Ziesig | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Garrett Hester, 22, left, and Tim Hester, stand together dressed as World War II soldiers as part of their first inventory reverent of South Michigan Reenactors during a Veterans Day ceremony at The Great Lakes Cemetery on Monday, Nov. 11, 2019, Holly, Mich. Garrett is leaving for the Navy in December, and has known he wanted to serve his country since he was three-years-old. “I can’t wait to go and serve my nation,” he said. (Rachel Ellis | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Emma Hart, 5, wipes out halfway down the hillside after her father Ryan Hart, both of Clio, gave her a push while the two enjoy a day of sledding behind Southwestern Classical Academy on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019 in Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
A woman and a young girl huddle close together to stay warm during a Veterans Day ceremony at The Great Lakes Cemetery on Monday, Nov. 11, 2019, Holly, Mich. (Rachel Ellis | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Warren resident Nikki Krotzer laughs with her daughter Sleen Lloyd, 2, as the duo sit in the back of a 1970 Mercury Montego during the 10th anniversary of Bricks Flicks, where hundreds of Back to the Bricks cruisers bring their classic cars to enjoy a movie on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2019 at US-23 Drive-In Theater in Mundy Township. The film shown was “American Graffiti” starring Richard Dreyfuss and Ron Howard. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Eric Biffle Jr. (center) and Steven Deloney (right) laugh after finding an old CD left on the property they are working to clean up during the 2019 Summer Youth Initiative (SYI) Volunteer Service Day on Wednesday, July 31, 2019. The area was previously the James Lumber in Flint. The property is the future site of the Genesee County Land Bank’s new facilities grounds and was once the James Lumber in Flint. (Kathryn Ziesig | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Family and friends carry the casket of former Flint Mayor Don Williamson to the hearse after his funeral service where hundreds gathered to pay respects in his honor on Monday, April 8, 2019 at Swartz Funeral Home in Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Kenneth White, left, cries with other family and friends after an emotional hearing at Genesee Circuit Court on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 in Flint, MI. The hearing was the first step in determining if one suspect, Mark Sekelsky, 17, should be tried as an adult or a juvenile in the case involving the death of 32-year-old Kenneth White.
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
As the sun sets, the Carman-Ainsworth marching band brass section marches backward into position as they learn their field routine on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019 at the school’s parking lot in Flint Township. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Flint resident LeeAnne Walters and her son Gavin, left, watch as his twin brother Garrett blows out the candle on a birthday cake seated in their Michigan room where stockpiles of bottled water await daily use. The entire city, with a population of nearly 100,000, continues to face an overhaul of its infrastructure because of lead-tainted drinking water through mismanaged political oversight, ultimately leading to a spike in elevated blood lead levels in thousands of children. Garrett and Gavin started breaking out in rashes, and Gavin stopped growing – suffering from the effects of lead in Flint’s water supply and contamination that will have long-term, irreversible neurological consequences on the city’s children. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Tracy Palmer hugs her daughter Jasmine after she hosted a reception for Black Girls Rock with her two sisters, awarding 17 Flint women for their community contributions on Sunday, March 10, 2019 at Mott Community College in Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Flint Mayor Karen Weaver smiles as her supporters show her love after losing by less the city’s mayoral election to Sheldon Neeley by less than 300 total votes on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019 at Blackstone’s in downtown Flint. Weaver would not concede, and said she is considering a recount. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Godmother Iesha Carroll smiles as she walks down the runway with MiAngelle McDonald who shows off her skills and shoes available at Bill Thompson’s Runners Athletics during the second annual “This is Me” special needs fashion show and fundraiser on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019 in Ballenger Fieldhouse at Mott Community College in Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Four-year-old Rosemary Nadell stares down her donut after it was tied up for the donut eating competition during the 19th annual Taste in Fenton event hosted by the Fenton Regional Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, August 7, 2019, at Fenton Community & Cultural Center. The children had to eat the donut held up by the string as fast as they could without touching it or letting it fall to the ground. (Kathryn Ziesig | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Second-grader Jordyn Goodrich, left, laughs as she wishes classmate Mikal Wines a happy valentines day while both sucking on Ring Pops as their class celebrates Valentine’s Day on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 at South Bendle Elementary in Burton. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Jeremiah Aguirre, 15, of Flint, looks on while waiting to watch the tree lighting on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2019 at the Flint Cultural Center’s 33-acre campus in Flint during the 36th annual Holiday Walk. (Sean Proctor | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
The sunset electrifies the sky in an amber red wave above Newark Road on Tuesday, March 19, 2019 on the eve of the first day of Spring in Lapeer. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Derrick Lopez, superintendent of Flint Community Schools, said water stations – including carbon and ultraviolet filtration units – are expected to be installed by summer in all buildings. While the move could secure safe drinking water moving forward, Lopez said the potential damage already done to children who may have drank lead-tainted water won’t be known for some time. “We don’t have quantitative data with respect to that yet, but we do know there will likely be some adverse effects based upon the water crisis on the educational outcomes of our youngsters,” he said. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Sheldon Neeley, seen here standing outside of Doyle-Ryder Elementary School to talk to voters in the last two hours before polls close, will be Flint’s next mayor after beating incumbent Karen Weaver in the Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019 general election. Neeley beat Weaver by a slim margin of 50.19 percent to 48.74 percent, according to unofficial results from the Genesee County Clerk’s office. Neeley won by less than 300 votes, 7,082 to Weaver’s 6,877. The city’s newly elected mayor said he’s feeling grateful, appreciative and “very humbled.” “I’m looking forward to bringing the city back together. There was a lot of fracturing through this process but now we need to come together as a total united city,” Neeley said. “I’m excited to work with the people in moving our communities forward. You’re always nervous any time you get into the ring for a big battle, but I’m very proud of the fact that we kept our race very clean.” (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Jake MayTwo neighboring houses show off their holiday light displays, one fully decked out and the other with a sign that simply reads “Ditto” on Perry Road on Friday, Dec. 6, 2019 in Atlas Township. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Steam rolls off from the head of a Flint firefighter as he takes his helmet off after exiting a house, working in subzero temperatures to contain and extinguish a fire in the 600 block of East Flint Boulevard on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019 on Flint’s north side. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Brent Mars from Flint competes in the burnout competition that concluded the first day of main events week at Lapeer International Dragway on Monday, Aug. 12, 2019. Mars ended up winning the burnout competition which was judged by the audience’s applause. (Kathryn Ziesig | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Calvin Ferguson, 9, gets buried in mud beside the mud pit during the annual Mud Day hosted at For-Mar Nature Preserve & Arboretum was held on Saturday, June 29, 2019. They celebrated with 7,000 gallons of water and 40 yards of dirt along with other activities for participants.
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Lapeer resident Mike LeClaire, left, smiles as he sits with his 11-year-old son Logan while the duo sit on his bike to cheer on nearly 100 athletes competing in the 26th annual Lois Craig Invitational on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019 in downtown Flint. The event is part of the HAP Crim Festival of Races. LeClaire is a member of the Davison Eagles motorcycle club, and said he hopes to run this race with Logan next year. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
People walk down Saginaw Street in downtown Flint looking at all of the cars lining the street during the last day of Back to the Bricks on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019. (Kathryn Ziesig | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Anthony Geyer, a U.S. Marine and 2017 Lake Fenton graduate, smiles as he puts his arm his girlfriend, senior Brooke Young, who gazes up at him locking eyes as more than 340 students attend the Lake Fenton High School prom with “an Enchanted Evening” theme on Saturday, April 27, 2019 at Crystal Gardens Banquet Center in Howell. The two have known each other for four years, and started dating four months ago. “I just like the fact that he has himself really put together. He’s respectful and just has a good head on his shoulders. He’s nice and fun to be around,” Young said. “I honestly wouldn’t want to be here at prom with anyone else. I always thought I wanted to graduate as fast as possible, but I know I’m going to miss it. I can’t wait to see what’s next in life.” (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Hundreds of participants gather dressed as Santa Claus for the 10th annual Flint YMCA Santa Run and Walk on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019 in Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Flint police investigate the 1500 block of Illinois Avenue, between Oliver and Iowa avenues, after three people were shot and killed in the evening on Friday, Sept. 20, 2019 on Flint’s east side. They’d all suffered gunshot wounds. The victim’s names and ages have not been released by police. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Janiya Williams, 6 at left, and her sister Jazlyn, 5, show up dressed identically for their first day of school starting first grade and kindergarten respectively on Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019 at Freeman Elementary School in Flint, as Flint Community Schools transition into a balanced calendar for the first time. “My favorite part of the day is that we always go outside to play on the playground,” Janiya said. “I also like to read because I like books.” (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Flint Southwestern High School valedictorian Alayna Goff gets ready in her home before Honors Night, Tuesday, May 28, 2019 in Flint. (Kaiti Sullivan | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
People attend the 8th annual Alley Fest in downtown Flint on Saturday, July 13, 2019. The annual festival is hosted by Friends of the Alley and there were four stages spread through the event which hosted a variety of music, shows, and performers. (Kathryn Ziesig | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Shay Oliver laughs with her 22-month-old daughter Chelyn as runs into her lap while cutting and measuring fabric for a new prom dress design on Tuesday, May 22, 2019 at her parents’ house in Flint. Oliver, a 33-year-old Flint native, has been designing clothes since she was 8 years old. Now, she is responsible for designing some of the most extravagant prom dresses at proms in Flint and Genesee County. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Howell resident Deborah Day, 44, stands inches from the face of Louie Fanelli, a 29-year-old Oakland University student, as the two verbally clash over differing views while U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin speaks during a constituent town hall about her stance on articles of impeachment and address other issues on Monday, Dec. 16, 2019 in the Oakland Center at Oakland University in Rochester. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Instructor Ahmaad Hood, 25, demonstrates his barber skills during a free basic hair-cutting clipper class held by Teach 2 Reach on Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 in Burton. Teach 2 Reach is a non profit organization teaching cosmetology essentials and barbering-like skills. (Kaiti Sullivan | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
A defendant’s family member reacts as four men are sentenced on Monday, May 6, 2019 at Genesee County Circuit Court in downtown Flint, in connection with the July 2017 shooting death of Ballard in his Flint home in the College Cultural neighborhood. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Zahra Ahmad sits on a wall overlooking Erbil from the city’s historical site known as the Citadel in Iraqi Kurdistan on Wednesday, February 6, 2019. (Bronte Wittpenn | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Flint native Brandon Corder is on a mission to bring his skill set back to his hometown. “Flint is the place that raised me. Without Flint I don’t feel as if I would have been instilled with the fight I have in me today. Flint is the true definition of the rose that grew from the concrete,” Corder said. “The best thing about Flint today is that it’s now a blank canvas. We now have the power to create and rewrite the story of Flint, we have the power to make history. I look forward to being apart of changing that narrative. Toast to Flint moving forward.” (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Interim Flint Police Chief Phil Hart looks on during the interview process for the Genesee County interim sheriff position on Monday, Dec. 23 at the Genesee County building in downtown Flint. A three-person committee composed of Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton, Genesee County Probate Judge Jennie E. Barkey, and Genesee County Clerk-Register John Gleason was tasked with the selection. Hart and former Genesee County Sheriff’s Sgt. Gerald Parks Jr. lost to Genesee County Undersheriff Chris Swanson. (Sean Proctor | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Mateen Cleaves, 41, listens as his attorney, Frank Manley, speaks with the press outside Genesee Circuit Court on Friday, Aug. 9, 2019, following the second day of the trail. Cleaves is accused of sexually assaulting a woman at the Knights Inn in Mundy Township after a charity golf outing in Grand Blanc Township on Sept. 15, 2015. (Kathryn Ziesig | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Vice President Mike Pence speaks to a crowd of about 250 Trump supporters at a Workers for Trump rally on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2019 at Four Points by Sheraton in Saginaw Township. “Michigan said yes to President Donald Trump in 2016, and he and I both know that Michigan’s gonna say yes to President Donald Trump in 2020,” Pence said. Pence described what he’d like to see in 2020: Trump still in the white house, a Republican-majority House of Representatives, and Michigan candidate John James in the Senate. “The truth is, in three short years, we’ve made America great again,” Pence said. “To keep America great, we’ve got to decide right here right now that Michigan is going to vote for four more years of President Donald Trump.” (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Sonja Overall shares her first embrace with her son Ken Overall after Christopher J. Berak, 24 of Macomb Township, was sentenced to serve life in prison without parole Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019 at Oakland County Circuit Court in Pontiac for the death of Oakland County SheriffÕs Deputy Eric Overall, Sonja’s husband and Ken’s father. Berak was found guilty by a jury in early November of first-degree murder and homicide of a peace officer for the 2017 death of Overall. The charges stemmed from a Thanksgiving 2017 incident during which Berak hit and killed Overall, 50, with a vehicle at M-15 and Seymour Lake Road in Brandon Township after a miles-long chase that spanned three counties. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Luc Burge, 9 of Howell, curls into a cocoon swing as his mother Natalie Burge works with him one-on-one during an “Adaptive Ninja” program on June 12, 2019 at Tri County Ninja in Fenton. The swing represents the American Ninja Warrior “pipe slider” obstacle, and is good for sensory processing. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Flint Police and Michigan State Police respond to an incident Thursday, June 6, 2019 in the 2700 block of South Dort Highway in Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Mellaena Tellis (left), 7, Damell Tellis, 6, and Samaria Tellis (right), 5, color while at the Heritage and Harmony festival in the historic Civic Park neighborhood on Wednesday, July 3, 2019. The festival hosted by the Civic Park Historic Business District had live music, vendors from the area, food, and more for people to enjoy. (Kathryn Ziesig | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
A Flint man waters his garden using gallons of water in a continuous effort to keep his neighborhood beautiful despite the ongoing water crisis. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Flint resident Priscilla Wheeler clasps her hands together with her eyes closed as she listens to her neighbors share multiple stories of anguish from her neighbors about how the Flint water crisis has affected their families during a rally on the five-year anniversary of the initial switch from Detroit water to the Flint River on Thursday, April 25, 2019 at the Capitol Building in Lansing. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Krystal Jo’ owner Tony Tucker enters his sixth year giving away bicycles to children in Flint, seen here on Thursday, June 6, 2019 at his home, where he works to repair the bikes year-round. Tucker said he has given away more than 3,000 bicycles through the program’s history. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
The audience watches the Silver Lake Ski Club’s performance at Silver Lake on Tuesday, June 25, 2019. During the summer, the group will perform shows most Tuesdays at Silver Lake. (Kathryn Ziesig | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Jim Boase, Detroit Supervisory Fish Biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, talks to kids about sturgeon. Michigan Department of Natural Resource local, state and federal partners hosted a gathering to release 125 juvenile sturgeon into the Flint River on Sept. 21, 2019 at Mott Park’s Paddlers’ Landing in Flint. The event was an effort to restore sturgeon to the Saginaw Bay Watershed. (Sara Faraj | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
A tree branch reaches out into the open sky while the fog rolls across the frost-covered grass during the sunrise on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019 in Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Flint Township resident Beatrice Hammel, who lives two houses down, sprays down the fire using a garden hose as Flint Township firefighters work to contain a house fire at 3242 Augusta St. on Monday, May 6, 2019 in Flint Township. The home was a total loss, fire officials said. “These are my neighbors. I’m helping them. That’s it,” Hammel said. “I’ve seen a lot of ugliness. This is something I can do to help.” (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Hamady senior Aveontae Coleman, 19, wraps his arms around his date, junior Arianna Day, 17, before the two enter their “Harlem Nights” themed prom with more than 85 students on Saturday, May 18, 2019 at Insight Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroscience in Flint. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Four-year-old Everly MIntosh got her hair done by Rebecca Eliakis, the owner of Beauty Braids, during the Lavender Festival on Friday, July 12, 2019 at the Eastern Michigan Fairgrounds in Imlay City. (Kathryn Ziesig | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Fenton High School students dance during their Paris-themed prom on Thursday, May 23, 2019 in Howell. More than 470 students attended the prom held at Crystal Gardens Banquet Center. (Kaiti Sullivan | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Lights appear to dance during a long exposure photograph at Tails ‘n Trails of Lights night on Thursday, Dec. 12 at the Robert Williams Nature & Historical Learning Center in Davison. (Sean Proctor | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Shakinah Brewster-Thompson, 27, weeps into her candle as she holds onto her bundle of balloons, refusing to let them go as she openly vents with wishes to bring her brother back during a vigil to mourn the loss of Sultan Rahman-Rahim Brewster II on Monday, March 18, 2019 on Orange Blossom Drive in Beecher. Brewster, a 23-year-old that went by “Manny”, was shot and killed early Sunday morning near 13th and Saginaw Streets in Flint, where officers found him with a single gunshot wound from a handgun, before transporting him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. “My love for Manny, I can’t explain it. He’ll tell you I’m his mama. I’m his sister. I’m his baby. Anybody that knows Manny, they know me because they going to tell you just how much love he’s got. My kids, my kids. My kids, they’re everything to him. How much I’ve cried, it hurts. I’m lost. Right now, this is real. Your brother, your sister. You treat them like your child. You grew up with them. That’s your life,” Brewster-Thompson said. “There’s nothing explainable about how I feel about him … you can’t say he was in peace. He wasn’t sick. He died, as a young person that couldn’t live his life. He couldn’t live his life. He couldn’t live his life.” (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Davison resident Tina Edgette kisses the cheek of her great niece Chloe Gutierrez, 4 of Lapeer, as they look in at a horse named Rio while walking through the horse barn on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019 during the Genesee County Fair at E.A. Cummings Event Center in Genesee Township. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Flint resident Takisha Moller consoles her 3-year-old daughter Destinee Wilson in the middle of the protest on the steps of the Capitol Building during a rally on the five-year anniversary of the Flint water crisis on Thursday, April 25, 2019 in Lansing. Moller became pregnant with Desintee in 2014 before giving birth to her in 2015. Throughout her pregnancy, Moller drank unfiltered Flint tap water. Once born, she continued to give her daughter Flint water without knowledge of lead in the drinking water. “I boiled water to give her baths, and I boiled her bottles, not knowing that I was further poisoning her. And the result of that: She’s three years old, she’s the size of maybe a one-and-a-half-year-old,” Moller said. “And I always ask myself, why did somebody do this to us? And when is it going to be enough? … We look at our children, and want to know how their life will be in the future? Will they have learning disabilities? Will they ever be fully grown? It’s real messed up. This is like a fantasy. It’s not real. No one should ever have to go what we went through.” (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
Don’t Edit
Swartz Creek sophomore Aaliyah Lee, 16, smiles as her mother Alicia Lee holds her closely in a long embrace to congratulate her upon receiving an honorary diploma during a graduation ceremony on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019 at the Swartz Creek Center for Performing Arts. In November 2018, Lee was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic, liver and lung cancer. This summer, her family learned the cancer had spread to her brain. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit
The sun sets over the downtown Flint cityscape in July. (Jake May | MLive.com)
Don’t Edit