5 things to read this morning

Herald staff

1. Minimum wage bill could affect WKU student workers and employees

House Bill 1, sponsored by House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D–Prestonburg, seeks to raise minimum wage to $10.10 by 2016. The last time the minimum wage was increased was 2009. 

If passed by the Senate, the bill would cost WKU an estimated $421,000 the first year and an additional $862,000 at the biennial’s end, senior vice president for Finance and Administration Ann Mead said. 

“We don’t want to eliminate jobs in order to pay for the increase,” President Gary Ransdell said. 

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2. Mariah’s moving from historic building in April

MR Group President Clinton Mills, the new owner of Mariah’s, announced plans Feb. 3 to move the restaurant from the Mariah Moore House on State Street to the Hitcents Park Plaza. 

The Plaza will include a parking garage and five new restaurants. There will be three fast-casual restaurants, each specializing in either Italian, Mexican or Asian cuisine. The other two will be full-service restaurants, one being Mariah’s, and the other a sports bar. Mariah’s will occupy the first floor.  

“They are an anchor restaurant in Bowling Green, and the opportunity arose and it was something we didn’t hesitate to do,” Marketing Coordinator for Hitcents, Sydnee Dorris, said. “We were excited to have them here.” 

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3. Photos from the rodeo

View photos from the annual rodeo held at the L.D. Brown Ag Expo Center.

Look at photos here

4. Lady Topper senior Bianca McGee finds success through faith, family

“When I first started playing basketball, it was an ongoing thing with my sisters,” McGee said. “…My oldest sister was kind of like a mother to me…that’s why I wore number 22, because she wore number 22. I wanted to be just like her, so I started developing my own love for the game.”

As McGee grew up, her father, John McGee, saw potential in her game as early as when she was eight or nine years old as she began playing Amateur Athletic Union basketball. Her father would never let her have a job when she was growing up because he wanted her to focus on two things: school and basketball. 

“Some of my friends, they had jobs,” McGee said. “They used to buy all the latest clothes with their little jobs and I always wanted to get a job just to say I had a job and he wouldn’t let me. He said, ‘your job is school and basketball and I’ll get you everything you need and you will earn the things you want.’”

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5. Toppers’ win streak ends at Arkansas State

The team that WKU defeated to start its win streak was the same one to end it.
 
After winning its last six games in a row, the Toppers traveled to Arkansas State, the team it beat in double-overtime on Jan. 18 to launch its current winning streak, and was shell shocked 72-58 in Jonesboro, Ark. 

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