County health officers don’t need approval from elected officials to issue orders, the Michigan Court of Appeals said in a precedent-setting decision related to protests over COVID-19 school mask mandates. Mask orders were controversial when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration changed course and left key decisions to local health departments. The result: blistering criticism and tense confrontations at county board meetings in some …

Three Rivers 66, Vicksburg 43 Niles 50, Sturgis 42 Cassopolis 45, Berrien Springs 43 Centreville 85, Marcellus 24 Colon 56, Battle Creek St. Philip 55 Eau Claire 52, Marcellus Howardsville Christian 50 Parchment 75, Constantine 47 Schoolcraft 63, Lawton 35 White Pigeon 56, Mendon 40  

Vicksburg 56, Three Rivers 35 Sturgis 52, Niles 43 Climax-Scotts 36, Burr Oak 21 Colon 52, Battle Creek St. Philip 25 Constantine 45, Parchment 37 Schoolcraft 40, Lawton 13  

Wayne R. Bielski, age 70, of Colon, passed away on Friday, December 16, 2022, at Bronson Methodist Hospital. Wayne was born on April 26, 1952, in Berwyn, Illinois, a son to the late Richard and Francis (Krizek) Bielski. Wayne was a graduate of Morton East High School with the class of 1970. Wayne later graduated from Purdue University Northwest with …

Antoinette “Toni” Taylor passed away on December 3, 2022 at Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne at the age of 76. She was born on January 3, 1946, in Sturgis, the daughter of Kenneth and Ruth (Taylor) Newman. Toni graduated from Lima High School and Ball State University where she earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering. She worked for many years …

A judge on Thursday handed down the longest prison terms so far in the plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor, sentencing three men who forged an early alliance with a leader of the scheme before the FBI broke it up in 2020. Joe Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar were not charged with having a direct role in the conspiracy. But …

Leeann Sue Ryan, age 65, of Three Rivers, passed away Tuesday, December 13, 2022 at Bronson Methodist Hospital. She was born August 6, 1957 in Bay City, the daughter of Shirley Serafin, and graduated from Pinconning High School with the Class of 1975. On November 8, 1997, Leeann married the love of her life, Dan Ryan. The couple met through …

Robert K. Richards, age 87, of Three Rivers, passed away Tuesday, December 13, 2022. Bob was born in Hancock, Michigan, the son of Robert and Ruth (Sanborn) Richards and lived in the Upper Peninsula until moving to Ann Arbor for graduate studies at the University of Michigan. Bob completed a mid-life Ph.D. and spent the remaining years of his career …

Ronald Dean Bourn, age 71, of Constantine, passed away Thursday, December 8, 2022 at his home. He was born July 22, 1951 in Elkhart, the son of Charles and Shirley (Shaw) Bourn, and graduated from Elkhart High School with the Class of 1969. Ron worked with his father in the family business, Bourn & Sons Plastering, for more than 40 …

Alice Hazel (Sears) Hill of Burr Oak, passed away on Wednesday, December 14, 2022, at the age of 61. She was born in Michigan City, Indiana on April 9, 1961, the daughter of John and Janice (Westphal) Sears Sr. She will be fondly remembered by those who knew her for the love she shared with her fur baby: Tazz Alice …