The coronavirus has claimed 133 additional lives in Michigan, pushing the state’s death toll from the outbreak to 4,526, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said Saturday. With 430 new cases reported, Michigan has a total of 46,756, the agency said. The number of state residents who have recovered from the disease has reached 22,686, it said. It …

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has delayed the expiration of Michigan driver’s licenses and state ID cards until late July amid the lingering coronavirus pandemic. An executive order Whitmer signed Friday extends until July 31 the expiration date of state ID cards, valid driver’s licenses and operator endorsements that expired or were set to expire between Feb. 1 and June 30. A previous order …

Rodney M. York, age 79, of Constantine, passed away on Friday, May 8, 2020 at Elkhart General Hospital. Rodney was born in Three Rivers on February 11, 1941, a son of Frank and Vivian (French) York. He graduated from Three Rivers High School in 1958 and went on to serve in the U.S. Navy and Reserves. On January 9, 1960, …

Leland Peter Bathgate, Sr., age 64, of Sturgis, passed away early Friday morning May 8, 2020 at his home. He was born February 29, 1956 in Bellevue, Michigan son of Lawrence Joseph and Janet Marie (Baxter) Bathgate. Leland resided in Sturgis since 1972 coming from Florida. On September 21, 1974 he married Priscilla A. Hudson at the Sturgis Wesleyan Church. …

Phillip Warren Winklepleck, age 66, of Sturgis, passed away unexpectedly Thursday afternoon, May 7, 2020 at Ascension Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo. He was born October 21, 1953 in Sturgis, son of the late Kenneth M. “Wink” and Eva D. (Randall) Winklepleck. Phil was a lifelong Sturgis resident. On July 3, 1971 he married Kathleen Sperbeck in LaGrange. Phil had been …

Dann W. German, age 61, of Goshen, and a former longtime Burr Oak resident, passed away unexpectedly Tuesday, May 5, 2020, at his home. He was born May 9, 1958, in Sturgis, a son of the late Donald A. and Alice Virene (Smith) German. Dann resided the past two years in Goshen. His early life was lived in Chino, Calif., …

Billy W. Hill, age 66, of Constantine, died on Wednesday, May 6, 2020 at his home. He was born April 28, 1954 in Duck Hill, MS a son of Billie and Sadie (Carr) Hill. Billy graduated from Constantine High School in 1972. He was an avid outdoorsman and loved to collect everything. Surviving are his wife Nancy Hill, Constantine, son …

Norma J. Wenger, age 94, of Sturgis, passed away Tuesday morning, May 5, 2020, at her home. She was born Nov. 10, 1925, in Sturgis Township, a daughter of the late Elmer and Helen (Fisher) Yunker. Norma was a lifelong Sturgis resident and for many years she and Dick enjoyed wintering in Zephyrhills, Fla. On Nov. 9, 1945, she married …

The Staff at Sturgis Bank have secured Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans through the Small Business Administration (SBA) for 458 businesses throughout our communities. This amounts to $33,337,027 in loans and over 4500 jobs protected for our local residents. “I’m proud of our staff and the way they proactively worked to ensure our businesses got the relief needed through the …

The Republican-led Michigan Legislature sued Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday, asking a judge to declare invalid and unenforceable her stay-at-home order and other measures issued to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The lawsuit, filed in the state Court of Claims, says a 1945 law that gives the governor broad emergency powers to order such restrictions governs local, not statewide, declarations like …