Effie Etura Woods, age 98, of Sturgis, passed away Tuesday evening, Nov. 12, 2019, at Thurston Woods Village. Effie was born June 14, 1921, in Hendricks Quarry and moved to Sturgis in 1922. She graduated from Sturgis High School in 1939, and worked at Kirsch Company until she was old enough to enlist. Effie was inducted in Kalamazoo on Sept. …

A northern Indiana school district is working to restore its computer system after hackers crippled the network by infecting it with ransomware. The Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. notified staff and students’ families Tuesday of the hackers’ attack. An email to staff said the district’s computer network was infected with ransomware that knocked out “all internal network systems” districtwide. District spokeswoman Lucha …

Juris Arvids Budenieks, age 76, of Three Rivers, passed away on Saturday, November 9, 2019 in Lawton, MI. He was born on October 24, 1943 in Riga, Latvia the son of Hermanis and Margareta Budenieks. Juris was a carpenter until he retired, he loved gardening, and the lake where he lived. On November 2, 1968 he was united in marriage …

Richard “Rick” Douglas Fidler, age 48, of Marcellus, passed away on Monday, November 11, 2019 surrounded by his family. He was born in Canton, IL on January 8, 1971 the son of Richard J. and Linda K. (Myers) Fidler. Rick spent his early childhood years in Cuba, IL, Manito, IL, and Ft. Wayne, IN.  He settled in Marcellus, when his …

Patricia J. Presdorf, age 67, of Sturgis, died Sunday, Nov. 10, 2019, at Three Rivers Health. Mrs. Presdorf was born May 1, 1952, in Hillsdale, to Clifford and Genevieve (Booth) Spence. Living for many years in St. Joseph County, she worked for Kirsch Company in Sturgis, for a paper mill in Constantine and was a cashier at Meijer in Sturgis. …

An appeals court has upheld a life sentence for a man who was blamed for the drug-related death of another man in the Kalamazoo area. The federal court says the sentence is “severe and perhaps even misguided as a matter of criminal justice policy” but still constitutional. Steve Whyte was accused of providing heroin that caused the fatal overdose of …

Katherine (Kay) Meek, age 79, of Sturgis, passed away Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019, at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo. Kay was born Dec. 31, 1939, in Battle Creek, a daughter of the late Oliver A. and Opal K. (Blowers) Parlin. Kay had lived all her life in St. Joseph County, graduating from Colon High School with the class of 1958. …

Hunting wildlife has long been ingrained in Michigan’s culture, but it is currently on a decline across the state. The decline is partly due to more baby boomers aging out. Young adults, urbanites and others are also far less likely to participate in hunting. Michigan had as many as 1.2 million hunters in the 1970s, ’80s and into the ’90s. …

Delores A. Murray, age 77, of Burr Oak, died Monday, Nov. 11, 2019, at her home, following an extended illness. Memorial services will be held at a later date. Arrangements by Farrand Funeral Home in White Pigeon.

Marilyn Louise Armstrong, age 73, of Three Rivers, passed away on Saturday, November 9, 2019 at her home.  She was born in Kalamazoo on July 25, 1946 the daughter of Howard and Violet (Brown) Cannon. Marilyn enjoyed reading, solving crossword puzzles, and spending time putting puzzles together.  She also loved watching the game show network, baking, and going shopping when …