The upcoming Fourth of July parade in Colon will include a float featuring a quilt handmade by women at Covenant Church in Burr Oak. There will be a drawing immediately following the parade to win the quilt. The drawing will take place at Trees Youth Center in downtown Colon. Tickets for the drawing cost $1 and can be purchased at …

A medical condition is suspected as the reason an Indiana man drove his vehicle off the roadway and into a tree last week in Fabius Township. Sheriff’s deputies said Delmer Wireman, 34, of LaPorte, Ind., was driving west on M-60 near Youngs Prairie Road when he experienced a medical issue that caused him to lose consciousness. His van rolled onto …

Organizers of this past weekend’s shoreline landscape workshop are calling the morning-long program a success. About 50 people Saturday gathered at Fabius Township Hall to hear a slate of speakers provide a wealth of information related to shoreline landscape projects, including the use of indigenous plants and other measures to ensure a healthy lake ecosystem. Sponsored by Barnes Law Office …

A young Michigan man serving a no-parole prison term for killing his grandfather at age 14 received a new sentence Friday that will make him eligible for release after 35 years. It was an extraordinary break for Dakotah Eliason — and one that’s not available to hundreds of other Michigan prisoners convicted of committing murder when they were teens. Berrien …

Police say a 47-year-old man has died after a large firework shell he was holding exploded near his head in suburban Detroit. The Oakland Press of Pontiac says the Oakland County medical examiner’s office identifies him as Scott Jeffers of Walled Lake. Walled Lake Police Chief Paul Shakinas tells the Detroit Free Press that Sunday night’s explosion happened in front …

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday in favor of Michigan and other Republican-led states that challenged Environmental Protection Agency rules that would reduce mercury and other air pollution from coal-fired power plants. The regulations, announced in 2011, are different from rules proposed last year to cut carbon dioxide emissions. What the decision means: ___ RULING A Supreme Court majority …

Nancy Lee Yeomans, born May 8, 1940, in Anderson, Indiana, passed away Saturday, June 27, 2015. After moving to Michigan as a teen, she was a life-long resident of the Marcellus and Three Rivers area. Nancy was predeceased by her son, Eddie and her parents. She is survived by five siblings; her son, Rodney and her daughter, Vicki Cooper, as …

June Joann Chenoweth, age 81, of Marcellus died Friday, June 26, 2015 at her residence. She was born October 24, 1933 in Dowagiac, MI to Harold & Edna Chiddister Bates. On October 8, 1955, She Married Elmer “Dutch” G. Chenoweth who preceded her in death on September 30, 2002. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Newberg …

The May unemployment rate in St. Joseph County increased eight-tenths of a percent compared to a month earlier. The monthly labor-market analysis by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget showed St. Joseph County’s 4.7 percent May unemployment rate was higher than April’s 3.9 percent. May’s unemployment rate, however, was 1.1 percent less than the same month one year …

History was made last week in Centreville, as a pair of Three Rivers residents became the first same-sex couple to marry in St. Joseph County. Not long after the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, Susan Henry and Dawn Munson arrived to county clerk Pattie Bender’s office to complete a marriage license. The two decided on a …