St. Joseph County’s grant writer, Lindsay Oswald, has announced details of a $200,000 Brownfield Assessment grant received through the Environmental Protection Agency. The funds will be used for countywide, petroleum assessment of brownfield properties. Oswald explained that a brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of …

Officers from the Sturgis Police Department are investigating a pair of weekend burglaries that appear to be connected. According to a department media release, a residence in the 400 block of East South Street was forcibly entered and multiple firearms were stolen. The incident occurred around 12:45 a.m. Saturday. The family was home at the time. About five hours later, …

Sterlini Magic Mfg. in Colon is offering summer magic workshops starting Saturday. Owner John Sterlini said the free workshop series, called “Secrets of Magic,” will take place starting at 11 a.m. every Saturday through Aug. 30 at his studio in downtown Colon. Each session will last no longer than 45 minutes. He said the hands-on workshops will provide a behind-the-scenes …

Authorities in southern Michigan say a 39-year-old man was killed while trying to use a pickup truck to pull a bulldozer out of a field where it was stuck. The Hillsdale County sheriff’s department says the accident happened Friday afternoon in Hillsdale Township, about 5 miles west of Hillsdale. The department says in a statement that Adam Ladd of Hillsdale …

Southern Michigan authorities say a vehicle struck trees along a road and caught fire, killing two people inside. The Hillsdale County sheriff’s department says the crash happened about 3 a.m. Saturday in Reading Township. The site is about 10 miles north of the Ohio line. The department said in a statement Sunday that the vehicle was westbound when it left …

Dorothy F Plank, age 89, of Sturgis, passed away Friday May 30, 2014 peacefully at her home with her loving daughter by her side. Dorothy was born on May 19, 1925 a daughter of the late Hal and Thelma (Herrick) Lego in Pulaski, IN. She moved to Constantine , MI with her family in 1945. Dorothy married the love of …

Police in Kalamazoo now have three people in custody in connection with a shooting that left a 13-year old boy dead. Michael Day was found with a gunshot wound to his upper body Monday evening in Kalamazoo’s Edison neighborhood. He died later at a local hospital. Investigators believe the fatal shot came from a shotgun wielded by 15-year-old Victor Garay …

Gladys P. LaCounte, 96, of Three Rivers, died Thursday afternoon, May 29, 2014 at her home. She had been in failing health the past four years. She was born April 30, 1918 in Detroit to Earl and Ethel (Paff) Roderick. On Oct. 25, 1936 she married Delbert LaCounte. He preceded her in death on July 11, 2001. She is survived …

Action by the state’s elected leaders and money are key solutions to improving the condition of roads in St. Joseph County and the rest of the state. The solution was detailed Thursday by Christopher Bolt, engineer-manager of the St. Joseph County Road Commission. The Centreville-based agency staged a first-of-its-kind “road summit” that drew more than 60 people to Centreville. Bolt …

Four people were treated for minor injuries following a two-motorcycle crash earlier this week in Mottville Township. The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department said Pauletta Wagner, 50, of  Three Rivers, was driving west on U.S. 12 when she failed to stop in time from striking a motorcycle driven by her husband, Jeffrey Wagner, 58. He was stopped to turn left …