A state grant awarded last year to St. Joseph County is reducing recidivism rates and cutting time behind bars for qualified candidates. Judge Paul Stutesman provided details about the Swift and Sure Sanctions Probation Program last week, when he presented circuit court’s annual report to the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners. Stutesman said the State Court Administrative Office provided …

Deputies from the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department are investigating a property-damage complaint filed last week in Burr Oak Township. According to a department media release, a vehicle at a business was driven by the suspects a short distance and was then intentionally damaged. The suspects are described as two white males in their mid-teens.

State police were called to a Lockport Township business Saturday afternoon in response to a report of malicious destruction of property. The agency said a full-size pickup truck rammed a parked car three or four times in the parking lot at Sam’s Place, in the 60000 block of Lutz Road. The offending vehicle was last seen heading north on Lutz …

Two Sturgis men were charged with drug-related offenses after the vehicle they were in was stopped by state police last week in Sherman Township. According to a department media release, the vehicle was stopped around 10 p.m. Friday on Balk Road, not far from Featherstone Road, for defective exhaust. Troopers noticed meth-making ingredients, which they verified after being given consent …

A rural Constantine man was airlifted to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo early Saturday after a one-car crash in the village of Constantine. Police said Darrell Wood, age 26, was the lone passenger in a vehicle that was eastbound on Riverside Drive when he failed to negotiate a curve at Sixth Street around 1:30 a.m. His vehicle clipped a tree …

A pair of 14-year-old girls learned the dangers of currents on Lake Michigan while sunbathing on Mother’s Day in New Buffalo Township. The raft they were using caught a current and was taken roughly 300 yards offshore into Lake Michigan as they were sleeping on it. The girls had no paddles and were not wearing life jackets but they did …

Geraldine(Hoff) Pelfrey, age 62, of Burr Oak, passed away Sunday, May 11th, at Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo. Geraldine was born in LaPorte, IN on August 29, 1951, a daughter of Betty Jean (Goodremont) and Robert Hoff. She attended Lakeland Schools in La Grange. On On August 6, 1968 she married Roy Pelfrey in Brimfield, Indiana. Geraldine worked as a …

Karen K. Jacobs, age 66, of Marcellus, MI passed away Sunday, May 11, 2014 at Borgess Medical Center, Kalamazoo, MI She was born July 23, 1947, in Kalamazoo, MI to Richard and Evelyn (Ryeson) Locke. Surviving are two daughters, Christine (Gregory) Scofield of Marcellus and Shari (Jerry) Alm of Lombard, IL; four sons, Tim (Tiffany) Huston of Mendon, MI, Tom …

The driver of a stolen vehicle remains at large after he eluded police during a two-county pursuit last week. State police troopers said the man was seen around 7 p.m. Thursday driving a vehicle reported stolen from the village of Colon. The vehicle was initially spotted eastbound on U.S. 12 near Big Hill Road. The driver headed into Burr Oak, …

The St. Joseph County Animal Control Department has been chosen to receive a $10,000 grant for spay and neuter services. In a correspondence to county commissioners last week, director Tom Miller said the service is performed before animals are adopted from the Centreville agency. Miller indicated he hopes the measure will help increase adoption rates at the shelter. By unanimous …