Members of the Animal Rescue Fund of St. Joseph County have appealed to county officials for greater enforcement of animal-abuse and cruelty cases. During Tuesday’s St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners meeting, three members of the agency brought to the attention of commissioners a pair of situations in the county where abuse and cruelty had been documented. Cheryl Strohm , …

The Langley Covered Bridge will be closed  through Sunday for a Three Rivers Area Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event Saturday night. Chris Minger, St. Joseph County Road Commission project manager, said the bridge was originally slated to remain closed next week for deck repairs. Minger said the plan has been moved to a later date, however, as the commission continues its …

Calhoun County Sheriff Department deputies have identified a person critically injured in a Monday night traffic crash as a woman linked to multi-state crime and murder spree 50 years ago. Police say 70-year-old Caril Ann Fugate Clair was injured in a single-vehicle accident on northbound I-69 near Old 27 in Tekonsha Township. She is currently a patient at Bronson Methodist …

A 32-year-old Three Rivers man was arrested last weekend after he was caught attempting to steal money from a company break room. According to a Three Rivers Police Department press release, the man was caught at 2:40 a.m. Saturday at Armstrong Machine Works. Company officials said they believe the man was responsible for three previous thefts of cash from the …

Linda Gearhart and Larry Matson will square off in the November general election, as they were the top two vote-getters in Tuesday’s primary election. At stake in the November vote is a two-year, at-large seat to the seven-member Three Rivers City Commission. Gearhart, 65, claimed 99 votes, while the 69-year-old Matson earned 71. Matthew Gearhart earned 40 votes. Matson was …

A request to restore nearly three-tenths of a mill to the maximum rate of 2.75 mills for special-education services fell Tuesday, 1,150 to 1,018. Restoration of the mills would have generated an additional $620,000 annually for St. Joseph County’s nine school districts. The 132-vote difference was slightly less than the combined difference between yes and no votes in Cass County’s …

I’m a Vietnam veteran, I get choked up when I say the Pledge of Allegiance, I vote regularly, I remove my hat when the colors pass by during a parade, and I really love America, despite its faults, and yet, there are times when I feel like I’m not a true American because I’m not a sports fanatic. My wife …

Linda Nel Lee Hochstetler, age 65, of Constantine, passed away Saturday, August 3rd, 2013 in Middlebury, Indiana. She was born in Wolf Lake, Indiana on April 11, 1948, a daughter of Carl and Glema (Preston) Hochstetler. Linda worked as a waitress at Middlebury Hills Restaurant in Middlebury. She graduated from Centreville High School in 1966. Linda loved animals, especially horses, …

Louise M. Norton, 75, of Colon, passed away Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013, at Thurston Woods in Sturgis. Louise was born Aug. 17, 1937, in Sturgis, a daughter to the late Jacob and Elsie (Kime) Baker. She had made her home in St. Joseph County most all of her life, where she had worked for the former Union Products Company of Sturgis, …

The Michigan Department of Community Health has confirmed that the first human case of West Nile Virus for 2013 has been identified in St. Joseph County. According to the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency, the case involves an adult male, over the age of 50 years, from the southwest corner of St. Joseph County. The man was hospitalized with symptoms …