Business

Members of the Sturgis City Commission have granted a 12-year tax abatement to Johnson Precision Mold and Engineering. Located in the North Centerville Road business park, the company is investing more than $100,000 in new equipment – primarily a high-speed machining center. Cathy Knapp, manufacturing specialist for the city, said the investment allows the company to increase its sales. In …

Labor union supporters and the governor who made this the first right-to-work Labor Day in Michigan have been on the march on opposite ends of the state as America observed the holiday honoring working people. Gov. Rick Snyder set a fast pace as he led thousands of walkers across the 5-mile Mackinac Bridge that links Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas. …

More wind and solar energy users in Michigan are getting billing credit for excess power they generate. State regulators issued a report last week showing utility customers with their own windmills and solar panels onsite increased the net metering program’s production size by 55 percent from 2011 to 2012. There also were more than 300 additional residential or business customers …

The Three Rivers Waste Water Treatment Plant received notice Wednesday evening that the pipeline servicing the village of Constantine was discharging raw sewage into a ditch. The incident occurred at the intersection of southbound U.S. 131 and the newly constructed U.S. 131 bypass. City staff arrived shortly before 8 o’clock and found the discharge was from a newly installed air-release …

The Sturgis Women Infants and Children Satellite Clinic would like to advise the public of its new location. Beginning today, the new location of the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency’s Sturgis WIC Satellite Clinic will be the Grobhiser Building. The site is in Suite 104 at 600 S. Lakeview Ave. The location will continue to offer scheduled appointments for WIC …

White Pigeon Police Sgt. Bill Burgoyne was sentenced to serve 30 days in jail for charges related to a driving-while-impaired incident in April. Burgoyne was sentenced Monday by Branch County Judge Brent Weigle, who ordered Burgoyne to serve the time in Branch County Jail. Despite a request for work release and community service, Burgoyne was sentenced to the 30 days, …

Centreville Elementary School will have 10 new iPads this academic year, thanks to a donation from the Monsanto Fund. The third of three donations made to St. Joseph County-based recipients took place prior to Monday’s Centreville Board of Education meeting. Angie Shotwell and Michael Ochsner, representing Monsanto’s Constantine plant, presented a ceremonial check to Superintendent Rob Kuhlman and board president …

The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department arrested a Colon man after he was involved in a motorcycle crash Friday. According to a department media release, the 45-year-old man was driving north on North Centerville Road when he lost control and drove off the roadway near Mintdale Road. The man was wearing a helmet and refused medical treatment. Deputies found that …

The more than 1.2 million Michigan residents who will travel this upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend will find the average gas price rose seven cents a gallon this week. Triple A Michigan says the current statewide average is just under $3.62 per gallon, but that’s 31 cents less than this same time last year. Among the cities it surveys, the …

A two-vehicle crash over the weekend in Colon Township led to emergency care rendered to a Colon woman. According to the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department, Amanda Merkle, 27, was airlifted to Bronson Methodist Hospital following the incident Saturday at Wattles and Stowell roads. Merkle was driving east on Wattles Road when she allegedly turned left in front of a …