Government

Almost 50 percent of St. Joseph County’s 41,889 registered voters took part in Tuesday’s general election. County Clerk Lindsay Oswald said the figure is likely the highest turnout for a mid-term election. Voters in Flowerfield Township agreed Tuesday to support an increase of nearly 1 mill for a 10-year period to fund fire-protection and ambulance services. The request was approved, …

A number of local entities, including the villages of Burr Oak, Centreville and Constantine, featured uncontested races. In Colon, six trustee candidates vied for three seats to Colon Village Council. Winners were Jodi Gross, Dillon Baker and Marvel Delp. They were challenged by David Senkewitz, Donald D’Water and Thomas Whitford. Gross and Delp are incumbents. In Three Rivers, Lucas Allen …

A trio of candidates ran for one partial-term membership to the Three Rivers Community Schools Board of Education. The three, Jack Coleman, Nichole Cover and Anne Riopel, were write-in candidates and the winner had not been determined as of late Tuesday night. The term expires at the end of 2024. Meanwhile, five people ran for four seats to Centreville Public …

Republican Rick Shaffer will return to serve two years as a member of the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners. In the only contested race to the seven-member board, Shaffer fended off Democrat Erin Schultes for the newly created Precinct 1, which comprises Lockport and Florence townships, and the city of Three Rivers.

Authorities on Monday announced an arrest in the unsolved murders of two teenage girls — a drugstore worker who has been living in the same small northern Indiana community where their bodies were found after they went on a hike nearly six years ago. Richard Matthew Allen, 50, was arrested Friday on two murder counts in the killings of Liberty German, 14, …

A 13-year-old Sturgis-area resident was struck by a car while waiting for a school bus early Monday in Fawn River Township. Sheriff Mark Lillywhite said deputies were called shortly before 7 a.m. to the area of Fawn River Road and Big Hill Road in response to a vehicle vs. pedestrian personal-injury collision. The driver was identified as a 16-year-old Sturgis …

A Three Rivers woman died earlier this week in a two-vehicle crash in Constantine Township. State police troopers were called at 1:20 p.m. Wednesday to the area of U.S. 131 and Dickinson Road. Authorities said the 39-year-old woman was driving south on U.S. 131 and her vehicle collided head-on into a northbound pickup driven by a 59-year-old man from Owosso. …

A Three Rivers man is in custody in connection with an armed-robbery incident last week in Three Rivers. Chief Scott Boling said officers were alerted to a possible armed robbery shortly after 11 a.m. Friday at a business in the 700 block of West Michigan Avenue. Boling said the suspect obtained an unknown amount of currency, then fled the scene …

Authorities on Monday identified three men who were fatally shot over the weekend in northern Indiana, including a 19-year-old suspected gunman who was killed by police. Bryar Wolfe of Fremont was shot early Sunday after exchanging gunfire with police in Angola, Indiana State Police said. Police were investigating the deaths of two men whose bodies were found outside an Angola …

Michigan election officials would begin processing absentee ballots two days before the Nov. 8 election under legislation approved Wednesday in hopes of avoiding delays in counting, with absentee voting expected to remain a popular option. Michigan is one of several key swing states that allows no-excuse mail-in ballots but doesn’t allow local election offices to begin processing ballots until 7 a.m. on …