Government

Two experienced candidates have offered their services to fill a vacancy on the Sturgis City Commission. Meeting last week’s application deadline were Jeff Mullins and Steven Shevick. Both are residents of Precinct 1, located on the city’s southeast side. Each is vying to succeed Michael Austermann, who resigned Oct. 14. Mullins was appointed to Sturgis Planning Commission earlier this year …

The Michigan Department of Corrections is revising rates for inmate phone calls after the Federal Communications Commission decided to reduce the cost of jail and prison phone calls. Corrections Department spokesman Chris Gautz tells The Detroit News officials are working to determine how the change will impact revenue. The department last year generated $11.5 million from inmate calls. The money …

Students and others will be able to take an online virtual tour of Michigan’s Capitol building. The website to be unveiled Monday is being billed as the first for a state Capitol created using Google’s Streetview technology. It is being integrated with 360-degree YouTube videos and an interactive, 3-D tour of the governor’s office. The Michigan State Capitol Commission will …

An employee at a Sturgis Township business was the victim of an armed robbery last week. Sheriff’s department officials said the agency was summoned shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday to the Citgo gas station on U.S. 12 at Balk Road in response to an armed robbery. No other information was available from the department.

A representative from the group TR Cares last week presented to county commissioners a petition signed by a number of registered voters asking for a review of Lindsay Oswald’s appointment as county clerk. Furthermore, Doug Bingaman said the petition urges commissioners to issue a public statement, asking Oswald to not seek the position when it appears before voters next year. …

Three Rivers police last week arrested a 27-year-old man wanted as a fugitive from justice. Terrell Reese, a Three Rivers resident, was arrested Wednesday after officers receive a tip regarding Reese’s location. As officers attempted to apprehend Reese, he fled on foot but was eventually tracked down by the department’s K9 unit. Reese was arrested in the vicinity of 14th …

The Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency confirmed that another bat has tested positive for rabies. Agency officials said the bat in question is the third to test positive since May; all reports have come from Branch County. Health department officials said there was no human exposure with the latest case, though there was possibly pet exposure. Earlier in the fall, …

The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners last week approved contract changes to three sheriff’s department divisions. During Tuesday’s meeting, commissioners agreed to the modifications starting in 2016 and impacting the department’s corrections, law-enforcement and command-officers divisions. Notable changes include a 2 percent raise in 2017 and again in 2018 in all three divisions, and a pension revision affecting employees …

A southwestern Michigan prosecutor says the police shooting of two heavily armed brothers was justified and the officers involved won’t be charged. Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeffrey Getting told reporters Friday the six officers were involved in a roughly 20-mile chase of Sean and Aaron Pelletier in May and “were met with defiance.” The Pelletiers were armed in a car and …

Murder suspect Marie Williams accepted a plea agreement Tuesday, a day after jury selection for her trial had started. Williams, a Burr Oak area resident, pled guilty to second-degree murder before Circuit Court Judge Paul Stutesman. By taking the deal, Williams avoids the chance of being convicted of first-degree murder and receiving a life sentence without parole. Williams was about …