Government

Deputies from the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department investigated a larceny from a motor vehicle at a residence in the 56300 block of Buckhorn Road in Park Township. The theft is suspected to have taken place between 9 p.m. Tuesday and 5:30 a.m. Wednesday. It was reported at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Six people were recently reappointed to serve on the St. Joseph County Commission on Aging Board. County commissioners agreed to reappoint Allen Balog, Barbara Fisher, Charles Thompson, Dawn Everett, Jim MacTavish and Joseph Heivilin. Their terms will expire June 30, 2017. In an unrelated matter, county commissioners approved permission to fill the position of probation officer following the resignation of …

A Three Rivers-area man is at the Branch County jail following a police pursuit involving a stolen vehicle. Around 6:45 p.m. Sunday, Michigan State Police attempted to stop a vehicle with improper plates in the area of U.S. 12 and St. Joseph Road. The driver fled south on St. Joseph Road, but eventually pulled over and gave himself up. Christopher …

St. Joseph County’s board of commissioners last week approved a pair of out-of-state travel requests. Clerk Lindsay Oswald requested permission for deputy county clerk Catherine Rigby to attend OnBase computer training in Cleveland on two separate occasions. The first session is Aug. 17-21 and the second is Sept. 21-25. The other request was made by E-911 Central Dispatch Director Dennis …

The Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency has been recognized by the National Association of County and City Health Officials for its ability to plan for, respond to and recover from public health emergencies. The local health department demonstrated these capabilities by meeting the comprehensive preparedness benchmarks required by Project Public Health Ready, a unique partnership between NACCHO and the Centers …

Members of the White Pigeon Fire Department stationed their fire trucks at the corner of U.S. 12 and Kalamazoo Street in White Pigeon Saturday and walked through stopped traffic to raise money for Habitat for Humanity of St Joseph County. Organized by fire chief Troy Andrews, the effort over a four-hour period the department raised more than $2,000 for the …

Quick action by employees at Jaywalkers Restaurant in Mottville Sunday kept fire damage to a minimum. Around 11 a.m., White Pigeon firefighters were called to the business in response to a stove fire. First-arriving personnel found that employees had extinguished the fire. No injuries were reported. Troopers from Michigan State Police assisted.

The Constantine Village Council has adopted a resolution to raise industry rates to be more in line with treatment-plant charges. Constantine Village Manager Mark Honeysett during last week’s meeting said the changes should be made in billing industrial water/sewer users, primarily because the village is being charged about $36,000 a year more than it is billing. Honeysett said changes to …

More than two dozen homeowners in a southwest Michigan community are frustrated after county officials told them to remove their stone mailboxes. On July 14, letters from the Road Commission of Kalamazoo County were sent to 25 homeowners in a Texas Township subdivision, saying they must replace the stone and brick mailboxes by Aug. 14. The letters say the mailboxes …

The June unemployment rate in St. Joseph County was unchanged compared to a month earlier. The monthly labor-market analysis by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget showed St. Joseph County’s 4.7 percent June unemployment rate was equal to the same figure in May. June’s unemployment rate was 1.2 percent less than the same month one year earlier, when …