Government

Overall public satisfaction with St. Joseph County Trial Courts was greater than the average of county courts statewide, according to Circuit Court Judge Paul Stutesman. The results are based on a six-question, public-satisfaction survey administered at the behest of the State Court Administrative Office. Stutesman included links to the survey results as part of his annual Circuit Court report presented …

State police were called to Kline’s Resort this week in response to a larceny incident. According to a state police media release, a trolling motor was taken off a boat between 7 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Sunday. The boat was parked alongside a barn on Silver Street south of Kline’s Resort Road. The motor was removed by force, causing …

Authorities say two Illinois residents have died after a set of tires on a semi-truck came loose along Interstate 94 in southwestern Michigan, striking a car with three people inside. The Portage Department of Public Safety says the car’s 67-year-old backseat passenger Rebecca Avery of Glenview died at the scene of the Saturday crash and the 34-year-old driver Michael Ditewig …

Western Michigan authorities have arrested two women during a raid on the home of a man killed by police two weeks earlier. The Kalamazoo Gazette says police raided the Kalamazoo-area house late Saturday after reports of gunshots, and they seized 27 weapons that include loaded rifles, shotguns and handguns. Police say 39-year-old Amy Pelletier and 34-year-old Michelle Pelletier refused to …

The April unemployment rate in St. Joseph County decreased by seven-tenths of a percent compared to a month earlier. The monthly labor-market analysis by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget showed St. Joseph County’s 3.9 percent April unemployment rate was less than March’s 4.6 percent. April’s unemployment rate was 2.7 percent less than the same month in 2014, …

Three public hearings will be staged this evening before members of the Three Rivers City Commission. The first is a show-cause hearing regarding the parcel of land at 621 S. U.S. 131, the second centers on the city’s proposed 2015-16 budget and general property tax act, and the final is a user fee ordinance update. In other business before Mayor …

Members of the Colon Community Schools Board of Education this month will debate the merits of a plan being pitched as a prospective money-maker for the district. The concept of owning a self-serve ice and water dispenser was discussed during the board’s May meeting. The device would be the first of its kind in Michigan and only the second in …

An additional use for a proposed, senior center has prompted Sturgis city commission to seek new maintenance assurances from St. Joseph County. County officials recently added a 1,100-square-foot adult day care space to the initial plan for the $2.6 million development, now called Community Enrichment Center. Plans show it added to the southwest corner of the proposed building that will …

Michigan State Police officials say preliminary numbers show a drop in traffic deaths statewide during the Memorial Day holiday weekend compared with last year. Officials say eight people died in six separate crashes between 6 p.m. last Friday and 11:59 p.m. Monday. That compares with 20 deaths in 19 crashes during the same period last year. The numbers reflect deaths …

Cash and jewelry were among the items taken from a residence during a breaking-and-entering incident that occurred last week in White Pigeon Township. Troopers from Michigan State Police were called to the 14000 block of U.S. 12, where a residence was burglarized between 5 a.m. May 21 and 9:30 p.m. May 22. Access was gained through a front door that …