Government

Sheriff’s deputies investigated a single-vehicle crash that claimed the life of a Sturgis man. Randy Caruthers, age 49, died after the pickup he was driving collided into a tree around 5 a.m. Tuesday in Florence Township, sheriff Mark Lillywhite said. Investigators said Caruthers was driving a Ford F-150 eastbound on Featherstone Road when he lost control of the vehicle in …

Recreational marijuana facilities will continue operating in Constantine, as voters decided Tuesday to support a measure retaining that option. By a margin of 396 to 74, voters opposed a request that would have amended two sections of the village ordinance related to the issue. The amended ordinance would have banned all components of recreational marijuana. In essence, the 396 “no” …

Voters in the village of White Pigeon overwhelmingly endorsed a request to renew a millage to financially support ambulance service. The final vote was 102 in favor of the renewal to 26 opposed. The request centered on 0.35 mills originally established in 2017. The fraction of a mill generates slightly more than $11,000 annually and is dedicated specifically to Emergent …

Michigan late Tuesday lifted an outdoor mask requirement except in gatherings of at least 100 people and in organized contact sports, and said teen athletes no longer must undergo regular COVID-19 testing if they are fully vaccinated. Under a revised pandemic order that takes effect Thursday, the state health department also eased outdoor event sizes and said vaccinated people are …

Two men have been convicted in the 2019 torture-slaying of a northern Indiana woman whose body was found inside a trash bin dumped in southern Michigan. An Elkhart County jury found Donald Owen Jr., 22, and Mario Angulo Jr., 20, guilty of murder Thursday in the October 2019 and killing of 31-year-old Kimberly Dyer at a house in Elkhart. The …

Michigan residents who visit secretary of state offices will always need an appointment, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Thursday, making permanent a change that was made to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Gone are the days when a person could walk into a branch and wait in line. Benson called it an “antiquated, inefficient, take-a-number system that …

A sheriff’s deputy bitten by a dog in southern Michigan killed the animal and then fatally shot the angry owner who confronted him with a knife, state police said Thursday. The incident happened Wednesday night in Hillsdale County’s Reading Township after the deputy responded to a call about a dog on the loose. “When the deputy made contact at the …

A Kalamazoo chiropractor who opposed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders when the coronavirus pandemic struck and helped with an effort to repeal her emergency powers announced Wednesday that he will run against the Democrat in 2022. Garrett Soldano, a Republican, last spring started a Facebook group called “Michiganders Against Excessive Quarantine” that gained roughly 380,000 members before the social media …

In honor of Arbor Day, the St. Joseph County Commission on Aging invited Carolyn Grace from the St Joseph County Conservation District and Ashley Ives, a Farm Bill Specialist from the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to visit our Enrichment Centers on Thursday, April 29. In addition to giving away white pines to our COA members, Carolyn …

The body of a southwestern Michigan man swept last month from a pier into Lake Michigan has been recovered. Members of the Michigan State Police dive team located the body of Dakota Yergeau, 27, Wednesday near the south pier at Silver Beach in St. Joseph. Yergeau and another man reportedly were on the pier in southwestern Michigan on March 28 …