Government

An autopsy was performed Thursday on the victim of a house fire in Cass County’s Calvin Township. Sheriff Capt. Lyndon Parrish said results showed the victim found inside the residence in the 17000 block of Chain Lake Street died from injuries sustained in that fire. Foul play is not suspected in the death. The cause of the fire has been ruled …

The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners has approved an out-of-state travel request for a circuit court employee. At the request of Judge Paul Stutesman, commissioners agreed to the plan for court administrator Kathryn Griffin to attend the National Association for Court Management’s annual conference in Scottsdale, Ariz. The six-day event takes place next month. As president of Michigan’s NACM, …

Investigators from the St. Joseph County Area Narcotics unit executed two search warrants Wednesday at a residence in the 29000 block of Edgewater Beach Road in White Pigeon Township, where two pounds of drugs were to be delivered by U.S. Mail. In conjunction with officials from the U.S. Postal Service, SCAN officers served a search warrant for a quantity of …

A mail carrier was injured in a two-vehicle accident Tuesday afternoon in White Pigeon Township. State police officials said a vehicle driven by Niles resident Lori Jones, 55, was eastbound on Indian Prairie Road when it was struck from behind by a vehicle driven by Harry Pletcher, 95, of White Pigeon. Jones was treated for minor injuries at Elkhart General …

Cass County Sheriff Joe Underwood said his office is investigating a hit-and-run accident that occurred Wednesday morning in Porter Township. The crash happened at 8:44 a.m. on M-40 at Shavehead Lake Street, according to a department media release. Deputies identified the driver and his passengers who had remained at the crash site as 30-year-old Robert Monfore, and Kristin Greer, 25, …

Sturgis Police made contact with a man in his late 30s Wednesday afternoon who had walked into the police department lobby, who was reportedly suffering from hallucinations and extreme paranoia. While speaking with the man, officers learned that he had purposefully caused a significant natural gas leak at his home before leaving. Police, along with the Sturgis Fire Department, responded …

A Sturgis man is in stable condition after he was stabbed during a residential break-in attempt Sunday. The incident took place in the 29000 block of Fawn River Road, where the victim was stabbed several times in the neck and chest, according to Sturgis Police. The 83-year-old victim was airlifted to a Kalamazoo hospital. A 28-year-old suspect is awaiting return …

St. Joseph County’s Board of Commissioners agreed Tuesday to cover a six-digit dollar amount request from Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. The commission unanimously approved an allocation in excess of $168,000 to the agency. What was labeled a one-time request for the funds from CMH sparked a lengthy discussion by commissioners. The five-member panel criticized state legislators for …

A 39-year-old Sturgis man was charged with drunken driving and child endangerment following an incident Monday outside Congress Elementary School in Sturgis. Sturgis police said their investigation showed a second-grade student was attempting to enter a vehicle after school, when the driver pulled away before she was entirely inside the vehicle. As a result, the vehicle drove over the young …

A motion hearing took place Monday in St. Joseph County Circuit Court in the David Locey murder case. At the hearing, Andy Brown and legal counsel Michael Hill made a motion to quash a previous decision to bind Brown’s case over to circuit court on a murder charge. A motion to quash is the reversal of a lower court’s ruling, …