Government

A 9-year-old boy died Thursday after being shot in Kalamazoo, authorities said. The child was pronounced dead at a Kalamazoo hospital on Thursday afternoon, Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Chief Vernon Coakley said. The child’s name and the circumstances leading to the shooting were not immediately released. Representatives from Pastors on Patrol, the Northside Ministerial Alliance and the NAACP were …

Republican lawmakers voted Thursday to stop a $300 weekly federal supplement that is added to unemployed workers’ benefits in Michigan, though the measure is expected to be vetoed when it reaches Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The GOP-controlled Senate passed the bill on party lines, 19-16, after making a change to the measure that cleared the House last week. It would …

State Senate Republicans who investigated Michigan’s 2020 presidential election for months concluded there was no widespread or systemic fraud and urged the state attorney general to consider probing people who have made baseless allegations about the results in Antrim County to raise money or publicity “for their own ends.” The GOP-led state Senate Oversight Committee said in a 55-page report released Wednesday …

Constantine Village Manager Mark Honeysett provided an update on a recent force-main break of a sewage pipeline from the village to the waste treatment plant in Three Rivers. Addressing village council members during their meeting Monday, Honeysett said he was made aware of the incident June 13 from Doug Humbert, engineer at the Three Rivers plant. Humbert had reported the …

Constantine Village Trustee Joe Faulkner submitted a letter of resignation from the council this week. During Monday’s village council meeting, Faulkner said state law prohibits anyone involved in marijuana services from serving on a municipal board. Faulkner is a co-owner of Rainbow Farms, a pro-marijuana campground in Vandalia. Faulkner has served six months of a two-year term. In addition, Jason …

State Sen. Kim LaSata issued a statement Tuesday centering on an announcement concerning a considerable expansion at Three Rivers-based American Axle. According to the Michigan Strategic Fund, American Axle has been granted a five-year State Essential Services Assessment Exemption for its $40.6 million expansion project. The tax exemption, worth an estimated $470,000, will help the company complete the project that …

A high-lift was stolen Monday from a location on Blue School Road in Mottville Township. Sheriff Mark Lillywhite said deputies were notified shortly before 11 a.m. that the high-lift was taken off a flat-bed trailer parked in the 71000 block of Blue School Road. The 2019 Polaris RZR 1000 high-lifter that was black in color. The trailer it was on …

A Niles resident was injured in a two-vehicle collision Tuesday in Cass County’s Mason Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said deputies were called at 7:40 a.m. to the intersection of Cassopolis Road and Redfield Street in response to an accident with injuries. An initial investigation shows a southbound vehicle driven by Rebecca Geister, 42, of Niles, began to proceed through the …

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer scaled back COVID-19 workplace safety rules on Tuesday, keeping mask and other requirements only in health care settings. The change coincided with the lifting of broad indoor capacity restrictions and face covering mandates that had been in place for 15 months. The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s new emergency rules align with federal regulations that aim to protect health workers …

Michigan is fully open again. After 15 months of capacity restrictions and being hit by the country’s worst surge of coronavirus infections this spring, Michigan’s restaurants, entertainment businesses and other venues can operate at 100% occupancy starting Tuesday. Limits on large indoor gatherings such as weddings and funerals are gone. So is a broad requirement that the unvaccinated be masked indoors, a …