Government

Michigan restaurants on Wednesday proposed tying indoor capacity limits to the percentage of COVID-19 tests that come back positive, contending that clear guideposts would help the hospitality industry navigate the pandemic. Bars and restaurants, which reopened for indoor dining and drinking on Feb 1. after a 2 1/2-month ban, have a 10 p.m. curfew and are limited to 25% occupancy, …

A 27-year-old man has been charged with murder in the slayings of his parents whose bodies were found in a wooded area in western Michigan. Nicholas Johnson was expected to be arraigned Thursday in Kalamazoo County District Court. Gary and Laura Johnson went missing earlier this month. Their bodies were unearthed Friday at Gourdneck State Game Area in Portage, about …

Police say a deadly overnight truck crash along the Indiana Toll Road closed the tollway for several hours as crews cleaned up a chemical that spilled from a tanker it was hauling. State police say the truck’s driver, 35-year-old Omar Pleasont of Portage, Indiana was pronounced dead at the scene of Thursday night’s crash in LaGrange County, just south of …

A proposal to change the day and time of St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners’ executive committee meetings remains in a holding pattern for at least another week. The matter was raised during the board’s meeting Tuesday. The five-member board broached the issue last week after commissioner Jared Hoffmaster said he has a work-related conflict with the second executive committee …

Michigan on Tuesday began accepting applications for tuition-free assistance from adults 25 and older to earn an associate’s degree or postsecondary certificate at a community college or private training school. The Michigan Reconnect program is being supported with an initial $30 million in state funding, enough to cover approximately 30,000 people. Applicants must be at least 25, have lived in …

A Michigan man is accused of backing a van into a northern Indiana city’s fire department building after he first tried unsuccessfully to crash it into a nearby police building. James Campbell of Edwardsburg, faces felony charges of resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, auto theft and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, The Elkhart Truth reported Campbell, 34, was …

The fight over whether to allow youth contact sports took center court Thursday in Lansing as Michigan lawmakers heard testimony from educators, parents and students wanting to get back to competition. Even though a ban on indoor dining ends Feb. 1, youth contact sports, including winter high school seasons in basketball, hockey, wrestling and competitive cheer, remain off-limits because of the …

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Thursday that she will not cede her authority to issue certain COVID-19 restrictions, calling Republicans’ attempt to hold back federal pandemic relief funding unless she changes course “cruel and reckless.” The Democratic governor urged GOP lawmakers to “shift their perspective to looking forward” and stop “digging in” on their continued opposition to state health department orders …

Police said they solved the murder of a Battle Creek woman more than 30 years later, after a newly discovered blood sample connected a man to the fatal stabbing. But no charges will be filed because Roger Plato was killed in 1988, three days before Gayle Barrus’ body was found by hunters in Calhoun County, prosecutor David Gilbert said. Nonetheless, …

If Michigan could administer 50,000 coronavirus vaccine doses a day, it could hit its goal of inoculating 70% of people age 16 and older by August. At the current rate, about 29,000 per day, it would not finish until a year from now. The issue is limited supplies — something Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and health officials hope can be addressed …