Government

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says people who book an appointment will get in and out of branch offices within half an hour, but that guarantee doesn’t apply to those who show up without one. Benson campaigned on a 30-minute promise. She said Thursday that she has achieved it because residents can now go online or call to make …

Michigan Rep. Fred Upton, a moderate Republican, says he will vote against impeaching President Donald Trump. Upton, top Democratic target in 2020, issued a written statement Thursday calling the impeachment process “highly partisan and clearly motivated by what I believe is an attempt to overturn the last election.” He says the time to vote on Trump is next November, not …

Police in the southeast Missouri town of Cape Girardeau are continuing to investigate after a man was shot to death at an apartment complex. The Southeast Missourian reports that the victim was identified Thursday as 53-year-old Richard R. Reeves of Decatur, Michigan. The shooting happened just before 10 a.m. inside an apartment on the second floor. Police say Reeves was …

An external study has found an Indiana city’s police department treats residents with roughness and the offending officers are seldom held accountable. The South Bend Tribune reports that the assessment of the Elkhart Police Department was made public on Thursday. Mayor Tim Neese ordered it this year following the release of video showing two officers repeatedly punching a handcuffed man. …

A preliminary hearing set for Ethan Dingman, who is charged with the murder of 55-year-old Todd Schwartz of Colon, didn’t occur Tuesday as scheduled, according to John McDonough, St. Joseph County prosecutor. The case was adjourned and Dingman will be evaluated for competency to stand trial, McDonough said. That evaluation is to take place at Center for Forensic Psychiatry in …

A big-ticket item was approved this week by members of the Three Rivers Public Library Board. In advance of the library’s move to 88 N. Main St., the board agreed to spend nearly $120,000 to replace the building’s heating and air conditioning unit. With no heat emitting from the current system, the board expects to pay about $4,800 a month …

A man who served 20 months in custody for a wrongful conviction is suing police. Ray McCann was repeatedly hounded by police during an investigation of a girl’s killing in St. Joseph County. McCann denied any role in the death of the 11-year-old girl but says he felt pressured to plead no contest to perjury. The conviction was thrown out …

A southwestern Michigan man has been sentenced to a year in jail for his 16-year-old son’s fatal drug overdose. Prosecutors accused Gary Birkhead of knowingly allowing his son to use illicit drugs over two years. He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in November. Birkhead, a Bangor resident, has been in the Van Buren County jail for months and will have …

Authorities are seeking murder and other charges against a man they say shot three officers and killed a 22-year-old father after taking him hostage inside his home. Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller said there was no apparent connection between the jailed suspect and Christopher Neal. Neal was at his Comstock Township home Sunday night watching television with his wife and …

Republican Rep. Fred Upton has easily won reelection to his southwest Michigan House seat for more than 30 years by touting his “common-sense values” and bipartisan accomplishments. But then came the hyperpolarized politics of the Donald Trump era. Now no one, including Upton, really knows what the future holds for him heading into the 2020 election. With the impeachment storm …