Government

Sheriff’s deputies are investigating the circumstances behind a fire believed to have been deliberately set last weekend in White Pigeon Township. Fire officials were called at 5:15 a.m. Saturday to an unoccupied residence in the 16000 block of Fawn River Road. It was determined that the fire was started intentionally. The fire was limited to a front porch, as crews …

Michigan marked the beginning of legal, recreational marijuana last week and is the first state in the Midwest to allow marijuana for more than medical purposes. Retail shops are still months away and must involve state regulators, but the St. Joseph County prosecutor’s office has announced it is ready to dismiss possession cases. Residents 21 years of age and older …

A Cass County teenager was injured after she was involved in a one-vehicle accident earlier this week in Violinia Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said deputies responded shortly before 12:30 p.m. to an area in the vicinity of Church Street and Goff Lake, where the 16-year-old girl drove off the roadway. She was traveling west on Church Street when the incident …

A northern Indiana couple has been sentenced in a hit-and-run crash that killed two children and a man. An Elkhart County judge sentenced 43-year-old Leonard Grosswiler on Wednesday to 15 years, with 10 years to be served in prison and the rest in community corrections and probation. The Elkhart man had pleaded guilty in October to leaving the scene of …

Law-enforcement officials from Constantine, St. Joseph County and Michigan State Police are investigating an armed-robbery incident that took place over the weekend in the Whispering Pines II mobile home park. Constantine Chief Mark Honeysett said central dispatch, shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday, received a call reporting someone had been shot. Officers ultimately determined the caller, who was bleeding from a …

A northern Indiana police chief who downplayed the beating of a handcuffed suspect by two officers and faced other controversies over discipline has resigned. Elkhart’s Chief Ed Windbigler said in a letter Monday that Mayor Tim Neese asked him to resign. The letter states he’s “not perfect and have made mistakes,” but “always tried to make sure we were making …

An Otsego woman was resuscitated after she was found pinned between her SUV and an Indiana toll booth and a defibrillator registered no pulse. Witnesses told Indiana State Police the 40-year-old woman, whose name was not released, had stepped from the SUV Saturday night to retrieve a debit card she had dropped when the vehicle lurched forward, pinning her against …

Police say a woman who didn’t return home after walking her dog was found dead in an icy pond in the Grand Rapids area, an apparent accident. The body of Tracy Cashman was discovered Sunday in Wyoming, a Grand Rapids suburb. Investigators believe the 38-year-old fell through the ice Saturday night while trying to help her dog. The dog eventually …

A St. Joseph County community is mourning a pregnant woman and a 7-year-old boy who died in a fire that gutted a house where 11 people lived . The Kalamazoo County medical examiner’s office confirmed Friday that the victims were 35-year-old Jessica Gould and Lonnie Ray Bingaman. Caryle Hansen, who was at work at the time of the fire, said …

A ceremonial groundbreaking Monday at Rivers Enrichment Center and Residence in Three Rivers marked the physical conversion of the former Three Rivers Inn. Construction is set to begin this week, as the former 100-room hotel will become the headquarters for St. Joseph County Commission on Aging’s Three Rivers senior center as well as more than 40 senior apartments. COA executive …