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Deputies from the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department responded to an explosion shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday in the 23000 block of West U.S. 12 in Sturgis Township. Upon arrival to the apartment unit, investigators found the explosion was triggered by a methamphetamine lab. The complex was evacuated while the St. Joseph County Area Narcotics Unit responded and removed the …

Two Fabius Township residents were assaulted by three men following an incident Tuesday morning. According to the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department, a woman knocked on the front door of a residence in the 13000 block of Mohney Lake Road shortly after 7 a.m. and told the resident that her vehicle broke down. When one of the occupants went outside …

A Fabius Township woman was one of two people charged with meth-related offenses late Monday. The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department said deputies went to a residence in the 14000 block of Bullock Road in search of Christon Vallier. Vallier was wanted on three warrants from Kalamazoo County. Vallier and 47-year-old Dawn Baumfeld were charged with maintaining and operating a …

The former president and CEO of a Three Rivers financial institution has pled guilty to embezzling more than $100,000. Kristen Taft, 57, will be sentenced April 27 after she admitted her guilt Friday in St. Joseph County Circuit Court. The Portage resident was found to have used a St. Joseph Valley Community Federal Credit Union credit card to purchase items …

The Three Rivers Public Library Board on Tuesday tabled action on a motion to allow Weenie Kings hot-dog stand to use its parking lot to operate his lunchtime business. A vote to let Mike King return to the site where he sold more than 60,000 hot dogs over a five-year period failed by virtue of a 2-2 deadlock, with two …

The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department arrested two men last weekend after they were found to be manufacturing methamphetamine on an island in the St. Joseph River. The men, whose ages and hometowns were not included in a sheriff’s department news release, were arrested at a boat launch in Mottville Saturday after they came ashore from an island downriver. A …

A carbon-dioxide alarm early Monday afternoon resulted in the evacuation of a lunchtime crowd at the Three Rivers McDonald’s restaurant on West Michigan Avenue. The Three Rivers Fire Department arrived shortly before 1 p.m. to find the manager had evacuated customers and employees from the restaurant. Responding firefighters turned off supply valves from the restaurant’s C02 storage tank, which is …

A 23-year-old Sturgis man was charged with a number of offenses after he fled from Sturgis police late last week. Phillip Royer was charged with fleeing and eluding, resisting and obstructing an officer, driving on a suspended license and also was charged with a parole violation. His arrest culminated after Sturgis police attempted to stop him for a moving violation …

An Indiana man who was brought to the attention of police after a number of incidents March 17 was arraigned in court Friday. St. Joseph County officials said Jerry Hillegas, 46, was charged with two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and violation of a charitable solicitation. Hillegas on March 17 confronted a woman at a downtown business and asked …

Flags in Sturgis are flying at half-staff today to honor a former mayor, Don Easterday. Easterday, 84, passed away Thursday. He served as mayor from 1988 through 1992. City offices will close at 3:30 p.m. today so employees may attend Easterday’s funeral.