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A 34-year-old Marcellus woman was sentenced to three years of probation for embezzling $17,000 from the Marcellus Fire Department. Cass County Circuit Court Judge Michael Dodge also ordered Nicole Olsen to pay restitution in the amount she stole over the course of four months starting in September 2011. Olsen was a four-year employee with the department, serving as captain and …

St. Joseph County Emergency Services Coordinator Jim Barnes has passed along information relevant to agriculture-related businesses that have suffered financially from this summer’s drought. Barnes noted that the U.S. Small Business Administration is making available federal economic-disaster loans to small businesses, agricultural cooperatives and other agriculture-related businesses in Michigan. St. Joseph County is one of 10 drought-stricken counties in the …

The Sturgis Public Schools Board of Education recently settled contracts with three work groups. Superintendent Tom Langdon said unions representing food-service workers, teachers, and employees in the custodian, maintenance and transportation field all agreed to a contract through the 2012-13 school year. Teachers will not be awarded a pay increase, though salary-step increases will remain in place. Employees in the …

The St Joseph County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a breaking-and-entering incident in the 63000 block of Youngs Prairie Road in Constantine Township. Sheriff’s officials said a pole barn was burglarized sometime between 9 p.m. Monday and 6 a.m. Tuesday. Tools and hunting equipment were reported stolen.

Personnel from fire departments in Sturgis and across the county are in mourning after learning Monday about the weekend passing of Ladd Carpenter, Sturgis assistant fire chief. A 45-person search for Carpenter’s body was staged Sunday morning after the 55-year-old Sturgis Fire Department veteran failed to show up for an early shift Sunday. Undersheriff Mark Lillywhite said searchers focused their …

A 74-year-old Elkhart County man was charged with arson following an incident Friday evening in White Pigeon Township. According to the Michigan State Police, the man allegedly set fire to a rental unit in which he was residing, in the 71000 block of Aldrich Lake Road. There were no injuries and no other adjacent structures were damaged by fire, heat, …

Divers from the Michigan State Police recovery unit had no success in a search Thursday for locating the remains of Venus Stewart. Acting on a tip, divers spent the morning searching a stretch of the St. Joseph River in Colon Township, adjacent to her parents’ residence on Driftwood Drive. A cadaver K-9 helped pinpoint an area to search, but divers …

The process aimed at sustainable and more equitable funding for the Three Rivers Fire Department (TRFD) Ambulance Service continued to move forward Thursday evening (July 26) with the latest ‘Community Development Meeting’ (CDM) of officials from the City of Three Rivers and Fabius, Lockport and Park townships. City officials presented draft agreements between the city and each of the townships …

Seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates increased in all of Michigan’s 17 major labor market areas in June, according to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget. Total employment and labor force levels rose in most regions in June. “Workforce and employment levels in most Michigan regions expanded in June as summer and seasonal hiring continued,” said Rick Waclawek, director of …

Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) Director Jamie Clover Adams Wednesday (July 25) applauded the quick action by U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack in designating four counties in Southwest Michigan – Branch, Cass, Hillsdale and St. Joseph – as primary natural disaster areas due to the extreme drought conditions facing farmers in those counties. Additionally, …