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St. Joseph County saw a drop of four-tenths of a percent in its unemployment rate from February to March. According to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget Analysis, the county’s unemployment rate for March was 8.8 percent. The figure also marked a decrease from March 2011, when the county’s unemployment figure was an even 11 percent. St. Joseph …

Three Rivers Fire Department Chief Dan Tomlinson said the department received word that its rating from the Insurance Services Office will be upgraded to a Class 4. Addressing members of the city commission earlier this week, Tomlinson said the one-step improvement means the fire-department insurance auditor noted the comprehensiveness of the department warranted the Class 4 designation. The upside for …

Police responding to a report of a fight in progress uncovered a methamphetamine laboratory Wednesday in Sturgis. Two men, ages 50 and 42 and both from Sturgis, were arrested around 1:30 a.m. after police entered an apartment in the 200 block of E. Hatch St. and discovered a meth lab that had exploded earlier. Officers discovered the apartment after they …

  A team of investigators from the Sturgis Police Department, along with security officials from Wal-Mart, are investigating an estimated $10,000 embezzlement by an unnamed number of employees. According to a department news release, Sturgis Police said employees were involved in a ring centering on the theft of electronic equipment dating to December. Officers spent several hours overnight Tuesday retrieving …

A 19-year-old Three Rivers man was arrested on a warrant Tuesday after he fled the Twin County Probation Center last week. Three Rivers Police said the man, whose name was not provided in a department news release, was found at the Edgewater Apartments. He was wanted on a felony warrant for escape from jail. An 18-year-old resident of the apartment …

St. Joseph County voters could be asked in August to decide whether to renew a millage to support the county’s E-911 Central Dispatch. Meanwhile, a public hearing has been set for feedback on a proposed millage renewal for the St. Joseph County Commission on Aging. The two matters were addressed Tuesday by the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners. Regarding …

Dozens of well-wishers gathered Tuesday at Three Rivers City Hall to salute Ken Baker. The 90-minute open house to honor Baker and his 40 years of service to the city culminated with a proclamation presented by Mayor Tom Lowry at the onset of Tuesday’s city commission meeting. With the city’s police force on hand to acknowledge the former chief and …

A pilot practicing touch-and-go maneuvers Tuesday morning at Three Rivers Municipal Airport made an emergency landing after his single-engine plane struck a deer on the runway. The pilot, whose name and age were not disclosed, landed safely at Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport after the incident, which occurred during take-off. The plane received structural damage in the crash, prompting the pilot …

More than 1,000 pigs died over the weekend when three adjacent barns on a property near Bronson, in Branch County, were destroyed by fire. The incident was reported about 4 a.m. Saturday in the 1200 block of Kibiloski Road. Two pole barns, each measuring 40-by-120 feet, were engulfed in flames when fire personnel arrived, Branch County emergency officials said. A …

Four people were arrested Saturday following complaints of a chemical odor emitting from a room at a hotel in the 1700 block of South Centerville Road. Upon further investigation, Sturgis Police officials were denied access to the room because it was not in the name of the lone occupant. A search warrant, however, was secured from prosecutor John McDonough. Police …