News

Two members of the Battle Creek police department have been fired after an investigation into a relationship between them and allegations of a hostile work environment. The Battle Creek Enquirer reports the firings of Deputy Police Chief Jim Saylor and Inspector Maria Alonso were announced Tuesday. They earlier were placed on paid administrative. In a statement, the city said more …

The March unemployment rate in St. Joseph County decreased by three-tenths of a percent compared to a month earlier. The monthly labor-market analysis by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget showed St. Joseph County’s 6.5 percent March unemployment rate was less than February’s 6.8 percent. In addition, the March unemployment rate was 1.4 percent less than the same …

The Sturgis Fire Department responded to a fire at Cobalt Holdings early Monday. According to a department media release, at 6:22 a.m., a water-flow alarm was reported from the building, located in the 1100 block of North Centerville Road. Upon arrival, fire personnel noticed smoke emitting from the north side of the building. The fire is believed to have started …

Names of the three people involved in a two-vehicle accident have been released by Michigan State Police. The incident occurred around 12:15 p.m. Thursday at Riverside Drive and U.S. 131 in Constantine Township. Investigators said Patricia VanDyke, 74, of Elkhart, proceeded east on Riverside and into the path of a northbound semi driven by Timothy Miller, 61, of Kalamazoo. VanDyke …

About 40 people took part in Sunday’s 43rd annual CROP Hunger Walk in Sturgis. The amount raised has not yet been tallied. Cumulatively, however, the Sturgis-based event has brought in $425,000 for the needy internationally and locally over the past 42 years. Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from the three-mile walk were earmarked to the local Salvation Army and Burr …

The victim of a car-pedestrian collision last week has died from her injuries. Mary Hanchon, age 92, was struck at 7:40 last Wednesday morning at the intersection of Millard Street and South Douglas Avenue. She was taken by ambulance to Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo, where she passed away Sunday.

Many of Comcast’s Michigan customers may soon have a new cable provider. The company announced Monday that it has reached a deal with Charter Communications Inc. that involves selling some of it’s cable systems and creating a new spin-off company to take over some Comcast cable customers. The move is meant to help Comcast’s ability to get regulatory approval for …

An autopsy has confirmed that a recovered body is that of a man who disappeared earlier this month at a Kalamazoo lake. Police said in a release Monday that the body discovered last week is Takashi Sugimori, the husband of a Kalamazoo College professor. He went to the lake to cross-country ski early this month. The 56-year-old’s death has been …

The case of a Burr Oak woman charged with murder and felony firearm has been bound over to circuit court. Thirty-four-year-old Maria Audrey-Louise Williams is accused in the shooting death of Dennis Brooks, 33. The incident occurred March 13 in Burr Oak Township. Judge Rob Pattison on Friday said sufficient evidence for the charge of open murder was presented, resulting …

District Court Judge Jeff Middleton has announced that Jim McNeil is the recipient of the 30th St. Joseph County Bar Association’s Liberty Bell award. McNeil has been a law-enforcement instructor at Glen Oaks Community College for 36 years. He will be retiring in May. Middleton said McNeil has has taught the Introduction to Law Enforcement class to hundreds of students, …