News

The Three Rivers Walmart was temporarily closed, following a fire that started early Monday. According to Three Rivers fire officials and Walmart representatives, the incident started at a clearance rack in the hardware department, where a woman appears to have started the fire intentionally. Surveillance video shows the woman, who had straight, blond hair, deliberately set fire to notebook paper …

A 38-year-old man will spend up to 22½ years in prison for the stabbing death of another man during a fight at a western Michigan motel. William Stephens was sentenced Monday. He was found guilty of manslaughter in April. His minimum sentence is 11 years and 10 months in last October’s slaying of 20-year-old Trey Yarbrough. Yarbrough was stabbed at …

Jury selection for the trial of Andy Brown is scheduled to begin Tuesday morning. Brown, 37, is accused of fatally shooting accountant David Locey at Locey’s office north of Sturgis last October. The trial will begin after Brown‘s attorney, Michael Hills of Kalamazoo, unsuccessfully fought against the bind-over-to-trial process. According to court documents, Hills argued there is not enough evidence …

Sturgis police were involved in a four-hour standoff last week with a man who barricaded himself inside a residence in the 600 block of Devonshire Drive, in the northeast quadrant of the city. According to a department media release, police were called around 9:20 a.m. Friday in response to a suicidal man who had a handgun. A perimeter was set …

A five-person team of volunteers gathered about 300 pounds of debris over the weekend from the Prairie River. The second of five river cleanups this summer involved a 2 1/2-mile stretch of the river Saturday from Burr Oak Road to Middle Colon Road in Burr Oak Township. The event was staged by the St. Joseph County Conservation District. Saturday’s haul …

A lightning strike is believed to have caused a fire at the Bentwater Apartments in Three Rivers Wednesday afternoon. Firefighters arrived shortly before 2 p.m. to find heavy smoke and flames coming from the roof of building 228. After Three Rivers police conducted an evacuation of the building, firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the blaze. Flames were contained to …

A grant awarded the past two decades to St. Joseph County through the Michigan Department of Corrections is being renewed for a three-year period. At the request of District Court Judge Jeff Middleton, the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners Tuesday authorized Middleton submitting the Community Corrections Grant application. Programs and administrative costs covered by the grant equal $103,000. Middleton …

Three people were taken into custody on drug-related charges following an incident Wednesday in Sturgis. According to the Sturgis Department of Public Safety, a tip regarding possible drug activity in the 1500 block of South Centreville Road was received earlier in the day. Officers made contact with two of the parties involved and discovered a large amount of crystal methamphetamine …

The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners has agreed to revise the date and time of its once-a-month executive committee meeting. During Tuesday’s board meeting, commissioners settled on 8 a.m. the Wednesday before the second commission meeting of the month. The executive committee, which acts as a committee of the whole and discusses in detail items to appear on the …

A Burr Oak village trustee has been arraigned on charges of possession of child sexually abusive material and use of a computer to commit a crime. Meadow Woodman, 33, was arraigned last week in District Court. The eight-year village council member was arrested following an investigation that started in February, according to state police investigators. Det. Sgt. Todd Petersen said …