News

A $1.3 billion project is moving forward to replace a 210-mile oil pipeline that stretches across Michigan and caused a 2010 spill.  Enbridge Inc. last month began the second phase of construction on Line 6B and it should be in service by mid-2014. Thousands of sections of pipeline are at a site in the Mendon area. The company has five …

A 55-gallon drum and a bail of fencing were among the items recovered from last weekend’s St. Joseph County Conservation District river cleanup. The fifth of seven cleanup events this season took place Saturday in a 2.7-mile stretch of the Rocky River, from Bent Road to Flatbush Road in Flowerfield Township. A group of seven volunteers also snagged three tires …

Two of three people involved in a breaking-and-entering incident in downtown Sturgis were arrested early Sunday after they attempted to flee from officers. According to the Sturgis Police Department, a 22-year-old Sturgis man and a 15-year-old male were arrested after officers were called at 2 a.m. Sunday to the 100 block of West Chicago Road in response to a sound …

Weapons and jewelry were stolen from a Fabius Township residence last week. According to the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department, someone broke into a residence in the 12300 block of Hillside Drive between Tuesday and Thursday. Access was gained through a garage door. Four firearms and three diamond rings were stolen during the break-in deputies said.

A St. Joseph County-based agency is organizing what it hopes will become an event that lands it in the book of Guinness World Records. In partnership with Glen Oaks Community College’s Phi Theta Kappa and the St. Joseph County Family Violence Taskforce, the event is being spearheaded by the St. Joseph County Great Start Collaborative. The mark for most strollers …

A Three Rivers man will serve more than four months in jail after he was sentenced for embezzling funds from the Three Rivers Little League. Clint Roberts, who was found to have taken more than $14,000 from the league’s account while managing its finances, was sentenced earlier this month by Circuit Court Judge Paul Stutesman to serve 4 1/2 months …

The St. Joseph County United Way is poised to start its 2014 campaign with the annual Donut Drive event coming next week. Executive director Kelly Hostetler said the donut drive also serves as a public thank you for the support provided to the Centreville-based agency. United Way volunteers will be in each of the county’s eight municipalities over an 11-day …

St. Joseph County’s Board of Commissioners last week agreed to a modification regarding its lease agreement with renters at the Meyer Broadway Park house. Tenants Dan and Sarah Hershberger have requested use of an attached, two-car garage known as Dimmick Lodge. The Hershbergers said they wish to park their vehicles inside the structure, and have offered to pay an additional …

A 48-year-old man has received the mandatory sentence of life without parole for first-degree murder in the 2010 gun slaying of a man in the victim’s Kalamazoo front yard. Police found the body of 38-year-old Joseph A. Salib on Oct. 3, 2010. Kalamazoo County Circuit Judge Pamela L. Lightvoet sentenced Randy P. Smith on Monday, also giving him life for …

The June unemployment rate in St. Joseph County increased by seven-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 8.4 percent June unemployment rate was more than May’s 7.7 percent. June’s unemployment rate, however, was four-tenths of a percent less than the same …