News

The Three Rivers Area Community Foundation is thanking its contributors for a successful 2013 season. Melissa Bliss, foundation administrator, said nearly $46,000 was designated to 17 local organizations and charities thanks to the financial commitments from donors. Bliss said she encourages contributors to continue supporting the foundation in 2014, as the recipients help make Three Rivers a better community.

No longer would you see rusted out and unreadable license plates from Michigan under a bill signed into law Tuesday by Governor Rick Snyder. The measure requires drivers to get a new license plate every ten years at a cost of 5 dollars. It will take effect in 2015 and ban plates issued from 2005 and before from being renewed. …

St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough has elected to not seek charges against the driver of a vehicle that killed a Sturgis man last month. McDonough said the accident – on Bogen Road, west of M-66 in Sturgis Township – was unquestionably a tragic event. However, McDonough added, circumstances in the case do not warrant authorization of charges at this …

Authorities say a van crashed into a horse-drawn buggy on a northern Indiana highway, killing the buggy’s driver. The Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department says the crash happened Monday evening on Indiana 119 a few miles southwest of Goshen when the van drove into the buggy from behind. The department says 51-year-old Ammon Imhoff of Goshen was thrown from the buggy …

Officials from Indiana Michigan Power said with one exception, the company has restored service to all customers who lost electricity as a result of the Nov. 17 wind storm. In a media release issued over the weekend, I&M officials said they wish to thank customers for their patience during the hours without electricity. The damage was extensive, company officials said. …

State police are investigating a hit-and-run incident during which a sign outside a Sturgis restaurant was damaged. Troopers were called Monday morning to Hot ‘n’ Now on South Centerville Road after store employees found the drive-thru sign near the business entrance was destroyed. Investigators said it appears a double-axle vehicle drove over the curb and onto the restaurant property. The …

Members of the Centreville Public Schools Board of Education joined district administrators Monday and thanked the community for its Nov. 5 support in passing a $12.8 million request for building improvements district wide. Monday’s meeting was the first since the 2.95-mill request was approved, 351-to-226. Superintendent Rob Kuhlman said the board and the millage committee worked hard to promote the …

A 25-year-old Constantine man was injured last week after the vehicle he was driving crashed into a tree in Florence Township. The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department said it fielded a call around 1 a.m. Friday in response to a one-car accident on Sevison Road near Mintdale Road. Upon arrival, deputies saw a 2007 Ford F-250 crashed into a tree …

A Sturgis Hospital employee is spearheading a fundraising effort to benefit a rural Filipino community devastated by this month’s typhoon. Noel Fontanilla, a native of the Philippines, is hoping his effort will help the village of Cangumbang. The community is where a pair of Sturgis High School graduates, Elsa Thomasma and Carter Brown was working on a community/evacuation center. Fontanilla, …

Appointments and re-appointments were made by members of the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners last week. Constantine-area resident David Miars was reappointed to another three-year term on the county’s Board of Public Works. His current term expires at the end of the year. Deb Leyes of Sturgis was tapped to serve a one-year term as a general-public representative on …