News

Elkhart County’s health officer says three people have died from fungal meningitis after receiving injections there of a recalled back pain medication.  Doctor Dan Nafziger said Wednesday that three deaths and 28 cases of fungal meningitis have occurred in the northern Indiana county. He would not discuss any specific patients, but says most have responded well to treatment and left …

Michigan retailers are optimistic about the upcoming holidays, with 3 out of 4 retailers expecting sales to increase. According to the Michigan Retailers Association’s (MRA) Michigan Retail Index, 43-percent of the state’s retailers expect holiday sales to rise by more than 5-percent over last year, while 32-percent expect smaller increases.  MRA President and CEO Jim Hallan says Michigan retailers are …

Midland-based Dow Chemical says 2,400 employees will be laid off with 20 plants closed world wide due to continued economic slowdowns.  Roughly half of those layoffs will be in North America including workers at an Automotive Systems Diesel Particulate Filters plant in Midland that will be closed. No time table on the plant closures was immediately available.  Dow says the …

A preliminary report on the Amtrak derailment in Niles from the National Transportation Safety Board blames a reversed switch for the accident on Sunday.  The NTSB found the switch aligned the tracks the Amtrak train was on with a rail yard instead of the main track, and the train stopped only 21 feet from the nearest freight train car in …

Two Vicksburg residents are the latest addition to the Michigan State Police detachment in White Pigeon. Scott Tuttle and Pete Melvin, who were two of 78 members of the recently graduated 123rd MSP trooper academy, began work at the White Pigeon site this week. They will spend the next four months with a field-training officer before patrolling on their own. …

James Baker, director of the Three Rivers Clean Water Plant, said Department of Public Services officials responded earlier this month to an incident of a backed-up sewer in the 200 block of Water Street. Baker stated in a media release the situation was handled in accordance to the city’s Sanitary Sewer Back-Up Policy, as detailed in Michigan Public Act 222. …

The City of Sturgis Department of Public Services is reminding its residents fall leaf pickup begins Monday. Crews will follow the same route as they do with brush pick up, starting north of Chicago Road and west of North Nottawa Street, working their way across the north side of town and then through the south side. Leaf pick up will …

White Pigeon Community Schools’ Board of Education member Christie West was awarded Level One Certification by the Michigan Association of School Boards earlier this month. Level one certification is earned by completing nine Certified Board Member Award classes ranging from school finance and school budget to labor relations and board governance. The nine classes cover a wide range of school …

Six area high school football teams have qualified for the 2012 playoffs. Game days and start times were announced Monday by the Michigan High School Athletic Association. Division 4 action will see a 6-3 Three Rivers squad traveling to Battle Creek to take on 8-1 Pennfield High in a 7 p.m. game Friday.  We’ll carry the game live on WRCI …

Federal officials expect their investigation into a southwestern Michigan train derailment that injured about a dozen people to take six months to a year.  National Transportation Safety Board railroad investigator Michael Flanigon spoke Monday at a news conference in nearby South Bend.  There are measurements to take, interviews to conduct and electronic data that needs to be analyzed before a …