News

A Centreville woman accused of embezzling from two local churches was sentenced last week. Carol Kotschevar, 60, was ordered Friday to serve three months in the St. Joseph County jail after she entered a no-contest plea Oct. 28 to embezzling money from St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Centreville over a four-year period starting in 2015. Similar charges from St. Paul’s …

The contract of Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency Health Officer Rebecca Burns was renewed for another 12 months. In addition, Burns will receive a 10 percent pay raise. The action took place during Monday’s tri-county board meeting. Burns, whose salary is nearly $90,000, will remain in place through at least the end of 2022. The board also approved a $3,500 …

A ceremonial ribbon-cutting event Monday saw Centreville Public Schools officials observe its new bus garage and maintenance facility. The 5,000-square-foot building also serves as a storage facility, replacing a now-razed structure that sat north of Centreville Elementary. Superintendent Stephanie Lemmer said the original bus garage was built in the early 1950s, shortly after the end of WWII. Unlike its predecessor, …

October’s unemployment rate in St. Joseph County decreased by seven-tenths of a percent from September. The monthly labor-market analysis by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget was released recently. It showed St. Joseph County’s unemployment rate fell from 4.9 percent in September to 4.2 percent in October. The rate was 5.4 percent 12 months earlier. Meanwhile, Cass County …

Michigan State Police troopers are investigating a residential burglary from a home in Sturgis Township. Investigators were called around noon Wednesday to a residence in the 70000 block of Stubey Road. Authorities said three or more suspects broke into a home, and stole jewelry and two pistols. The suspects were driving a silver sedan believed to be a Cadillac CTS.

Cass County sheriff’s deputies responded over the weekend to a single-vehicle crash in Newberg Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said deputies were called at 2:45 p.m. Saturday to an area on M-60, west of Corey Lake Road. Behnke said a vehicle driven by Annamae Davis, 24, of Kalamazoo, went off the roadway. Davis told authorities she fell asleep while driving. The …

One year ago, the biggest vaccination drive in American history began with a flush of excitement in an otherwise gloomy December. Trucks loaded with freezer-packed vials of a COVID-19 vaccine that had proved wildly successful in clinical trials fanned out across the land, bringing shots that many hoped would spell the end of the crisis. That hasn’t happened. A year …

The Michigan Court of Appeals won’t order a hospital to use a deworming drug to treat a man who has health problems related to COVID-19. The court said it won’t disrupt the judgment of doctors at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor. “A court directive in this matter could open the door for a flood of similar suits from …

State Rep. Steve Carra last week introduced a plan to make it easier for schools to hire substitute teachers by removing the college-credit requirement for substitutes. Carra said the legislation would help public schools facing a shortage of substitute teachers. Even before COVID-19, schools were struggling to bring in enough substitute teachers, Carra said, noting his plan will eliminate a …

Threats of violence last week resulted in lockdowns at both Three Rivers and Colon schools. On Friday, Three Rivers Community Schools interim superintendent Nikki Nash reported a tip had resulted in a lockdown at Three Rivers Middle School. A tip also had been received at Three Rivers High School earlier in the week. Meanwhile, on Thursday, students and staff were reported …