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White Pigeon Community Schools Board of Education last week approved a quote for 432 classroom Chromebook devices, at a cost of about $126,000. Money for the purchase will come from bond funds. Associate superintendent Carrie Erlandson said the Chromebooks will be especially useful if the district needs to continue distance learning in the fall. The district already has 150 Chromebooks …

Here’s the weekly update from Michigan Department of Transportation regarding its redevelopment of U.S. 131 in Three Rivers. Stage 5 traffic pattern remains in place and all traffic will continue to travel on the southbound lane. Construction crews plan to continue gravel grading, and work on new curb and gutter on the north side of Michigan Avenue. All Michigan Avenue …

Construction of a roundabout at Farrand and Colon roads in Colon Township is to begin next week. St. Joseph County Road Commission assistant manager Garrett Myland detailed the plan during a work session Wednesday. The goal is to complete the project no later than the first week of August, he noted. The single-lane roundabout will be a 130-foot inscribed diameter. …

Sheriff’s deputies were called last week to investigate separate incidents of destruction of property. Deputies responded Tuesday to the 58000 block of U.S. 131 in Fabius Township, where forced entry into a barn was attempted. The building sustained minor damage. The second incident was an unrelated property-damage complaint in the 300 block of South Second Street in the village of …

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday extended Michigan’s stay-at-home order by slightly more than two additional weeks, through June 12, while keeping theaters, gyms and other places of public accommodation closed until at least then. A day after a judge ruled in her favor in a lawsuit filed by the Republican-led Legislature, the Democratic governor also extended her coronavirus emergency declaration through June 19. Both …

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer prevailed Thursday in a high-stakes challenge by Republican lawmakers who sued over her authority to declare emergencies and order sweeping restrictions during the coronavirus outbreak. A 1945 law cited by Whitmer, a Democrat, is not limited to regional emergencies and can have no end date, said Judge Cynthia Stephens of the Court of Claims. The opinion …

A 21-year-old man faces a charge of open murder following an incident Thursday in Three Rivers. According to a media release from the Three Rivers Police Department, police were called at 9:43 a.m. to the 300 block of Middle Street. Upon arrival, investigators found a 59-year-old Three Rivers man dead at the scene. Due to the nature of the incident, …

Michigan Department of Transportation has announced work on M-86 in Colon Township will begin next week. According to agency spokesman Nick Schirripa, the work will take place over a stretch of M-86 from Farrand Road east to Kane Road at the Branch County line. The $987,000 project involves resurfacing the 2.2-mile stretch and includes a new concrete curb and gutter, …

Indiana Michigan Power, on behalf of the American Electric Power Foundation, has announced issuance of grants totaling more than $700,000 to help communities in Indiana and Michigan amid the coronavirus pandemic. The funds throughout Indiana and Michigan will be available to local not-for-profits to support basic human needs such as housing assistance, shelter and food for those in need and …

Members of the Constantine Village Council decided to put the proposal of adult-use marijuana before the village’s voters. The board voted 6-to-1 Monday at its virtual council meeting. Council members have been discussing the topic since passage of the 2018 Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act, and approved eleven licenses for medical marijuana previously. Each licensee pays an annual …