News

The St. Joseph County Conservation District has issued a reminder that its annual Local Food Dinner will be Sept. 11. An allotment of just 200 tickets will be made available for the $25-per-person event. Doors open at 5:15 p.m. and dinner is served at 6 p.m., according to event organizers. The four-course meal, which will feature locally-sourced food prepared by …

Cass County Sheriff’s deputies were called earlier this month to a single-vehicle accident on Pokagon Highway. According to Sheriff Richard Behnke, deputies were dispatched around 11 p.m. Aug. 15 to an area in the vicinity of Pokagon Highway and Oak Grove Road in LaGrange Township. Ardee Joseph-Louis Mabry, 36, of Battle Creek, told authorities he was driving east on Pokagon …

Gerald R. Ford International Airport in western Michigan will add eight passenger gates during a $90 million expansion that is expected to create hundreds of jobs. The airport’s governing board says “Project Elevate” will enhance the airport and make more flights available to the public. The money will come from bonds, government grants and passenger fees. The Grand Rapids airport …

State Sen. Kim LaSata on Tuesday applauded four Southwest Michigan communities, including three in St. Joseph County, for being awarded competitive grants through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s “Site Readiness Improvement Program.” According to MEDC, the grants were awarded through a new “Michigan Build Ready Sites Program,” which aims to boost the state’s inventory of available properties ready to compete for …

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has notified the Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency that as of Aug. 21, two unvaccinated horses in St. Joseph County have tested positive for Eastern Equine Encephalitis and both have died. EEE is an infectious and often fatal disease of horses, humans and pigs. It is transmitted by mosquito vectors. When levels …

State police troopers responded to a fatal accident last week in Branch County’s Girard Township. Troopers were notified at 3:35 p.m. on Friday that a vehicle left the roadway and struck a tree at Gorbell and Bidwell roads. The vehicle was traveling north on Gorbell Road when it failed to navigate a 90-degree right turn. It instead went straight through …

Volunteers worked today (Wednesday) with representatives from the Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy at a location in Fabius Township. The conservancy hosted the “Create the Corey Lake Trail” workday at the Corey Lake North Bay Preserve near Three Rivers. In early July, the Mittler Family, their children and grandchildren, who donated the preserve to SWMLC in 2014, met at the preserve …

Michigan Department of Transportation is two weeks from finishing a highway bridge project in Constantine Township. MDOT’s Nick Schirripa said the U.S. 131 bridge over the St. Joseph River is in the midst of treating the bridge as part of a routine-maintenance project. The $150,000 job includes an epoxy overlay and pavement markings on the 6-year-old bridge. The job started …

Here’s an announcement from Three Rivers Department of Public Services Director Amy Roth. DPS crew members will start the agency’s biannual hydrant flushing Sept. 3. Roth said she expects flushing to continue through Oct. 4. Flushing will occur 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Due to many variables, the department is not able to determine the exact date …

An area elected official was the recipient of a prestigious honor last week at the 111th annual Michigan Association of County Clerks Summer Conference in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The MACC “Clerk of the Year Award” was presented to Branch County’s Terry Kubasiak. The award recipient is selected based on criteria formulated by the MACC Board of Directors from nominations by …