News

Michigan Department of Transportation workers this week started a chip-seal project on U.S. 12 in the city of Sturgis, and Fawn River and Burr Oak townships. The $570,000 job started Monday and begins at Franks Avenue in Sturgis, working its way east to the Branch County line. MDOT Officials said the new surface will extend the life of the road …

Speed and alcohol are likely factors in a crash that left two Indiana residents dead from a weekend incident in Mottville Township, authorities said. St. Joseph County Sheriff deputies said Richard Spicher, 32 of Middlebury, and Brittany Wolcott, 30, of Shipshewana, were pronounced dead at the scene. The one-vehicle crash occurred around 9 p.m. Sunday on U.S. 131, between Indian …

An Indiana man power-washing the exterior of a southwestern Michigan church has died after coming into contact with an electrical line. The contracted employee was in a bucket lift Saturday afternoon outside St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Cassopolis when he was electrocuted. Police say the 65-year-old man was from Bremen, south of South Bend. His name has not been released.  …

Tests have been conducted at dozens of homes in the central region of Sturgis as part of a vapor-intrusion investigation. The Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency has been involved with the investigation since late 2016, as the Sturgis Municipal Well site was placed in the Superfund Program in 1984 due to chemical contamination from the Kirsch Company. The site was …

Organizers of the 2018 Covered Bridge Days said the weekend’s community festival in Centreville was a success, capped by a parade and square dance that were both well attended. The two-day event was highlighted by a widely-applauded fireworks show Friday evening. Saturday’s notable attractions included a 5K run and one-mile fun run, a pancake breakfast sponsored by the Centreville Lion’s …

Two elderly passengers were hospitalized for back and neck pain after the vehicle they were in was rear-ended over the weekend in Cass County’s Mason Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said deputies were called shortly before 12:30 Saturday afternoon to U.S. 12 at Cassopolis Road, in response to the two-vehicle incident. According to authorities, 65-year-old Robert Postma of Elkhart was stopped …

Michigan’s newest troopers will soon report to work at Michigan State Police posts across the state after graduating from the 134th Trooper Recruit School last week. Kriste Kibbey Etue, director of the MSP, administered the Oath of Office during Friday’s ceremony at the Lansing Center. The 134th Trooper Recruit School began Jan. 14, when 152 prospective troopers reported to the …

A Kalamazoo County police dog is getting a protective vest in memory of a fallen police officer. The Officer Collin Rose Memorial Foundation and Massachusetts-based nonprofit Vested Interest Inc. are sponsoring the vest for Roseco. The German Shepard’s vest will include a note remembering Wayne State University Sgt. Collin Rose. The Kalamazoo native was killed in 2016 in Detroit. Friends …

Police say a 7-year-old girl was struck and killed as she tried to get help after her father drunkenly crashed into an abandoned vehicle on an interstate in suburban Detroit. State police spokesman Lt. Mike Shaw says the girl sent text messages to police about her father’s crash before she was struck on I-94 near Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus …

Proposals to raise the Michigan minimum wage and require paid sick time came under fire from pro-business lobbying groups Friday, the deadline to challenge the two ballot initiatives. The first, a movement by the union-endorsed Michigan One Fair Wage committee to pay Michigan workers $12 an hour and abolish the tipped minimum wage, is being challenged by hospitality industry group …