News

Firefighters last week rescued a woman trapped on the second story of her apartment building after the structure caught fire in Constantine. Around 10:30 a.m. Friday, central dispatch received several calls reporting the fire at Custer Apartments on Peachtree Street. Firefighters arrived to find flames coming through the front door and rear of the building. Firefighters removed the woman from …

A Branch County woman was charged with a number of offenses after she led authorities in two counties on a vehicle pursuit. Authorities in Branch and St. Joseph Counties said Alexandria Stolte, 19, was arrested Wednesday after Branch County deputies attempted to serve a warrant at a residence on the south side of Coldwater. Deputies noticed Stolte left the residence …

A Union City man was injured in a single-vehicle accident last week in the village of Constantine. Ambulance personnel were called shortly after 4 a.m. Thursday to Water Street, near Hull Street, in response to an injury accident. First responders found 27-year-old Bradley Watkins was driving a vehicle that authorities said appeared to have been speeding excessively. According to a …

Two Cass County residents were involved in an accident last week in Porter Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said authorities were called shortly before 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to U.S. 12, just east of M-217. Investigators said a car driven by 40-year-old Victoria Hickey, of Union, was stopped and waiting to turn left into a driveway. A vehicle driven by Daniel Floyd, …

A system has been worked out with the city of Sturgis to notify the Branch-St. Joseph-Hillsdale County Health Agency when homes in a designated contamination zone are sold. There were 47 homes in the affected area, declared as the Newell-Kirsch Superfund site. Nine have not been tested in a program that began last year with the Michigan Department of Environmental …

Constantine Village Manager Mark Honeysett recently introduced to village council members the final draft of a tax-exemption agreement with Michigan Milk Producers Association. The council had previously granted provisional approval of a tax-abatement application, pending the execution of an exemption agreement between the village and MMPA. The abatement is for a new, $6 million facility that will increase the milk …

Members of the Centreville Village Council earlier this month were told that the village’s new lift station – a wastewater pump station – is now fully operational and the previous lift station has been commissioned out of service. The new lift station is located under Dean Street at Mill Street. Oct. 16 was to be the official startup with the …

The Glen Oaks Community College Foundation is accepting scholarship applications from new and returning Glen Oaks students for the 2019-20 academic year. Through philanthropic efforts of the Foundation, charitable cash gifts have provided many students the opportunity of an education that will in turn help change their lives. The Glen Oaks Community College Foundation reported that for the 2018-19 academic …

The St. Joseph County Road Commission is considering seeking a grant that would pay 95 percent of $7 million for development of a new bridge to go alongside Langley Covered Bridge. During last week’s road commission meeting, it was announced that an engineering study determined that the bridge can be used as-is for about two more years. The agency has …

St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough said the remains unearthed Monday in Kalamazoo County have been positively identified as those of Venus Stewart. Doug Stewart, her estranged husband, was found guilty by a St. Joseph County jury of her murder in 2010. Stewart is serving a mandatory life sentence. Stewart led Michigan State Police detectives to her grave early Monday …