News

Sturgis Hospital has fired Rob LaBarge, its president and CEO. Little information is available about the situation other than the action took place during the hospital board’s monthly meeting Monday. Longtime hospital administrator John Mayer will replace LaBarge in an interim capacity until a permanent replacement can be found. LaBarge has been under scrutiny after the hospital announced in late …

Chris Gerbers has been selected as principal at Sturgis Middle School. Gerbers has served 16 years as an administrator, teacher and coach for the past 16 years in Indiana. He had been a school administrator the past 11 years and comes to Sturgis from Hamilton, Ind., where he served as junior and senior high school principal the past three years. Gerbers …

A project at Glen Oaks Community College has turned into an award-winning undertaking. College president David Devier said Jones and Henry Engineers, Frederick Construction, and Glen Oaks Community College received the “Public Works Project of the Year — Environmental” award by the American Public Works Association, Southwestern Michigan Branch. Supplying and treating water for the new Devier Student Suites became …

The City of Sturgis has opened a warming station at Sturges-Young Auditorium (201 N. Nottawa) today until 8:00 p.m. The warming station will also be open on Wednesday, January 30th and Thursday, January 31st from 9:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. For those in need of a warm place to stay overnight, Keystone Place in Centreville will have space available. Keystone …

The city of Sturgis is continuing its city-wide snow emergency, which went into effect Sunday. Due to the high snowfall level, any vehicle parked on a city street will be towed. By ordinance, parking is prohibited on all city streets during such a declaration. Any vehicle parked in violation is subject to a citation with a fine of $50 and …

The annual “Point-In-Time Count” will take place statewide Wednesday. Locally, the event will include service agencies and community partners in St. Joseph County collecting information about homeless individuals they encounter during business hours. In addition, the St Joseph County Housing Task Force is preparing to count people who are homeless or unsheltered on the streets and in shelters countywide from …

A southwestern Michigan police officer who fired five shots at a stolen car has been acquitted of reckless discharge of a gun. A jury in Van Buren County returned the verdict Friday. Chelsey Omilian was a Mattawan officer in November 2017 when she fired at a Chevrolet Impala. A woman inside the car was injured. Omilian’s lawyer says she fired …

December’s unemployment rate in St. Joseph County was unchanged compared to the figure from the previous month. The monthly labor-market analysis by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget showed the county’s unemployment rate for December was 3.9 percent again. St. Joseph County was below the state unemployment average, which was 4 percent for the month. The agency said …

Ice was cited as the culprit of a two-vehicle accident over the weekend in Cass County’s Penn Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said deputies were called shortly before 11 p.m. Friday to the intersection of M-60 and Calvin Center Road. Investigators said Noe Herrero, a 58-year-old Elkhart resident, was unable to stop his vehicle on Calvin Center Road due to the …