News

Members of the Sturgis Public Schools Board of Education have begun their search for the district’s next superintendent. School officials last month held a planning meeting to begin the process of replacing Tom Langdon, who plans to retire in March. Among those in attendance were Gary Rider, regional president of Michigan Leadership Institute, and Doug Knobloch, senior associate and consultant …

One area high school football team remains alive in the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s playoffs. Mendon High School will try to advance to the Division 8 “Final Four” bracket Saturday, when it squares off in a matinee contest against Climax-Scotts. The Hornets are 11-0 and will face for perhaps the final time a 9-2 Climax-Scotts squad. The showdown takes …

Police say a 4-year-old boy has died after being wounded in a shooting that left his estranged parents dead. Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Assistant Chief Vernon Coakley said the shooting Thursday morning outside a home killed Julina G. Gibson and Nicholas A. Mitchell. Coakley told the Kalamazoo Gazette the boy, Nicholas J. Mitchell, died later Thursday at a hospital. …

A southwestern Michigan woman and her ex-boyfriend both have been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the deaths of her two young children in an apartment fire nearly 25 years ago. Krysta McFadden and Clint Dunning were sentenced Thursday after being found guilty of two counts each of first-degree murder in the Nov. 29, 1992, deaths of McFadden’s …

Follow-up inspections to a White Pigeon Township trailer park have found the owner did little to bring code violations into compliance since a checkup in August. Township supervisor Don Gloy said an update on the situation was provided at Tuesday’s monthly board of trustees meeting. Gloy said after the Aug. 14 compliance check conducted by the township’s code-enforcement officer Doug …

Cass County Sheriff Richard Behnke said the county’s 9-1-1 call center now has the ability to receive emergency texts to the three-digit emergency number from anywhere in the county. Behnke said voice calls to 9-1-1 are preferred, as voice calls allow dispatchers the ability to locate from where a call is being placed. But the text option will suffice in …

A 26-year-old Jones woman was arrested Wednesday following a joint investigation by the Cass County Drug Enforcement Team and agents from the Michigan Department of Corrections Parole/Probation Division. The arrest took place at a residence in the 61000 block of South Main Street, where investigators responded to a tip about drug use and firearms in the residence. A search of the …

Equipment failure on a garbage truck resulted in a crash and subsequent injury of its driver Wednesday in Cass County’s Penn Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said deputies were called at 9:30 a.m. to M-60, west of Calvin Center Road. Investigators found that the garbage truck lost control and left the roadway, overturning in a shoulder embankment. The driver, Jason McGaughey, …

Twenty-six people have been treated at a hospital after Battle Creek firefighters found high levels of carbon monoxide at an addiction treatment center. When firefighters arrived Wednesday morning at the A Forever Recovery center, monitors they carried showed readings of 250 to 300 parts per million of the toxic gas, compared to acceptable levels of 30 to 40 ppm. The …

A ballot featuring four unchallenged incumbents was the only matter before Three Rivers voters Tuesday. Mayor Tom Lowry, and commissioners Janell Hart, Pat Dane and Norm Stutesman all will return to serve two-year terms. Final vote totals were: Lowry, 199; Dane, 207; Stutesman, 223; Hart, 218. The 61-year-old Lowry, owner of Lowry’s Books and More, has served as mayor 18 …