News

The Local Beer Cellar & Pizza Oven, a downtown Centreville restaurant and bar that opened in 2014, is closing Saturday. Daniel Templin, who owns the business with his wife, Jamie, confirmed the news over the weekend. He said he and his wife looked at all options and concluded the only practical business move was to suspend operations. Templin said a …

Centreville Public Schools Board of Education agreed Monday to maintain its same officers for 2024. In the absence of any other meaningful business, the board agreed to re-appoint Rod Detweiler as president, Jackie Bowen as vice president, TJ Reed as secretary and Larry Walton as treasurer. The terms for Detweiler and Walton expire at the end of the year. Bowen …

Cass County deputies last week arrested a man who led authorities on a pursuit started in Elkhart County. Sheriff Richard Behnke said deputies were notified at 3:20 a.m. Friday of a vehicle heading north into Michigan near Edwardsburg. The suspect was believed to have been involved in a domestic incident in Elkhart County. Behnke said the vehicle eventually went into …

Nearly three dozen antique bicycles and other items were stolen late last month from a location in Mottville Township. Undersheriff Jason Bingaman said deputies responded Dec. 29 to a location in the 10000 block of U.S. 12. The victim told authorities what appears to be forced entry into a storage facility occurred between Dec. 24 and Dec. 29. Among the …

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the arrest and arraignment of a Grand Haven man on several felony charges related to the theft of Meijer “MPerks” accounts. Nicholas Mui, 22, was arraigned Dec. 27 in Kent County on one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, one count of using a computer to commit a crime and seven counts of identity …

The Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency is offering radon-testing kits at no charge to residents of the tri-county area. Paul Andriacchi, director of Environmental Health, says January is Radon Action Month, and he encourages residents to test their homes. Excessive indoor radon levels are frequently found in the region due to the soil types, he said. Radon is an odorless, …

Undersheriff Jason Bingaman said a teenager who was reported missing earlier in the week has been located. Bingaman said the agency was notified Tuesday about a juvenile who had been reported as a runaway. Family members said attempts to reach the runaway, 16-year-old Abby Nicole Pitcher, were initially unsuccessful. Bingaman said deputies received information Wednesday on Pitcher’s whereabouts. She was …

A local fundraiser staged prior to the holidays was deemed a success by leaders from a local organization. The Sturgis Academy of Martial Arts recently announced the accomplishment. Eastwood Elementary School was raising funds for a new campus therapy dog and the “Karate on Campus” event did what it was designed to do. The campaign ran through the first half …

Our area experienced its second-warmest December in over 125 years of record keeping, following 2015 which was the warmest. There were only two days during the month with snow of any consequence, including a few inches in Central Michigan at the beginning of the month, then 1 to 3 inches in most locations on December 18 with an isolated 7 …

St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners will be overseen for the second consecutive year by Ken Malone. During their annual organizational meeting Tuesday, commissioners unanimously chose the 60-year-old Sturgis resident to serve as board chairman for 2024. Malone owns Advantage Water Service in Sturgis. Malone, who is starting his sixth year as a member of the seven-man panel, said the …