News

A restructuring of special-education services next fall will initially have an impact on about 54 St. Joseph County students, close a White Pigeon special needs classroom and begin changing the way the county looks at serving its adult students. Aubree Spencer, principal at the ISD’s special education school Pathfinder Center, said she predicts up to 30 percent of current students …

Sheriff’s department deputies were called earlier this week to a business in Park Township, where a lawn mower was reported stolen. The incident was reported Monday after the John Deere zero-turn mower with a 48-inch deck was stolen from a shipping crate earlier in the day. The theft occurred at Green Mark Equipment, at the corner of U.S. 131 and …

Officials with Indiana Michigan Power have announced the company will continue to perform helicopter aerial inspections and maintenance on its high-voltage transmission lines throughout the spring and summer. I&M’s contractor will conduct the work using helicopters that will hover over system infrastructure and make repairs as necessary. The work is essential in order to provide continued reliable electric service, according …

A 55-year-old Sturgis man appears to have suffered a medical condition while driving earlier this week, leading to a single-vehicle accident in Sherman Township. The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department said the man was driving south on Shimmel Road around 5 p.m. Monday, when he drove his vehicle over the center line and off the roadway near Storms Road. The …

A geological fault line has been revealed in southeast Kalamazoo County following a small earthquake in the area over the weekend. Kazuya Fujita, a geosciences professor at Michigan State University, wrote a paper 20 years ago suggesting the existence of the geological fault line. According to Fujita, it appears the fault that caused the 4.2-magintude temblor Saturday is part of …

An investigation has found that dozens of staff members at Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital either abused a patient or witnessed the abuse that led up to the man’s arm being broken as staff struggled to restrain him. The Kalamazoo Gazette reports a summary report on an investigation into the June 2014 incident showed that of the 43 staff members cited, 23 …

Calling the timing of Tuesday’s request “very, very poor,” Three Rivers Community Schools’ Board of Education President Mike Bosma said it came as no surprise to him that the district’s request Tuesday for approval of a 1.95 mill sinking-fund request was defeated. Tuesday’s vote came less than a week after the board agreed to not renew the contracts of three …

Saying local voters were already set to oppose the state sales-tax increase request and were further dismayed by the Three Rivers Community Schools Board of Education, Lockport Township Clerk Wayne Timm said the township’s 1.4 mill increase request for a three-year period was likely doomed before voting even started Tuesday. The request failed by a vote of 380 opposed to …

A 3-mill, five-year sinking fund-millage request sought Tuesday by Burr Oak Community Schools failed by a 20-vote margin. Out of 202 votes cast, 111 rejected the proposal while 91 voted in favor. The relatively close result could prompt district officials to consider asking for a similar request later, according to Superintendent Terry Conklin. If approved, the request would have generated …

With nearly 1,000 votes cast, voters in the city of Sturgis Tuesday rejected a request to amend a city ordinance regarding the number of dogs kept on any premises in the city limits. Almost 15 percent of the city’s registered voters decided by a margin of 648 against and 294 in favor of changing the ordinance to not put a …