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Officials are advising Michigan’s propane users to lock in prices before the heating season gets underway. Valerie Brader of the Michigan Agency for Energy says customers can save money by signing contracts now, while propane supplies are significantly above the five-year average. Prices in more than 30 states jumped during the 2013-2014 heating season after cold temperatures and other factors …

Michigan’s unemployment rate has held steady in the latest month at 5.5 percent, 1.6 points lower than a year earlier. The state announced Wednesday that the seasonally adjusted jobless rate for June was identical with the rate in May. The U.S. rate fell 0.2 points to 5.3 percent in the latest month. The Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget …

Authorities say a 4-year-old girl has died after she became entangled in clothing at her western Michigan home and was accidentally strangled. The Ottawa County sheriff’s department says Makayla VanderLaan died Tuesday after being found unresponsive Sunday at her Grand Haven Township home at River Haven Village mobile home park. The department says the girl was playing alone in her …

The state appeals court says Calhoun County can keep $11,400, a gun and a camera seized from a car, although the owner wasn’t charged with a drug crime. The court says there’s a preponderance of evidence that the cash was tied to illegal activity. In a seizure case, that’s a lower standard than beyond a reasonable doubt. Brye Rounds was …

A former employee of Michigan State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine has been sentenced to five years of probation for embezzling more than $100,000 from the university. The Lansing State Journal reports 39-year-old Brandi Moody of DeWitt Township also was ordered Wednesday to pay restitution. She’ll have a six-month jail sentence suspended if she repays $43,000. She paid $100,000 in …

Officials say Michigan’s seat belt use rate is remaining steady from a year ago. The Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning says Wednesday that a direct observation survey conducted statewide by the Wayne State University Transportation Research Group found the rate was 93 percent. The state’s record was 98 percent in 2009. Law enforcement officers from police departments, sheriff’s offices …

Hi. I’m a female tricolor walker hound. I’m about 1-1/2 years old and am very sweet. I walk nicely on a leash and know how to sit and shake. My coat is sleek and shiny and I have cute brown freckles on my nose. I like people very much and enjoy it when you give me attention. I surely would …

Authorities say they plan to request a charge against an SUV driver after a motorcyclist was killed in a hit-and-run crash in western Michigan. Police say the motorcycle and a SUV collided at an intersection about 1:20 a.m. Sunday in Kalamazoo. The SUV’s driver fled, leaving the SUV at the intersection. Police say 34-year-old motorcyclist Robert Vern Pueblo of Plainwell …

Authorities say the driver of a minivan who died along with his two passengers when they were struck by a passenger train in western Michigan last year had methamphetamine in his system. A Michigan State Police report obtained by the Kalamazoo Gazette under the Freedom of Information Act says blood from 21-year-old Joshua Cartwright tested positive for meth. Kalamazoo County …

Members of the St. Joseph County Area Narcotics unit arrested three people Tuesday after executing search warrants at two separate locations. Around 5: 30 p. m., police raided a home in the 53000 block of North Fisher Lake Road in Park Township. Officers arrested one man and one woman at the home. Police seized 20 marijuana plants as well as …