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Hi, there. It’s me again. I was Pet of the Week last week but the ladies think I would make such a nice pet that they wanted me to be P.O.W. again. I am a female black lab/sharpei mix, about 6 years old. I’m very cute, with a face that is just a little bit wrinkly and I am a …

St. Joseph County has been awarded $3 million over the next three years for a new Early Head Start program that local educators say has the potential to change the landscape of preschool child care countywide. The competitive grant — one of only three awarded in Michigan — is expected to have impact on the kindergarten readiness of more than …

The St. Joseph County Water Trail Master Plan will be open for public comment starting Friday. The document will be available in hard copy at the county courthouse in Centreville and digitally on the county’s website. The public-comment session runs through Feb. 16. According to Suzanne Fromson, landscape architect with Edgewater Resources, the plan outlines a strategy to help the …

Three Rivers Waste Water Treatment Plant personnel caused a spill of untreated biosolids inside the facility around 4 p.m. Monday. According to department officials, an operator was transferring biosolids from one tank to another and neglected to close the necessary valves before disconnecting the transfer hose. Approximately 100 gallons were released onto the snow near the transfer location. Plant personnel …

A 21-year-old Kalamazoo man has been charged in the shooting death of an Oshtemo Township woman. The Kalamazoo County prosecutor says Korbin Thomas is charged with open murder and felony firearm. He’s accused of fatally shooting 21-year-old Jazmyne Gibson in her town house on Sunday night. Undersheriff Paul Matyas says the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office received a call about a …

Investigators from the St. Joseph County Area Narcotics unit conducted a controlled narcotics transaction Monday in Constantine, leading to the execution of a search warrant and the arrest of two people. According to the county sheriff’s department, a search warrant was executed at a residence in the 200 block of Meadow Lane. Investigators located multiple prescription drugs consistent with the …

A pair of state legislators whose jurisdictions include St. Joseph County were sworn in during a ceremonial event Monday at the Centreville courthouse. State Rep. Aaron Miller and State Sen John Proos took part in the fanfare before a group of about 100 people in the third-floor commissioners’ room. The oath was administered by county clerk Pattie Bender. Miller, a …

The St. Joseph County Transportation Authority has saved more than $5,000 a month the past two months as the result of low gas prices. CTA director Steve Yorks said the agency’s monthly fuel bills are typically about $25,000. In November it spent about $19,000 on gas, while its December fuel expense was about $18,000. Yorks said neither he nor anybody …

The Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency is reporting a significant uptick in reports of flu-like illnesses over those reported in November. Steve Todd, health officer for the tri-county health department, said while the actual number of reported flu cases since the end of November has only grown from zero to 13 cases, the number of flu-like illnesses has more than …

I usually save cute sayings and trivia for the end of my columns, but because this is the beginning of a new year, I think it would be appropriate to start out with some new thinking for 2015: Practice gratitude. We could all benefit from doing more of this. Remember that tomorrow is always a new day. Do what you …