WLKM Radio 95.9 FM

Authorities say two people have died after a motorcycle they were riding collided with a car. The Kalamazoo County sheriff’s department says the crash happened Sunday in Comstock Township. The department on Monday identified the dead as 28-year-old David Arthur-John Haan and his passenger 27-year-old Stephanie Marie Hirding of Portage. The roadway near the crash scene was closed as deputies …

October’s unemployment rate in St. Joseph County remained unchanged from the previous month. The monthly labor-market analysis by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget showed the county’s 4.2 percent October unemployment rate equaled the same figure from September. St. Joseph County was at the same level as the state’s unemployment average for the month. The agency said the …

State Rep. Aaron Miller last week delivered testimony before the House Health Policy Committee in support of a bill he sponsored to require hospitals in Michigan to disclose nurse staffing ratios to the public. Miller’s bill is part of a bipartisan package intended to combat the under-staffing of nurses, which results in some nurses being required to work 18-hour shifts …

Members of St. Joseph County’s animal control department are optimistic 2018 will be a good year for the agency. Their goal is to secure enough funding to begin firm plans for a new facility. A site – located southeast of the current complex – has been identified. But, Sheriff Brad Balk said, it’s a long road to the goal of …

Kelly Hostetler, executive director of St. Joseph County United Way, recently presented Children’s Trauma Assessment Group with a $10,000 donation. The $10,000 was recently given to the United Way by a county resident who wished to remain anonymous. Also present at the check presentation were Deana Strudwick, CTAG board president; David Tomlinson, probate and juvenile court judge; Tadd Davis, past president United Way Board; and Natalie …

Michigan’s minimum wage will rise to $9.25 an hour starting January 1st. That’s a 35-cent raise from the current minimum of $8.90 per hour. It’s the final definitive increase provided by a 2014 law, the state said Friday. Beginning in 2019, however, the minimum wage is due to increase annually with inflation unless the unemployment rate is high. Employers can …

The death of a Sturgis man has been ruled homicide, according to St. Joseph County Prosecutor John McDonough. Larry Eugene Frohriep, 69, of Sturgis, was found dead early Wednesday at his home at 27810 Maystead Road in Sherman Township. Frohriep’s body was found by a friend around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday and the St. Joseph County Major Crimes Task Force was …

Well, they are calling me Thumper because of the way I beat my tail when I sit.  I also have an unusual talking bark.  I am about one and a half years old.  I am black and white, a terrier mix.  I am a male and need my neuter surgery.  The ladies here say that I love everybody.  I am …

Teresa Doehring’s employment as county administrator will become official when the board of commissioners next week is expected to formally present her a contract. But a detail of the agreement hit a sticking point during Wednesday’s executive committee meeting. Committee chairman Allen Balog said Doehring will transition into the county’s highest, non-elected position created by Pat Yoder’s retirement. Doehring will …

St. Joseph County sheriff’s deputies and the county’s Major Crimes Task Force spent much of the day Wednesday investigating a suspicious death in Burr Oak Township. Authorities were called around 11 a.m. to a home at 27810 Maystead Road, where they found a deceased man. Authorities were not releasing additional details until completion of an autopsy, which is scheduled for …