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Seventeen-year-olds can’t vote, drop out of school or buy cigarettes in Michigan. But they’re automatically prosecuted, sentenced and locked up as adults if they commit a crime. That could change after a bipartisan push to raise Michigan’s age for adult offenders from 17 to 18 received a major lift in the Legislature. The Republican-controlled House approved a 20-bill package this …

Michael Caywood and Joseph Haas, the shareholders of Dresser, Dresser, Haas & Caywood, P.C., are pleased to announce that effective May 1, 2016 the name of the firm will be changed to HaasCaywood PC. The firm will remain at its current office location at 112 S. Monroe Street in Sturgis. HaasCaywood PC is a general practice law firm that provides …

State Rep. Aaron Miller has praised bipartisan passage of the House budget for the coming fiscal year, noting every school in St. Joseph and Cass counties will receive the maximum per-pupil increase in state funding. Miller, who serves as chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State Police, said all schools in the 59th House District will receive a $120 …

St. Joseph County Clerk and Register of Deeds Lindsay Oswald has forwarded a media release detailing legislation signed by Gov. Rick Snyder. The new legislation will prevent private companies from charging exorbitant fees for copies of deeds that are available from their county Register of Deeds for only $1 per page. Amy Bissell, president of the Michigan Association of Registers …

The state of Michigan won’t enforce a law that blocks local government officials from talking about a ballot question before an election, under a deal approved Thursday by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge John Corbett O’Meara stopped the law in February with a preliminary injunction, saying the so-called gag order was vague and violated free speech rights. Now, nearly …

“Cover crops that have overwintered need to be terminated in a timely manner in the spring to avoid interfering with planting the row crop, taking up needed soil water in a dry spring, or acting as a weed for the subsequent crop,” says Dr. Dean Baas, Michigan State University Extension Educator and a specialist in sustainable agriculture and cover crops …

Members of the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners were given an update on a master plan for the county’s newest park during Wednesday’s executive committee meeting. Suzanne Fromson, representing St. Joseph-based Edgewater Resources, reviewed a number of details related to the six-acre Covered Bridge Farm park before commissioners agreed to put the matter on their agenda for a vote …

The St. Joseph County Bar Association has announced its recipient of the organization’s 29th annual Liberty Bell Award. Spencer Price, who began working at St. Joseph County Community Mental Health in January 2008, will be honored during a ceremony next week. According to Judge Jeff Middleton, chairman of the Liberty Bell Committee, Price has become an important link between Community …

State Rep. Aaron Miller will be in Dowagiac Saturday to help recognize a member of the city’s fire department. During a ceremony at 1 p.m., Miller will take part in a tribute to James Carpenter. Carpenter has been named the department’s “Firefighter of the Year.” Miller plans to present Carpenter a state tribute for his service to the Dowagiac community.

State police are investigating reports of gunshots fired last week in White Pigeon Township. Agency officials said troopers were called around 5 p.m. April 20 to the 17000 block of Tomahawk Trail, where residents reported hearing gunshots. A second call was placed from a nearby residence reporting the same information. Troopers found that a camper and a boat had been …