News

St. Joseph County officials earlier this month approved the renewal of three contracts with the State Court Administrative Office. The grants cover administrative costs as well as medication-assisted treatment for participants in any of three programs. Adult Drug Treatment Court will receive $10,000, Sobriety Court $23,000, and the Swift and Sure Sanctions Probation program will benefit from $225,000. State funds …

State police are investigating the theft of hunting equipment related to an incident that took place earlier this month in Branch County’s Coldwater Township. According to a department media release, information from a trail camera showed that the incident likely occurred around 10:20 a.m. Oct. 18 in an area surrounded by Newton and North Fox roads. The incident was reported …

Firefighters last week rescued a woman trapped on the second story of her apartment building after the structure caught fire in Constantine. Around 10:30 a.m. Friday, central dispatch received several calls reporting the fire at Custer Apartments on Peachtree Street. Firefighters arrived to find flames coming through the front door and rear of the building. Firefighters removed the woman from …

A Branch County woman was charged with a number of offenses after she led authorities in two counties on a vehicle pursuit. Authorities in Branch and St. Joseph Counties said Alexandria Stolte, 19, was arrested Wednesday after Branch County deputies attempted to serve a warrant at a residence on the south side of Coldwater. Deputies noticed Stolte left the residence …

A Union City man was injured in a single-vehicle accident last week in the village of Constantine. Ambulance personnel were called shortly after 4 a.m. Thursday to Water Street, near Hull Street, in response to an injury accident. First responders found 27-year-old Bradley Watkins was driving a vehicle that authorities said appeared to have been speeding excessively. According to a …

Two Cass County residents were involved in an accident last week in Porter Township. Sheriff Richard Behnke said authorities were called shortly before 5:30 p.m. Wednesday to U.S. 12, just east of M-217. Investigators said a car driven by 40-year-old Victoria Hickey, of Union, was stopped and waiting to turn left into a driveway. A vehicle driven by Daniel Floyd, …

A system has been worked out with the city of Sturgis to notify the Branch-St. Joseph-Hillsdale County Health Agency when homes in a designated contamination zone are sold. There were 47 homes in the affected area, declared as the Newell-Kirsch Superfund site. Nine have not been tested in a program that began last year with the Michigan Department of Environmental …

Constantine Village Manager Mark Honeysett recently introduced to village council members the final draft of a tax-exemption agreement with Michigan Milk Producers Association. The council had previously granted provisional approval of a tax-abatement application, pending the execution of an exemption agreement between the village and MMPA. The abatement is for a new, $6 million facility that will increase the milk …

Members of the Centreville Village Council earlier this month were told that the village’s new lift station – a wastewater pump station – is now fully operational and the previous lift station has been commissioned out of service. The new lift station is located under Dean Street at Mill Street. Oct. 16 was to be the official startup with the …

The Glen Oaks Community College Foundation is accepting scholarship applications from new and returning Glen Oaks students for the 2019-20 academic year. Through philanthropic efforts of the Foundation, charitable cash gifts have provided many students the opportunity of an education that will in turn help change their lives. The Glen Oaks Community College Foundation reported that for the 2018-19 academic …