Government

An Indiana woman and her son were injured in a two-vehicle crash in Constantine Township. Michigan State Police troopers said the incident occurred Thursday at the intersection of U.S. 131 and North River Road. According to investigators, a 27-year-old woman from Kosciusko County stopped her car on North River Road before attempting to proceed through the intersection. Her vehicle was …

Sturgis City Commission members voted this week to approve the city’s 2023 street rehabilitation project. The city received a single bid by the May 1 deadline, submitted by Northern Construction Services Corp. of Niles. Its bid was for about $720,000. The three segments in the project are South Orange Street from Wenzel to West South Street; South Nottawa Street from …

Now that the recently charged suspect in the 1988 death of Cathy Swartz has died in jail by suicide, investigators fear questions in the case will never get answered. WOOD-TV has reported that Robert Waters, 53, died on Saturday at the Beaufort, South Carolina, County Detention Center just days before Michigan police were planning to pick him up. WOOD said …

Michigan State Police troopers are investigating the theft of a dirt bike from a location in Fawn River Township. The motorcycle was taken between 3 a.m. May 3 and 12:30 p.m. May 4 from the 28000 Block of Fawn River Road. Authorities said the dirt bike is a 2021 Honda CRF-450X.

St. Joseph County Undersheriff Jason Bingaman said the department is taking part in a three-week enhanced enforcement centering on seatbelt usage. The annual “Click It or Ticket” enhanced enforcement will run May 15 through June 4 as part of a national seatbelt enforcement program. Bingaman said the campaign coincides with summer-travel season. Two-hundred and twenty-eight people not wearing a seatbelt …

A man who was arrested last month in the 1988 stabbing and strangulation of a Three Rivers woman has died in a South Carolina jail, where he was awaiting extradition to face a murder charge. Three Rivers Police said they were told Saturday about the death of Robert Waters, age 53, at the detention center in Beaufort County, South Carolina. …

Voters in one of Michigan’s most conservative counties have ousted a small-town clerk accused of improperly handling voting equipment after casting doubt on President Joe Biden’s election victory. Stephanie Scott lost Tuesday’s recall election in Hillsdale County’s Adams Township to Suzy Roberts, who got 406 votes to Scott’s 214, according to unofficial results reported by the county clerk’s office. Roberts, a Republican who identifies …

A South Carolina man has been charged in a Three Rivers woman’s 1988 slaying after investigators used forensic genetic genealogy to narrow the pool of suspects to a single family, authorities said Monday. Robert Odell Waters, age 53, was arrested Sunday afternoon in Beaufort, South Carolina, where he lives, in the killing of Cathy Sue Swartz, St. Joseph County Prosecuting …

Overseas voters and military members from Michigan will have more time to cast their absentee ballots in future elections under legislation signed Monday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. All absentee ballots were previously required to be received at local clerk’s offices by 8 p.m. on Election Day. While military and overseas voters will have to postmark their ballots on or before …

St. Joseph County Sheriff Mark Lillywhite was ordered to serve one year of probation after pleading guilty to a pair of misdemeanor charges related to a drunken-driving crash from earlier this year. The 47-year-old Lillywhite appeared Monday during arraignment at the Kalamazoo County Courthouse. Lillywhite apologized to emergency personnel who responded to the Feb. 26 crash that led to his arrest …