K-Wings defeat Komets, move into 1st place tie with Icehawks

“This is deja vu all over again”

The great Yogi Berra may have said it, but it was the Fort Wayne Komets who were living it on Monday night in their game against the Kalamazoo Wings. Read more

Lee Andrew Hooley, 96

LEE ANDREW HOOLEY age 96 of Sturgis, Michigan passed away Monday  evening, December 29, 2008, at Thurston Woods Village in Sturgis. The family will receive friends from 2:00-4:00 and 6:00-8:00 P.M. Friday  at the Hackman Family Funeral Homes – Hackman Chapel, 114 S. Nottawa  St., Sturgis. Funeral services  will be held at 11:00 A.M. Saturday at the Sturgis Evangelical Church,  29201 E. Fawn River Rd., Sturgis. Private burial will take place at Shore Cemetery in Shipshewana, Indiana.

Frances John, 99

FRANCES “FRAN” JOHN, age 99, of Sturgis, passed away Tuesday afternoon, December 30, 2008, at Thurston Woods Village in Sturgis. The family will receive friends from 1:00-2:00 P.M. Saturday at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, where services will begin at 2:00 P.M. A graveside committal will follow the service at Oak Lawn Cemetery in Sturgis.

Suspect heads back to scene of complaint – guess what happens next…

A 36-year-old Constantine resident was lodged in the St. Joseph County Jail following a chase that led officers out of the city and then back into the city early Sunday morning. According to Three Rivers Police, the incident began as officers were on their way to investigate a complaint on East Wheeler Street in the city. As they approached the residence, officers noticed a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed on Wheeler. The driver disregarded the stop sign at the intersection of North Main Street and proceeded to US 131. Officers pursued the vehicle south on US 131, where the driver crossed the median into northbound traffic and headed back into the city, where the vehicle was stopped at the intersection of Portage and Armitage Streets. Following the suspect’s arrest, officers discovered that the suspect had fled from the very incident that had led to the original complaint they had been called to investigate.

State announces DELEG has opened for business

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm and Director Stanley “Skip” Pruss announced Monday (December 29th) that the new Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth (DELEG) has officially opened for business. Granholm signed Executive Order 2008-20 on October 27 to streamline state government by aligning all renewable energy and energy efficiency programs together and adding “Energy” to the Department of Labor & Economic Growth’s name in recognition of this concentrated effort.

Granholm appointed her special advisor on renewable energy, Stanley “Skip” Pruss, as director and as the state’s new Chief Energy Officer to oversee the workforce and economic development efforts to prepare for Michigan’s new energy economy.

The new DELEG brings together state employees from the Departments of Agriculture, Environmental Quality, the Energy Office and the Public Service Commission to work on energy related initiatives. This new office will partner closely with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s tax incentive and business attraction efforts.

Pruss said, “Michigan is uniquely positioned to be a force in renewable energy due to our strength in research and development and highly skilled workforce from the manufacturing industries, advanced energy training at our colleges and universities, as well as our abundance of natural resources.  Our staff is very excited by this unified focus on energy to make Michigan a leader in emerging new energy industries.”

DELEG is also home to the Green Jobs workforce initiative as part of the governor’s No Worker Left Behind which is training workers for high growth industries. Governor Granholm announced the No Worker Left Behind initiative on August 1, 2007 – an ambitious plan to train 100,000 Michigan citizens in three years for jobs in high demand occupations, emerging industries, or entrepreneurial endeavors. NWLB gives Michigan residents the opportunity to acquire the skills they need to win good-paying jobs in today’s global economy. No Worker Left Behind provides up to two years of free tuition at any Michigan community college, university, or other approved training program, for qualifying participants.

As part of the Green Jobs initiative, DELEG is investing $6 million for green jobs to:

Increase the number of green industries and businesses in Michigan.
Develop green education and training programs, spurring the growth of Michigan’s green economy.
Invest in worker education and training to prepare our workers for green jobs.
Support urban renewal by creating green jobs and training opportunities for a diverse mix of people.
Michigan workers interested in pursuing new energy careers can find NWLB approved training programs on the Green Jobs website at www.Michigan.gov/greenjobs. For more information about DELEG, visit www.michigan.gov/dleg.

US FWS announces plan to help local dwelling snake

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced the availability of a plan to recover the northern copperbelly water snake, a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

The recovery plan provides federal, state and tribal natural resource managers and their partners with a blueprint of actions needed to prevent the extinction of the snake and recover it to the point that protection under the Endangered Species Act is no longer needed.  The plan focuses on habitat restoration and management.  Other recovery strategies recommended in the plan include monitoring known populations, improving understanding of the species’ ecology, and increasing public awareness.

Copperbelly water snakes were listed as threatened in the northern part of their range in 1997.  There they are limited to only a few small, scattered and isolated populations in south-central Michigan, northeastern Indiana and northwestern Ohio.  This non-venomous snake lives in areas with shallow wetlands in forested areas, especially those that are fed by seasonal flooding.  Loss of this type of habitat is the main threat to the species.

Copies of the Recovery Plan for the copperbelly water snake are available from the East Lansing Field Office, 2651 Coolidge Road, Suite 101, East Lansing, Michigan 48823.  The plan may also be downloaded from the Service’s website at: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/.

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