A variety of statewide landmarks “went red” Friday to support heart health and the Go Red for Women movement. The American Heart Association says the Blue Cross Blue Shield tower in Detroit, Grand Rapids skyline and Devos Children’s Hospital, Downtown Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo City Hall, and Blue Cross Blue Shield building in the state capital in Lansing all took part.. ...Read Full Story
(HYLAND PARK, Mich.) — Detroit police found three bodies in the basement of an abandoned apartment complex in Hyland Park, Michigan, as they searched for three local rappers who went missing last month.. ...Read Full Story
The Michigan Department of Transportation has met with a few dozen Allegan residents about a roundabout that will be built at the intersection of M-89, M-40, and Hubbard Street. Construction is expected to begin in March or April of 2024. MDOT engineers say the roundabout will create a smoother traffic flow and be safe for semis and pedestrians. A “truck apron” is also planned for the inside shoulder to give semis room to drive on the parts of the roundabout that are tighter. People expressed their worries about detour routes and were told those routes will be posted before the work begins.. ...Read Full Story
A little over three months after announcing their engagement, The Bachelorette alum Clare Crawley and fiancé Ryan Dawkins have tied the knot.. ...Read Full Story
Paramount+ has renewed the Yellowstone prequel 1923 for a second season, Deadline reports. Starring Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford, 1923 was Paramount+’s most-watched premiere ever when it debuted in December, pulling in 7.4 million total viewers across all platforms. The first Yellowstone prequel, 1883, starring Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Sam Elliott, was a one-and-done. 1923 returns this Sunday after a brief hiatus…. ...Read Full Story
Growing up without a father figure in his life, Coloma resident Robert Lawson fell into a deep depression.. ...Read Full Story
The effort to alleviate a staff shortage at Berrien County 911 Central Dispatch continues. Speaking to colleagues Thursday, Berrien County Commissioner Jim Curran said the administration committee heard this week from 911 Director Caitlin Sampsell. She outlined collaboration with other counties to meet staffing needs.. ...Read Full Story
Coming soon to the Michigan Maritime Museum in South Haven will be a presentation on the famous Boblo Island ferries. The museum’s Claire Herhold tells us filmmaker Aaron Schillinger will speak virtually on February 15 about his documentary, Boblo Boats: A Detroit Ferry Tale.. ...Read Full Story
Berrien County will soon receive $4 million as a result of a settlement between several states and the makers of opioid painkillers. Speaking at a Thursday meeting, Berrien County Commissioner Bob Harrison said the task now is to decide how the funds will be used.. ...Read Full Story
A woman is dead following a fire in Lincoln Township on Thursday. The Lincoln Township Fire Department says it responded to the scene at 4181 Ridge Road around 5:30 a.m. Firefighters arrived to find the two story home fully engulfed. Police told them there was a car in the garage and someone may be inside. The crews attempted to enter, but found the floors had already collapsed. The roof also collapsed. The fire was brought under control by about 7:15 a.m. An excavation company was then brought in to search for a victim and the woman was found around 11 a.m. The fire crews remained on scene until around 2:40 p.m. putting out hot spots. The cause of the fire is not yet known and it is under investigation by Michigan State Police.. ...Read Full Story
The Berrien County Board of Commissioners has honored a Benton Harbor pastor for his efforts to help those in need during the Christmas blizzard. A power outage left many Benton Harbor residents in the cold and dark in subzero temperatures, and Pastor Kenneth Eric Robinson with the Second Baptist Church opened his doors to host a warming center at the church. Commissioner Mamie Yarbrough read from a resolution Thursday commending Robinson.. ...Read Full Story
There will be no charges filed against a Coloma teacher who gave students copies of a book some parents later deemed graphic. In a letter to Coloma Township Police Chief Wes Smigielski and obtained by ABC 57, the Berrien County Prosecutor’s office says it’s reviewed the case involving teacher Katherine Cattes and “Looking for Alaska,” a novel by John Green. Prosecutor Steve Pierangeli says Cattes did not commit a crime by giving the book to students. He says the move may have been ill-advised, but not illegal. Pierangeli says under state law, for charges to be filed, the material given to minors would have to be harmful to them. Looking for Alaska doesn’t meet the standard. Pierangeli writes the teacher had been making the book available to students for ten years and it’s been in the Coloma Middle School Library for at least 10 years. He also noted “Ms. Cattes offered numerous books from which the students could choose.” Pierangeli said the matter should be handled by the school district, and not the prosecutor.. ...Read Full Story
Congressman Bill Huizenga will be in Berrien County on Friday. He told us this week he was looking forward to his visit to get to know local leaders, residents, and employers.. ...Read Full Story
Corewell Health has welcomed Whirlpool Corporation Chief Information Officer Danielle “Dani” Brown as a new board member. Brown took her seat with Corewell at the start of the year and is one of 16 board members helping guide the organization. Corewell President Tina Freese Decker says Brown has a passion for “health equity and serving our Michigan communities,” adding she’s confident Brown will advance the organization’s strategy. Brown is known as a global technology executive and digital governance leader, having previously served as an executive at Brunswick and DuPont. She says it’s a privilege to join Corewell Health’s board of directors.. ...Read Full Story
Ford sales rose 6% in January, getting the year off to a good start. Ford analyst Erich Merkel says inventories are starting to catch up with demand as the company catches up with orders.. ...Read Full Story
Berrien County Commissioners have saluted longtime Berrien Springs Clerk Sheri Kesterke following her retirement. At a Thursday meeting, Commissioner Teri Freehling read a resolution honoring Kesterke for serving as the village clerk from 2001 to the end of 2022.. ...Read Full Story
The Allegan County Food Pantry Collaborative is seeking 5,000 jars of peanut butter as part of a new drive. It says the annual Peanut Butter Drive kicked off on January 24 at its downtown Allegan office. The goal is to collect peanut butter to distribute among ACFPC members and the families they serve. The collaborative says peanut butter is a shelf-stable source of protein that can be of significant use to families. By donating online or at one of the physical drop sites around the county, anyone can help a neighbor in need. In 2022, more than 10,000 cans of soup, nearly 4,000 jars of peanut butter, 8,600 boxes of cereal, and 1,700 pounds of ground beef were collected for the ACFPC pantry members. The Allegan County Food Pantry Collaborative is part of the Allegan Community Foundation.. ...Read Full Story
Michigan State Police has debuted a new tool, making it easier to track down drivers involved in freeway shootings and road rage incidents. License plate readers are being installed on freeways across metro Detroit, a project that’s been in the works for six months. The readers are first being installed along freeways where shootings and road rage incidents frequently occur. Lieutenant Mike Shaw says license plate information will be placed in a database for 30 days.. ...Read Full Story
A new virtual Adulting class meant to help students enroll in medical insurance is gaining notoriety. The class is being offered by Michigan State University Extension and also covers filing taxes and how to manage lines of credit. Kathy Jamieson is an educator with MSU Extension. She says the program is important because a lot of these topics aren’t covered in public schools.. ...Read Full Story
Well, it looks like six more weeks of winter on this Groundhog Day. Woody the Woodchuck at the Howell Nature Center has made her prediction this morning by coming out of her enclosure and going back into it.. ...Read Full Story
(DALLAS) — A day after two missing monkeys from the Dallas Zoo were found, the zoo is upping its reward for information on who may have been tampering with its animal exhibits.. ...Read Full Story
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is still advising Benton Harbor residents to use bottled water or lead filters on their tap water, even as the project to replace lead water service lines in the city nears its completion. Berrien County Health Department emerging threats supervisor Chioma Ejiofor tells us a given home’s service line may have been replaced, but there are still a few things to check.. ...Read Full Story
Returning to the bluff stairs in downtown St. Joseph this summer will be a temporary mural. The St. Joseph City Commission approved the installation this week. St. Joseph Today’s Amy Zapal tells us this will be the fourth year for a stair mural. They’ve been a popular edition since the summer public art installations were discontinued.. ...Read Full Story
Wednesday was Unclaimed Property Day, and the Michigan Department of Treasury is urging everyone to check its unclaimed property website to find out if the state is holding an asset they’re owed. Department unclaimed property manager Terry Stanton tells us the state has millions in unclaimed assets that include dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, valuables left in safe deposit boxes, and stock certificates. He says these things sometimes come into the state’s possession when employers are left with payments no one has collected.. ...Read Full Story
President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have met to discuss the impasse over raising the nation’s debt ceiling. McCarthy said after Wednesday’s meeting he was optimistic and that it was a good start. Congressman Bill Huizenga tells us he’s encouraged.. ...Read Full Story
The Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services has announced a record number of Michiganders signed up for health insurance on the Health Insurance Marketplace during the recent open enrollment period. It just closed last month. More than 322,000 Michiganders enrolled to have healthcare throughout 2023 via the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace. Governor Gretchen Whitmer says she’s “grateful for the work done by our federal and state partners to help a record number of Michiganders save money and enroll in a comprehensive health plan,” while noting there’s still more work to do. Open Enrollment for 2023 health insurance ran between November 1 and January 15. During that time, 322,273 Michiganders signed up for a new health plan on HealthCare.gov. That’s a nearly 7% increase over enrollment numbers for 2022, and a nearly 21% increase over 2021.. ...Read Full Story
St. Joseph residents Brandy (Ruff) and Wilfredo Jaquez may have sold the South Cliff Inn earlier this year, but they’re not getting out of the hospitality business.. ...Read Full Story
South Haven Area Emergency Services responded to a record number of calls during 2022 while experiencing a reduction in fire losses, according to the department’s annual report. SHAES says for the fifth consecutive year, the number of calls increased from the previous year to a record 2,659. Director Brandon Hinz says the call volume showed increases in the medical area with about 1,900 medical calls in 2022 compared to 1,800 in 2021. Fire alarms decreased from 788 to 757. SHAES says it provided mutual aid to other fire departments and EMS agencies on 143 occasions. Fire losses totaled $846,000, compared to more than $1.5 million in 2021. There were no civilian fire-related deaths in 2022, although there were five incidents in which a responder was injured. SHAES is in its 26th year and serves the city of South Haven and the townships of Casco, Geneva, and South Haven from three stations. You can read its full yearly report online.. ...Read Full Story
Police have provided an update in last week’s murder suicide in Van Buren County.. ...Read Full Story
The annual Stone Lake Ice Fishing Bowl in Cassopolis that was scheduled for this weekend has been canceled due to lack of ice on Stone Lake, Cassopolis Main Street announced Wednesday.. ...Read Full Story
Market Van Buren is seeking nominees for the best new businesses in Van Buren and Cass Counties.. ...Read Full Story
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says 6,027 people tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week, an average of 861 a day. There were 245 deaths from the coronavirus. Nearly 70% of the state’s population has received at least one dose of a vaccine to date.. ...Read Full Story
February is American Heart Month, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States, where someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds.. ...Read Full Story
High school students in southwest Michigan are charging up for the FIRST Robotics Competition season, which means Tim Dunaj is preparing to shine a spotlight on the ups, downs, teamwork and life lessons learned through the annual competition.. ...Read Full Story
Throughout the month of October last year, BOSS Services set out to raise money for Marie Yeager Cancer Center by donating $20 of every $69 furnace check-up they performed to help fund care and transportation for patients in our community.. ...Read Full Story
Set for this weekend is the St. Joseph Ice Festival. St. Joseph Today’s Daniele Crevier tells us the ice carvers will get to work downtown on Friday at 5 p.m. and everyone can check out the Fire and Ice Tower at 8. More ice carving takes place Saturday.. ...Read Full Story
There’s plenty of new developments happening within the St. Joseph Department of Public Safety as Director Steve Neubecker gave an update to residents at a community meeting of the St. Joseph City Commission this week. He went over 2022 highlights that included new drones for the department. A $40,000 grant also helped the department obtain new tasers.. ...Read Full Story
The United Way of Southwest Michigan has been awarded a federal grant of more than $900,000 for work on the Indiana-Michigan River Valley Trail. Be Healthy Berrien Director Dawn Marie Smith tells us the trail already exists around the South Bend and Mishawaka area, and it’s being expanded into Michigan.. ...Read Full Story
A former Discovery Channel star and southwest Michigan resident is back in court.. ...Read Full Story
Michigan Works! Berrien, Cass, Van Buren has secured a $2.5 million in competitive grants from the State of Michigan’s Going PRO Talent Fund to help 33 local employers enhance their workforce.. ...Read Full Story
Marc Bitzer says he’s “optimistic” about the second half of 2023 and “bullish” about the ‘demand cycle’ that will drive Whirlpool’s appliance business in 2024. The Whirlpool Chairman and Chief Executive Officer met with Wall Street writers today for his quarterly Conference Call, reviewing 4th Quarter and Annual 2022 operating results.. ...Read Full Story
Whirlpool has reported sales were down in 2022 by 10% from 2021. The company released its quarterly report this week showing a $2.2 billion drop in net sales for the year. The Fourth Quarter was also bumpy with a drop in sales, although the appliance maker also pointed to cost cutting measures that helped moderate the effect on profit and shareholder return. Looking ahead, CEO Marc Bitzer says the company is well positioned for 2023 as it will reset its cost structure and expects to deliver $800 million to $900 million. He says, “This new cost structure, combined with the expected demand recovery during the second half of the year has Whirlpool well positioned to deliver sustained shareholder value.” Whirlpool’s numbers were released the same day the company announced President and Joseph Liotine is leaving the company.. ...Read Full Story
(ALBANY, N.Y.) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has vetoed a bill that would have overhauled the state’s 175-year-old wrongful death statute, angering some families whose elderly loved ones were killed in a Buffalo supermarket mass shooting.. ...Read Full Story
General Motors workers will get profit sharing checks of up to $12,750. GM President Mark Reuss says that’s a “financial reward” for a $9.9 billion 2022 profit.. ...Read Full Story
A lot of people would like to move to a four day work week. A Robert Half survey shows 93% of U.S. managers support a four day work week for their team. Recruiting manager Shannon Edlinger says one group really supports the concept.. ...Read Full Story
University of Michigan Health websites were hit with a cyber attack on Monday. They say the targets were public websites hosted by a third-party vendor, and that none of the sites impacted contain patient information. Claudia Rast with Butzel Long in Ann Arbor says there could be more work ahead.. ...Read Full Story
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced a settlement agreement for the cleanup of a PFAS contaminated site in Livingston County in the first such deal since the state filed suit against multiple manufacturers, back in 2020. The owners of Asahi Kasei Plastics North America have agreed to cover the complete remediation of the company’s former facility near Brighton.. ...Read Full Story
Congresswoman Haley Stevens of Birmingham says she will not seek the U.S. Senate seat being left open by the upcoming retirement of Senator Debbie Stabenow. Stevens had been considered a possible candidate for Democrats, who have held the seat since 2001. She says she wants to do more work in the U.S. House for manufacturers and innovators “who are building America’s future here in the heartland.” Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Governor Gretchen Whitmer also say they will not seek Stabenow’s seat.. ...Read Full Story
Tax season is upon us. Mark Steber is the chief tax information officer for Jackson Hewitt tax services and says if you think there are no changes this tax year, think again.. ...Read Full Story
Americans continue to have little faith in the mainstream news media, with many people under the age of 30 saying they trust information from social media nearly as much as local Michigan or national news outlets. Now more than ever, Americans need news literacy and an understanding of how to discern the truth and get the most out of the media, editors and educators said.. ...Read Full Story
Two plans to improve the downtown area have been approved by St. Joseph City Commissioners. At a Monday meeting, they heard a proposal from Cornerstone Alliance to spruce up downtown facades. Cornerstone would provide $25,000 while the city and Downtown Development Authority will contribute another $50,000 so businesses could apply for matching grants of up to $10,000 to improve their fronts. Mayor Laura Goos was enthused.. ...Read Full Story
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has released a Drinking Water Road Map to help Benton Harbor residents know what to do when it comes to the water coming out of their taps. The state health department says as the project to replace lead lines wraps up, there are still some steps residents should take. It recommends residents use lead-reducing filters or bottled water until the state has cleared the home’s plumbing for use. The department also recommends scheduling free lead inspection and abatement services for the home, getting the plumbing fixed, and getting the water tested. The Berrien County Health Department continues to provide free lead filters. Anyone who needs one should call the health department.. ...Read Full Story
Congressman Bill Huizenga says he looks forward to working with the Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee to ensure Congress has more oversight of financial markets. He’s been appointed chair of the subcommittee.. ...Read Full Story
Lake Michigan College has announced the names of 720 students recognized for academic achievement during the 2022 Fall semester.. ...Read Full Story
It’s called Comet C-2022-E-3 and you can see it this week. The last time it buzzed near the Earth was 50,000 years ago. John French, the editor of the Abrams Planetarium sky calendar for Michigan State University, says there’s a chance you can look up at night any day this week and spot it with your bare eye.. ...Read Full Story
Tributes to a local leader are coming in following his unexpected death.. ...Read Full Story
“And if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes, I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon.” – Pink Floyd. ...Read Full Story
From the Associated Press — Ford is cutting prices on its Mustang Mach-E electric SUV by as much as $6,000 just weeks after market leader Tesla made similar moves. The company says in a statement that it’s increasing production of the Mach-E this year and is taking advantage of streamlined costs to reduce prices across the board. The company says in a statement Monday that the price cuts are part of Ford’s plan to keep the SUV competitive in a fast-changing market. The price of a base rear-wheel-drive standard range Mach-E will drop $900, from $46,895 to $45,995. The top-end GT extended range will fall $5,900, from $69,895 to $63,995. The prices don’t include shipping, government fees or taxes.. ...Read Full Story
There’s unexpected major change in the executive suite at Whirlpool Coporation.. ...Read Full Story
The emergence of electric vehicles is forcing conversations about road funding to shift away from the fuel tax. The governor has said the way we fund roads now may not make sense in the coming years because electric vehicle owners don’t pay fuel taxes. Bridge Michigan politics reporter Jonathan Oosting says the state does have a budget surplus that could be used to fund some projects.. ...Read Full Story
