Local News Archives

(Associated Press) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it’s preparing to decide whether to let Canadian oil transport company Enbridge install supports for its underwater oil pipeline in Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac. Enbridge disclosed Wednesday that erosion had opened a gap beneath one of two Line 5 pipelines in the channel linking Lakes Huron and Michigan. The gap is about 6 feet wider than allowed under a state easement.. ...Read Full Story

A Dowagiac man will be on probation for three years and his unlicensed roofing business has been shut down after he pleaded guilty to one count of false pretenses between $1,000 and $20,000. The Better Business Bureau Serving Western Michigan’s Phil Catlett says they had been expressing concerns for “some time” about All Tech Repair and Roof Sealants. Company owner Jeffrey Burks was sentenced Friday and a condition of his probation is he’s not allowed to reopen the business. The case against him came from accusations he was collecting money from customers, but not following through with any work. The BBB says All Tech has an F rating due, in part, to the complaints that went unanswered.. ...Read Full Story

The Illinois Republican Party’s chairman is urging President Trump not to follow through on the idea he broached this week of freeing imprisoned former Governor Rod Blagojevich. Tim Schneider said in a written statement Friday that officials found guilty should serve their full sentences, especially in a state where he says “corrupt, machine-style politics is still all too common.”. ...Read Full Story

The suspect in the July 31 murder of 29-year-old Arsenio Jordan in Benton Harbor is now jailed. 21-year-old Eric Holbrook was arrested Friday by Benton Harbor Public Safety officers, Berrien County Sheriff’s officers and Michigan State Police troopers at the River Terrace apartment complex. Police also arrested his 24-year-old brother, Dennis Holbrook, for his alleged involvement in the triple shooting along with an unidentified 43-year-old woman. Eric and Dennis Holbrook are expected to be arraigned next week, and are being held without bond in the Berrien County Jail. Authorities are still trying to find one other man, Dondrell Blackamore, Jr., who they want to talk to as a person of interest in the case.. ...Read Full Story

A Wisconsin woman is due back in court in South Bend August 29 to face public intoxication charges. Julianne March is a flight attendant with United, and was caught on video by a passenger on an August 2nd flight between Chicago and South Bend appearing drunk on the job. Police say her blood alcohol level was .20, five-times what’s allowed for flight crew members. A passenger also tweeted United Airlines about the incident, saying March appeared “quite drunk” on the brief morning flight. March answered “Chicago” when asked where she was upon being arrested in South Bend.. ...Read Full Story

The National Blueberry Festival is underway through Sunday in South Haven, and if you are concerned about finding a parking space downtown, don’t worry. You can park at the South Haven High School on Elkenburg Street and a shuttle will take you downtown. Festival Director Megan Cairns says an extra day has been added to the shuttle schedule for the festival.. ...Read Full Story

Smokey Bear is 75 years old today. There will be a celebration of Smokey at the Mackinac Bridge today and at Comerica Park tonight. Paul Rogers with the Michigan DNR says everyone knows Smokey.. ...Read Full Story

It’s fair time in southwest Michigan, as the Berrien County Youth Fair gets underway Monday in Berrien Springs. The youth fair’s Jill Hein says there’s an easy way to remember when it is held.. ...Read Full Story

A 33-year-old Bridgman is facing a first-degree home invasion charge for a July 30 incident in which police say he forced his way into a home in the 97-hundred block of Evergreen Drive and got into a fight with a 34-year-old acquaintance. The suspect is Christopher Betts, and he is free on bond after being arraigned on Thursday on the charge, which followed his release from the hospital.. ...Read Full Story

The Whitmer administration is not fully united when it comes to the possibility of closing Benton Harbor High School. Michael Rice, the new state superintendent, tells Bridge Magazine he opposes the proposal by the governor to close the school in exchange for forgiving about two-thirds of the 18-million dollar debt faced by Benton Harbor Area Schools. When the administration made its plan known, Rice was still the superintendent of Kalamazoo Public Schools, and has only been at the helm of public education statewide for a little more than a week. BHAS board members tell Bridge Magazine they appreciate Rice’s stance, as they are continuing to negotiate with the governor’s office to prevent the high school from closing.. ...Read Full Story

Bob Klint, who worked at Harbor Country Mission and spearheaded the idea of medical debt relief that the organization is involved in, was killed last Friday in a horrible car crash in Buchanan.  The crash also took the lives of his wife, daughter and brother-in-law. They are asking that in lieu of flowers that you make donations in Bob Klint’s memory to Harbor Country Mission to support their work helping people who are financially struggling.. ...Read Full Story

From too much rain to a trade war with China, Michigan farmers have more than their share of challenges this year. Peach growers in southwest Michigan have their own struggles, all due to the polar vortex in January that dropped temperatures down to 18-below zero. That killed a large number of trees according to Stover’s Farm Market general manager Kenny Stover in Berrien Springs. He tells our partners at WSBT-TV they have little to no crop.. ...Read Full Story

If you like checking out garage sales, you may want to take a drive on US-12 this weekend from one side of the state to the other, some 200 miles.. ...Read Full Story

New rankings from Niche puts St. Joseph Public Schools among the best districts in the state. The 2020 rankings have St. Joseph rated 13th best. The criteria used include achievement on the state M-STEP and SAT tests, college readiness, teacher quality, facilities, student and parent perception, student opportunities, and health and safety. In a statement, the district’s director of curriculum, instruction and assessment Kelly Gaideski calls it “rewarding” to be recognized for the ongoing efforts to improve both student achievement and their well-being.. ...Read Full Story

There will be an update later this month on the PFAS contamination in Hartford around the site of the former Du-Wel plant. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy will hold a public forum along with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Van Buren/Cass District Health Department on August 21 at Hartford High School starting at 6 pm. George Friday is the environmental health director for the Van Buren/Cass District Health Department and says 82 residential wells were tested.. ...Read Full Story

We have an update regarding the car-pedestrian crash on East Napier Avenue in Benton Township on Monday. Police tell WSJM News that the man who was hit while walking on the edge of the road, 52-year-old David Snyder, has died from his injuries. Sndyer died Wednesday at Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo. He was airlifted there from Spectrum Health Lakeland with head trauma and a broken leg. Snyder was walking along the fog line in the outer lane when he was struck by an SUV driven by Georgette Lanier. There is no word yet if any charges will be filed, and police say the crash remains under investigation.. ...Read Full Story

By Doug Cunningham. ...Read Full Story

Governor Whitmer says Michigan’s farmers are being hurt by the trade war with China. The trade problems are on top of spring flooding that have also wiped out crops statewide.. ...Read Full Story

The YMCA of Southwest Michigan is getting larger with the approval of its board of directors and the board of the YMCA of Michiana to merge into one organization. It will be effective at the start of 2020, and the YMCAs will collectively serve more than 20,000 members and employ over 500 people. YMCA of Southwest Michigan board member Tom Grant says in the spring of 2018, the association began helping on the management side with the Michiana chapter after that organization lost its CEO.. ...Read Full Story

By Doug Cunningham. ...Read Full Story

A 43-year-old Rhode Island man is facing sexual assault charges after police found a 15-year-old west Michigan girl who had been reported missing in is home. Local police acted on information submitted by the Allegan County Sheriff’s Department to raid the home in Warwick of Charles Morancey on Tuesday. They arrested him on four charges of third-degree sexual assault and found the girl safe.. ...Read Full Story

Michigan voters are showing their willingness to spend money to fix roads around the state while action by state lawmakers to fund road repairs remain stuck in neutral. During Tuesday’s primary election, the County Road Association of Michigan notes all 14 road millage renewals passed with an average support rate of 75% and all of those have been renewed every time they were on the ballot since 2008.. ...Read Full Story

There remains a lot of talk around the country about gun control following mass shootings over the weekend in Chicago, Dayton, and El Paso. At an event this week in Grand Rapids, Governor Whitmer was asked for her thoughts, and she says rejects the “false narrative” that you have to either be pro-Second Amendment or pro-gun control.. ...Read Full Story

Residents in Van Buren County with private wells for drinking water can have their water tested by bringing an unfiltered sample to the Van Buren Conservation District in Paw Paw all next week. Technician Kyle Mead says they will test for nitrates and nitrites in your water, which is basically nitrogen that can occur naturally or from lawn treatments and farm fertilized fields.. ...Read Full Story

The sixth annual Michigan Maritime Museum Boat Walk is quickly approaching. It is set for next Saturday, August 17 from noon to 4 p.m. and the Museum’s Ashley Deming says they’ll have as many as 10 boats taking part, and are still recruiting.. ...Read Full Story

By Doug Cunningham. ...Read Full Story

Benton Harbor Mayor Marcus Muhammad will face City Commissioner Ron Singleton in the election November 5. They were the top vote getters by a wide margin in Tuesday’s primary, taking 88% of the vote combined. Muhammad received 57% with 393 votes, with Singleton second with 211 votes, which was 31%.. ...Read Full Story

A state lawmaker is pushing for measures to prevent mass shootings. Democratic Representative Robert Wittenberg of Oakland County wants lawmakers to pass his red flag legislation, which would allow a judge to take away a person’s gun if they were deemed a threat to themselves or others.. ...Read Full Story

(Detroit, MI – AP) – Fire officials in Detroit are investigating the cause of a house explosion on the city’s east side. The explosion collapsed the home Tuesday afternoon and an ensuing fire scorched at least one neighboring house. No injuries were reported. Officials were looking into a possible natural gas leak.. ...Read Full Story

South Bend Mayor and Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg is ramping up his outreach to Democratic Party superdelegates with a phone call to them outlining the scope of his 2020 presidential campaign. The outreach suggests Buttigieg’s campaign is looking beyond the early primary states to the possibility of a convention fight for the nomination.. ...Read Full Story

Michigan State Police say they’ve been flooded with false calls about active shooters, following mass shootings over the weekend. Lieutenant Mike Shaw says the calls have been about active shooters in several cities.. ...Read Full Story

The high number of drownings in Lake Michigan this year and rescues in the water off South Haven have some folks thinking about bringing life guards back to the north and south beaches. The South Haven City Council received a presentation Monday evening regarding lifeguards. Mayor Scott Smith says they will look into the issue.. ...Read Full Story

By Doug Cunningham. ...Read Full Story

Power is out to a good chunk of downtown St. Joseph this afternoon. Indiana Michigan Power says over 11-hundred customers are impacted, and the outage started just before 12:30. The Berrien County Courthouse is closed for the rest of the day, as is the Berrien County Administration Building due to the outage. County officials say those will reopen at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. The utility expects the lights to be back on around 5 tonight. WSJM News is told the cause of the outage is work being done to dismantle and rebuild the power plant next to Clementine’s Too.. ...Read Full Story

A change is coming at Southwestern Michigan College. After 18 years as president, Dr. David Mathews is retiring, and his last day will be December 31. Mathews joined SMC in 1997 as Dean of Arts and Sciences and Instructional Innovation, and became vice president of instruction the next year. He was appointed the school’s seventh president in 2001. The college says he’s developed and executed 18 consecutive balanced budgets, with investments in student success and facilities improvements all being done within those constraints. Under his guidance, the SMC Foundation grew from $1.3 million in assets to over $12 million, which Board of Trustees chairman Thomas Jerdon says has had a “huge impact” on wider scholarship availability for students.. ...Read Full Story

Voters in the city of Benton Harbor will be narrowing down the field of mayoral candidates today. Six candidates are on the ballot: Mayor Marcus Muhammad, City Commissioners Juanita Henry, CF Jones, and Ron Singleton, along with Margie Carter and Jamie Davis. Commissioner Henry urged as high a voter turnout as possible during last night’s city commission meeting.. ...Read Full Story

The South Haven City Council has voted not to adopt an initiated ordinance to prohibit the manufacture and sale of recreational marijuana. The Concerned Citizens of South Haven submitted a petition with over 100 signatures to prohibit recreational marijuana. The city council voted to put the issue on a public ballot in November. Mayor Scott Smith says he didn’t like what they were being asked.. ...Read Full Story

It’s National Health Center Week, and community health centers are celebrating their largest patient reach ever.. ...Read Full Story

Efforts are underway to improve the relationship between Michigan State Police and Benton Harbor residents. At Monday night’s city commission meeting, Public Safety Director Dan McGinnis said he and interim city manager Ellis Mitchell were able to get a change made.. ...Read Full Story

The upcoming decommissioning of the Palisades nuclear power plant will be the topic of a public meeting by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this fall. The NRC will hold a webinar this Thursday at 1 p.m. in conjunction with the 11 forums staff will hold across the country at sites of soon-to-be-closed nuclear power plants. No date or location has been set as yet for that meeting regarding Palisades. The Covert Township power plant is set to be shut down in 2022, but decommissioning the facility will take several years of work after the reactor is idled for good. Entergy agreed to sell the facility last August to Holtec International for the decommissioning. That sale includes the transfer of licenses, spent fuel, and Nuclear Decommissioning Trusts.. ...Read Full Story

A 53-year-old man is in critical condition at Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo after being hit by a SUV on East Napier Avenue near Columbus in Benton Township this morning. The Benton Township Police Department says David Snyder suffered a broken leg and head trauma in the crash, which closed down Napier for a few hours just after 11 a.m. The driver involved has been identified as 48-year-old Georgette McKinney. According to police, Snyder was walking in the outer lane near the fog line when he was hit. Both Snyder and McKinney are from Benton Township. He was airlifted to the Kalamazoo hospital after first being taken to Spectrum Health Lakeland in St. Joseph.. ...Read Full Story

A proposed ordinance to ban the manufacture and sale of recreational marijuana in South Haven is on the city council agenda for tonight. It comes from a petition initiative by a group calling itself Concerned Citizens of South Haven, and spokesman Don Bemis says the council has some options.. ...Read Full Story

Items stolen in St. Joseph Township are slowly being recovered by police. In Facebook posts, the township police department says several bicycles reported stolen in the Fairplain area along with the city of St. Joseph and Shoreham areas have been found and they’re asking those who have been victimized to call to see if their bike is among those recovered. Additionally, police say they’ve been able to take in several items believed stolen from vehicles in the township. Those include a digital camera and a handheld gaming system. Proof of ownership will be needed to claim those items. Police say in late July, there was a rash of vehicle larcenies, with items being swiped from unlocked cars and trucks in neighborhoods north and south of Napier Avenue.. ...Read Full Story

Dowagiac authorities are confirming the death of a couple over the weekend was a murder-suicide. Investigators say 41-year-old Jason Clark shot his 49-year-old wife, Tonia, before turning the gun on himself. She called 9-1-1 Saturday night to report the shooting and was still alive when police arrived, but died after being taken to Borgess-Lee Memorial Hospital. Police say a child was also at the home at the time, but he was not hurt. The shooting happened in the Clark family home in the 300 block of McOmber Street, and remains under investigation.. ...Read Full Story

It’s easier than ever for Lake Michigan College students to transfer their credits to any university in the state. It’s thanks to the launching of a new website, mitransfer.org, from the Michigan Transfer Network. It’s designed to simplify the search process for schools and their transfer requirements. The new website is the result of the 2018 state budget and replaced a site that had been up since 2007. The updated portal came about after two yeas of development by the Michigan Community College Association, the Michigan Association of State Universities, and the Michigan Independent Colleges and Universities, all of which are based in Lansing. LMC provost and vice president of academic affairs Leslie Kellogg was part of the committee that oversaw development of the new site.. ...Read Full Story

Longtime Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson has died at his suburban Detroit home months after announcing he had pancreatic cancer. The 80-year-old Patterson died Saturday in Independence Township, halfway through a seventh term leading the affluent county. Detroit Free Press columnist Carol Cain was a longtime friend and remembered Patterson in comments on Michigan’s Big Show.. ...Read Full Story

With high school graduates across Michigan preparing to head off to college, the Michigan Department of Treasury is offering them some advice on seeking financial aid. Office of Post-Secondary Financial Planning Director Anne Wohlfert tells WSJM News students need to know about the the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. That’s the first step. But don’t just assume a loan is the only way to go.. ...Read Full Story

Saying “enough is enough” following the weekend mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, Congressman Fred Upton is calling for action. The St. Joseph Republican says Congress needs to pass bipartisan Red Flag laws to give law enforcement and mental health officials “the tools to deny weapons capable of such carnage from being on the streets.” Upton says a “common sense response” to mass shootings in the United States is “way overdue.”. ...Read Full Story

Berrien County Commissioners are looking at the possibility of a small increase in the parks millage. At a meeting of the board of commissioners last month, Commissioner Bill Chickering said there are big parks expenses on the way as various improvements at parks around the county are made. He told WSJM News he heard from Berrien County Parks Director Brian Bailey that Bailey has been crunching some numbers.. ...Read Full Story

Southwestern Michigan College has dedicated a portion of its Fred L. Mathews Library to a former trustee who passed away in 2017. The Carole A. Tate Teaching and Learning Center was officially dedicated last month. SMC says the center is located in the Mathews Library, one of SMC’s three original buildings. Carole Tate served on the Southwestern Michigan College Board of Trustees for 18 years, and was the only trustee from the Van Buren County portion of SMC’s district. She died on October 7, 2017 in Arizona. SMC Board of Trustees Chairman Thomas Jerdon says “Carole was an exceptional trustee” who he had the privilege of serving with. Throughout her career, Tate worked as the Van Buren District Library children’s librarian and as a media specialist for Lakeshore, Marcellus, and Decatur public schools.. ...Read Full Story

Dowagiac police are investigating the shooting deaths of a couple Saturday night. A 911 call came in just before 9 p.m. Saturday of a woman shot by her husband in the 300 block of McOmber Street. When officers arrived, they found the 41-year-old husband dead and the 49-year-old wife still alive after being shot. She died after being rushed to Borgess-Lee Memorial Hospital.. ...Read Full Story

Preparations are underway for the next National Night Out, the event where police agencies all over the country mingle with the public and offer demonstrations in order to foster better relationships with the people they serve. In St. Joseph, the Night Out will be August 6 at Maiden Lane Community Park in the township. The gathering will include several local police and fire departments, a Jaws of Life demonstration, fire trucks and police cars, stations where parents can get the fingerprints of their kids taken, hot dogs, soda, chips, and ice cream, this year from Culver’s. The National Night Out will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 on the 6th and everyone’s invited.. ...Read Full Story

A Berrien County Health Department report shows 26 people lost their lives to suicide in the county last year. Spokesperson Gillian Conrad tells WSJM News Berrien is following national trends on that front.. ...Read Full Story

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has sent a letter to the Michigan Public Service Commission asking it to require utility companies with smart meters to automatically credit consumers’ bills for prolonged power outages. Nessel last month reminded utility customers in the state there is a law allowing them a $25 outage credit when they experience a power outage that lasts longer than 16 hours. The credit is available as long as there isn’t a general emergency taking place. Nessel’s office says customers can also receive the credit when there’s been a failure to restore electric service within 120 hours after an interruption that occurred during catastrophic conditions, or when there are repetitive interruptions of the same circuit more than seven times in a 12 month period. In her letter to the MPSC, Nessel noted electric service interruption rules were written years before the implementation of smart meters. She says the new tech should make the credit automatic. You can see Nessel’s letter to the MPSC right here.. ...Read Full Story

A 53-year-old Buchanan man is expected to face multiple charges upon his release from Memorial Hospital in South Bend for a crash that killed four people Friday. The Berrien County Sheriff’s Department has identified him as Dub Collins, who is in stable condition and is being held on a Michigan Department of Corrections Parole Detainer.. ...Read Full Story

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is warning swimmers to stay away from structures like breakwaters and piers in the Great Lakes. The Detroit District’s Cindy Jarema tells WSJM News the high water levels mixed with wind make for dangerous currents.. ...Read Full Story

A 22-year-old Benton Harbor man is hospitalized following a chase with police on Friday night. The chase ended in a crash on Colfax near Messner around 8:40 p.m.. ...Read Full Story

The United Way of Southwest Michigan is preparing to give away school supplies in Cass County. Volunteer United’s Julee Laurent tells WSJM News the Cass County School Supply Spectacular will get kids school-ready with full backpacks.. ...Read Full Story

A couple pieces of legislation intended to help protect the Great Lakes have the support of Congressman Fred Upton. He tells us the two bills introduced last week have bipartisan backing. They are the Great Lakes Coastal Resiliency Act and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Reauthorization Act. The second one would continue the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative for five years. Upton says it’s currently set to expire at the end of 2021.. ...Read Full Story