Local News Archives

A Watervliet man is dead after a kayaking accident in Paw Paw Lake on Wednesday.... [Read Full Story]

All across Southwest Michigan, there is a continued growing need for safe and affordable childcare options that families are able to access. In an effort to understand what the current need is, Tri-County Head Start, with support from enFocus and the Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber, has put together a survey for residents and businesses to participate. All data collected will guide overall efforts on creating and implementing effective solutions for the entire community.... [Read Full Story]

The South Haven City Council has granted a five-year contract extension to the firm that runs its farmers market. At a meeting in August, the council was considering the matter when it heard a few vendor complaints about LASR Property Management and opted for a tentative, one-year extension. However, farmers market vendors came out in force Monday night to tell the council they support the management team. One vendor with a lot of experience said the market is being run well.... [Read Full Story]

The South Haven City Council has moved a new downtown housing and commercial development forward. At a Monday meeting, the council formally introduced the Center Street Hales Redevelopment Project and set a public hearing for it to be further discussed. Assistant City Manager Griffin Graham told the council the plan is for a five-story mixed use development that would include a combination of new commercial spaces, parking, and 29 housing units. He said the developer is seeking Planned Unit Development status for the project on Center Street between Quaker and Phoenix Streets, where the Hales department store used to be.... [Read Full Story]

The city of South Haven will hold its inaugural Touch-A-Truck event on September 27 from 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm at the Huron Street Pavilion. City Manager Kate Hosier says the city council approved it at Tuesday’s meeting.... [Read Full Story]

The South Haven Area Recreation Authority is now receiving more money from both South Haven Township and the city of South Haven. City Manager Kate Hosier spoke with WSJM News about the request SHARA put in front of the city council last night.... [Read Full Story]

A pair of kayakers have been rescued after getting lost and disorientated while on the Paw Paw River last night. The Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office says the 35-year-old Paw Paw man went to a home in the 43-thousand block of 46th Street in Waverly Township asking to use the phone. He was told by the homeowner to leave the property due to how late it was and then called deputies. They found him walking shirtless along 38th Avenue and he told them he had left a female friend with the kayaks to seek help. She was found on the riverbank in the 45-thousand block of 44th Avenue after deputies heard her calling for help without a flashlight and with a dead cell phone.... [Read Full Story]

Allegan County Transportation is now operating seven propane-powered buses to help the county meet air quality attainment goals. The move also will save taxpayer dollars with 50% savings on fuel and 70% savings on maintenance costs. The propane buses are 90% cleaner than the current EPA emissions standard and the county says they better prepare them for additional national emissions requirements that will be implemented in 2024 and 2027.... [Read Full Story]

South Haven Area Emergency Services will hold a pancake breakfast on Sunday at its station at 90 Blue Star Highway. The event will raise money to repair the firefighter memorial in downtown South Haven and help pay for the purchase of instructional videos for ALS airway procedures. The memorial was placed at the city’s downtown entrance in 2000 and stands eight-feet tall with an 800-pound fire service emblem handcrafted from black granite on top. The breakfast costs $10 for adults, $5 for kids between 4 and 14, and is free for anyone 3 and younger.... [Read Full Story]

One of South Haven’s largest employers is getting an Industrial Facilities Tax Exemption for an expansion. Assistant City Manager Griffin Graham told the city council of the plans by WR Grace.... [Read Full Story]

The Arc of Allegan County will hold its annual fundraiser next month at Third Coast Community Church in Saugatuck. The Arc advocates in Allegan County for the inclusion and dignity of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and has a mission to help people with IDDs live, learn, work, and play with respect, dignity, and meaningful involvement in their communities. The money raised on September 21 will be used to support advocacy, employment, learning, and recreational opportunities for people with IDDs.... [Read Full Story]

The South Haven City Council continues to discuss and debate short term rentals. At Monday night’s meeting, City Manager Kate Hosier asked them for ideas of what they want the city to focus on going forward. Most wanted a fixed cap on the number of STRs instead of the current floating cap of 497 with one in every four homes being allowed.... [Read Full Story]

The “Rock The Boat” fundraising concert is returning to the Michigan Maritime Museum in South Haven on Friday, August 25. The museum’s director of education and administration Ashley Deming says tickets sold very well last year and they have added more for 2023.... [Read Full Story]

A 23-year-old man has been killed after he was hit by a vehicle on 26th Street near 108th Avenue in Allegan County’s Trowbridge Township Sunday night. The victim was walking in the middle of the road and was hit by a Chevrolet Equinox that was heading south on 26th Street. The man was pronounced dead at the scene after emergency crews arrived. The Allegan County Crash Reconstruction Team is still investigating. No names have been released as yet. The crash happened at 9:54 pm.... [Read Full Story]

The National Blueberry Festival is underway in South Haven. Jennifer Sistrunk is the director of the South Haven Convention and Visitors Bureau and says the area will be very busy.... [Read Full Story]

The Van Buren ISD is holding its 15th annual Van Buren County Backpack Giveaway from 3 to 6 pm today. It will be at Van Buren Tech at 250 South Street in Lawrence as part of their Back To School Bonanza 2023. Superintendent Dave Manson says it is for all students in the county. We asked if staff members or volunteers stuffed the backpacks or it they bought them already full.... [Read Full Story]

There will be no varsity football played by Hartford High School this fall. The school district says it only had six juniors and seniors at practice and say “it was not feasible or responsible to expect a young team to safely compete at a varsity level.” Junior varsity will be played, but without the seniors.... [Read Full Story]

Lake Michigan College officials have given the South Haven City Council an update on today’s millage renewal. Associate Dean of the South Haven LMC Campus and Select Academic Programs Jeremy Burleson talked to them about how much money it saves students.... [Read Full Story]

Three candidates for South Haven mayor will be on the ballot Tuesday in South Haven. City Councilmember Joe Reeser, former Mayor Robert Burr, and former South Haven Public School Board of Education president Annie Brown are all running to succeed Mayor Scott Smith, who chose not to seek reelection. The top two vote getters will face each other in the November general election.... [Read Full Story]

A woman who worked for Four Winds Hartford Casino is charged with embezzling $700,000 from the casino on July 30. An officer told the judge about what she is accused of doing.... [Read Full Story]

State Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt of Van Buren County is ripping Governor Whitmer’s upcoming “What’s Next Address” set for August 30. Nesbitt says Whitmer “has spoken about helping Michigan’s small businesses but has led an effort to give big union bosses unprecedented power and pour millions of taxpayer dollars into multi-national corporations.”... [Read Full Story]

A 25-year-old man from Mexico has drowned in a pond in Van Buren County. The sheriff’s office says he was with other people when they fell out of a boat into the water in the pond in the 65-thousand block of 48th Avenue in Bangor Township Sunday around 6:30 p.m. and could not swim. He was found by the sheriff’s office dive team in about ten feet of murky water with no visibility and life saving efforts on shore were not successful.... [Read Full Story]

Two South Haven Area Emergency Services officers had to swim 50 yards in Lake Michigan to help a boater who was having health issues last week. The boater was then taken to Bronson South Haven Hospital to be treated. SHAES says it happened off the Oak Street beach on Thursday. It was their second water-related rescue of the week.... [Read Full Story]

South Haven police are looking for information on the man who abandoned 11 puppies behind the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses on Blue Star Highway last week. Surveillance video from the church has been released showing the man taking the dogs from the bed of a tan Chevrolet pickup and putting the crate in the shrubs of the church. The Al-Van Humane Society has take five of the 11 dogs, and Rover’s Retreat took the other six. Three taken by Rover’s Retreat have found their forever homes. The Al-Van Humane Society says the puppies have been cleaned and are getting vaccines and anti-worm medicine.... [Read Full Story]

Eleven puppies have been rescued after being found abandoned in a cage behind the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in South Haven this week. Rover’s Retreat kennels and daycare manager James Johnson says they had no food or water and his organization took six of them. The other five are being cared for by Al-Van Humane Society, where marketing and development coordinator Penny Lach says they will be available for adoption in a few months. Three puppies from Rover’s Retreat have found new homes.... [Read Full Story]

A 43-year-old Illinois man has been arrested for a drunk boating crash in Van Buren County Saturday evening. He was piloting a jet ski on Silver Lake in Columbia Township and pulling someone on an inner tube when the tube crashed into a wooden floating dock. Two people on the dock were hurt, with a 15-year-old being treated on the scene and a 21-year-old hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries.... [Read Full Story]

A 50-acre brush fire in Allegan County took several fire departments to put out yesterday afternoon. The fire was on a farm in Leighton Township and crews were called to the scene around 5:15 p.m. The Leighton Township Fire Department called for backup immediately as winds were gusting to 20 miles-an-hour. Crews protected the barns from the flames, no one was hurt, and investigators are searching for the cause.... [Read Full Story]

The Friends of The Kal-Haven Trail will say goodbye on Sunday, July 9 to the Nichols Family Covered Bridge in South Haven. The bridge will be torn down by the Department of Natural Resources as part of its repaving project on the trail from South Haven to Bloomingdale. It has become an icon in the community and has been part of the trail for nearly 30 years. The Friends are trying to convince the DNR to replace the bridge over the Black River with another covered bridge with better and longer-lasting materials as the 150-year-old trestle it is on needs to be replaced. They say their efforts have not yet been successful, but they continue to have hope. There will be a short ceremony at the trailhead pavilion in South Haven at noon followed by a walk and bike ride to the bridge.... [Read Full Story]

The South Haven city council has decided to not proceed with proposed amendment changes to measure heights of homes to 35-feet instead of two stories and 35-feet. Councilman Joe Reeser outlined his opposition to the change last night.... [Read Full Story]

One child is hospitalized at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids after a firework cake was mistakenly shot into the crowd at Allegan’s July 3rd fireworks show. Amy Cummings of Fennville says it happened quickly and “was like fireballs coming at us.” It happened at 10:34 p.m. and people complained on social media about the mistake. Wolverine Fireworks Display conducted the show and the Allegan Fire Department was on the scene for emergencies.... [Read Full Story]