Local News Archives

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]

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]

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]