Charges are pending against a man who led police on a high-speed chase in Niles and South Bend. Our partners at WNDU Newscenter 16 report it started when police learned of alleged threats the man had made, and tried to pull him over. He was believed to have a gun, though no shots were fired during the 20-minute chase. It ended when he crashed at the corner of Cleveland and Mayflower in South Bend around 10:30 last night. The suspect is hospitalized after being injured in the wreck. His name hasn’t been released.... [Read Full Story]
A Central Michigan University Republican student group is apologizing for a Valentine’s Day card that mocks Jews who died in the Holocaust. The College Republicans group handed out gift bags to students Wednesday night, including one with a card that said “My love 4 u burns like 6,000 Jews.” It had a photo of Adolf Hitler and was signed “XOXO, Courtney.” Dr. Carolyn Dunn is Associate Vice President with the Office for Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, and told Michigan News Network the university condemns what was possibly a lone wolf’s stunt.... [Read Full Story]
State Senator John Proos says the legislature can now begin to draft a final spending plan for the next fiscal year, since Governor Rick Snyder released his budget proposal on Wednesday. Proos tells WSJM News he liked some of what he saw in the governor’s plan.... [Read Full Story]
The Michigan Bureau of Elections has conducted a review of 136 Detroit voting precincts to find out why there’s a discrepancy between the total number of recorded voters in November’s election and the number of ballots cast. Elections Director Chris Thomas told Michigan News Network they’ve learned a recount can’t be done when that happens.... [Read Full Story]
A South Haven man will be receiving Rotary International’s highest award. Dr. Martin “Marty” Graber will be presented with the Rotary’s Service Above Self Award on May 13 at a district conference in Battle Creek. The award goes out to 150 Rotarians each year for their work in demonstrating the Rotary’s motto, “Service Above Self.” Dr. Graber has been a member of the South Haven Rotary since 2006, and he’s getting the honor for his work in Kenya. The Rotary tells us, since he and his wife started working with the Maasai Tribe, they’ve helped to develop clean water and energy sources, agriculture, hospitals, and schools there. Graber is the second South Haven Rotarian to win the Service Above Self Award. The other recipient was Robert Brickman in 1993.... [Read Full Story]
Increased funding for K-12 schools in Michigan is a staple of Governor Rick Snyder’s new budget proposal, which he laid out for lawmakers on Wednesday. That’s good news to local school officials. Niles Community Schools Finance Director Tom Skarbeck tells WSJM News $150 million to work with at-risk students is a plus.... [Read Full Story]
There may be rumors that Congressman Fred Upton is looking at a possible U.S. Senate bid, but he’s remaining mum about it. Last week, MIRS News reported Upton could run against Senator Debbie Stabenow in 2018, but he tells WSJM News he’s focused on the job he currently has.... [Read Full Story]
Cornerstone Alliance and Cornerstone Chamber of Commerce have held their annual Business Recognition Breakfast. The ceremony took place Thursday at Lake Michigan College with special guest speaker Governor Rick Snyder on hand. Snyder told WSJM News he sees good things ahead for southwest Michigan.... [Read Full Story]
From the Associated Press — A bill passed by the Michigan Senate looks to attract new businesses and investment to border communities. Senator Dale Zorn’s bill would encourage businesses to set up in counties near the border instead of in other states that border Michigan such as Ohio, Indiana or Wisconsin. The state provides grants, loans and other economic assistance to qualified businesses that make investment in the state or who hire “qualified new jobs.” Zorn’s bill would expand the definition of “qualified new job” from a job done by somebody who lives in Michigan to include somebody who does not live in the state but is employed by a business on the Michigan side of the border. The bill passed on a 24 to 13 vote and has been sent to the House.... [Read Full Story]
From the Associated Press — The University of Michigan says someone sent racist and anti-Semitic emails to students under the name of a professor who has raised concerns about the integrity of the voting system in some states. J. Alex Halderman denies sending the messages and the school doesn’t believe Halderman’s email was hacked. Instead, spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said Wednesday that Halderman and the students are victims of “spoofing” or forged emails. Fitzgerald says campus police are investigating. Halderman calls the emails “contemptible.” They were sent mostly to engineering students and had subject lines such as “African American Student Diversity” and “Jewish Student Diversity.” Two
messages included the phrase “Heil Trump.” Halderman, a computer science professor, urged a recount of presidential election results in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to ensure that a cyberattack hadn’t manipulated totals.... [Read Full Story]
We don’t yet have any details, but police are investigating an overnight shooting in Benton Harbor. According to Berrien County dispatchers, one person was shot in the 700 block of McAlister shortly before 1 a.m. We will have more updates as they become available.... [Read Full Story]
The Paw Paw School Board has voted to keep the Redskins name and image as their mascot. The board voted 4-3 late Wednesday to keep the mascot, which has been a source of controversy for decades. Board member Renee Richardson voted to get rid of the Redskins name, saying she’s “sickened” by what’s been going on in the community, with residents arguing and saying “hateful words to one another.”... [Read Full Story]
From the Associated Press — A judge has rejected constitutional challenges to how Michigan sentences teens convicted of first-degree murder, ending seven years of litigation. Since 2010, federal Judge John Corbett O’Meara has made a series of decisions, some favoring so-called juvenile lifers who were given no-parole sentences when they were under 18. But some rulings were stopped by an appeals court. O’Meara closed the case Tuesday, noting that Michigan law has greatly changed because of decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court. No-parole sentences for teenagers still are possible but they’re not mandatory. O’Meara says judges can consider the “factors of youth” when they sentence teens. Attorney Deborah LaBelle had urged O’Meara to strike the law as unconstitutional. She says no-parole sentences are supposed to be rare, but prosecutors still are trying to keep more than 200 inmates behind bars for life at new hearings.... [Read Full Story]
Governor Rick Snyder’s latest budget proposal is getting positive marks from a Michigan group that represents urban school districts. Middle Cities Education Association spokesperson TJ Bucholz tells WSJM News the governor has proposed setting aside $150 million for intervention with at-risk students.... [Read Full Story]
A plan to reduce truancy in Michigan has been proposed in the state Senate. Co-sponsored by state Senator Tonya Schuitmaker, it would create a statewide definition of what truancy is, along with protocols for dealing with chronically absent kids.... [Read Full Story]
Tickets to this year’s Blossomtime Pageants will go on sale this month. The public sale begins on February 14. This year’s theme is “If it starts with B, it must be Blossomtime,” and the pageants will be held next month. Tickets are $20.00 and you can get them by calling the Blossomtime office or stopping there. The big event will be at Lake Michigan College’s Mendel Center.... [Read Full Story]
Congressman Fred Upton has proposed legislation that would prevent big-time lottery winners from receiving Medicaid benefits. The St. Joseph Republican tells WSJM News someone who wins $80,000 or more in the lotto should have to count that money toward their income when applying for the federal program.... [Read Full Story]
Michigan lawmakers met Tuesday in Lansing to increase the fine for selling tobacco to minors and the fine for minors trying to purchase tobacco products. The sponsor of the bill is state Senator Steven Beida, from Macomb County.... [Read Full Story]
Governor Rick Snyder’s budget proposal, so far, is looking pretty good to state Representative Kim LaSata. The Berrien County Republican tells WSJM News she’s glad the governor is setting aside more for higher education. Still, there’s more progress to be made for students.... [Read Full Story]
Governor Rick Snyder is proposing to grow Michigan’s savings account, known as the Rainy Day Fund, to $1 billion as he layed out his new budget on Tuesday. State Budget Spokesman Kurt Weiss told Michigan News Network the governor’s plan does not call for a Republican proposal to reduce the state income tax.... [Read Full Story]
From the Associated Press — Ann Arbor officials say 96 deer have been killed this year as part of the city’s deer management efforts. The Ann Arbor News reports that sharpshooting as part of the city’s second-annual deer cull ended this week and all parks and nature areas that were
closed during the hunt that started Jan. 30 are now back to their normal operating hours. The deer were hunted at designated parks and nature areas and University of Michigan properties, including Nichols Arboretum and near North Campus. A state permit allowed killing up to 100 deer, plus sterilizing up to 80. Veterinarians sterilized 54. Sharpshooters killed 63 deer during last year’s hunt. In 2015, city officials decided that the deer culling program would be for four years to help deal with deer overpopulation.... [Read Full Story]
A parental kidnapping in Benton Harbor is under investigation by the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies accuse 34-year-old Scottie Hall and 27-year-old Courtney Gibson of taking their two children against a court order, and fleeing to Indiana last evening. The children, 12-year-old Hailey Hall and 8-year-old Scottie Hall, Jr. were found safe today in Indiana. A court order had put them into protective custody and foster care just a few hours before they were taken. The sheriff’s department has not indicated the reasons for that court ruling.... [Read Full Story]
Benton Harbor Area Schools, Superintendent Shelly Walker, and former high school principal Rodger Triplett are being sued in federal court by the family of an autistic teenager over the girl’s sexual assault by a former star football player. 18-year-old Timothy Bell, Jr. is serving a year in the Berrien County Jail for oral sex with the girl, who was 15 at the time, in 2015 just after the Tigers’ football season concluded. Bells was 16 at the time, and recorded part of the incident on his cell phone. Bell entered a guilty plea to a lesser charge in July. The girl’s family filed the suit in federal court in Grand Rapids on Tuesday, alleging the school district protected Bell and created a hostile environment for the victim. In the lawsuit, they say she was forced to face her attacker daily and was taunted for months. Officials with Benton Harbor Area Schools have declined to comment.... [Read Full Story]
Police are investigating a parental kidnapping in Benton Harbor. The Berrien County Sheriff’s Department tells us Scottie Hall and Courtney Gibson allegedly took their children from a home at 600 Nate Wells Sr. Drive just hours after the court ordered them into protective custody and placed them in foster care yesterday. They are believed to be in Indiana, driving a 2001 Lincoln four door sedan with Indiana plates of XLL-123. Deputies say Hailey Hall is 12, five-feet tall with brown hair and weighs around 100 pounds, while Scottie Hall Jr. is 8, around 4’6″, 65 pounds, and also has brown hair. Anyone who knows where Hall and Gibson went with the kids is urged to call the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department.... [Read Full Story]
State Representative Mary Whiteford says she hopes to hear talk about infrastructure needs when the Rick Snyder administration gives its 2018 budget presentation Wednesday. The Casco Township Republican tells us she also wants to hear about natural resources spending.... [Read Full Story]
Are political opinions getting loud and emotional where you work? Dan Bretz, a labor law expert at Clark Hill in Detroit, tells Michigan News Network you’d better watch what you say.... [Read Full Story]
The Van Buren County Sheriff’s Department is looking for a few good weather spotters. SkyWarn coordinator Paul Reissmann tells WSJM News they train volunteers each year how to spot weather conditions that are about to get serious.... [Read Full Story]
It looks like the Benton Harbor High School band program will soon be getting new uniforms. Next week, the board of education will vote on a bid for the first new uniforms the band’s had in quite a while, says Band Director Ron Evans.... [Read Full Story]
Coming soon will be a resurfacing project for Hilltop Road in St. Joseph. It’s an effort being taken on jointly by the city, the township, the road commission, and the Southwest Michigan Planning Commission. Project Engineer Alan Smaka, with Wightman and Associates, tells us they’re doing a variety of work on the road.... [Read Full Story]
Democrats have failed to prevent the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as education secretary, and Congressman Fred Upton predicts they’ll fail to stop all of the other cabinet appointments of President Donald Trump. That’s why he tells WSJM News he hasn’t been pleased to watch the behavior of Senate Democrats in the past few weeks.... [Read Full Story]
