Millage renewals for the St. Joseph County Commission on Aging and E-911 Central Dispatch are items of New Business on the agenda for Tuesday’s (May 1) St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners meeting. The executive directors of the two agencies – Lynn Coursey and John Uribe – are slated to address the board regarding their [...]
Citing public outcry from farmers nationwide, the U.S. Department of Labor has withdrawn a proposal that would apply child labor laws to family farms which would have severely hampered Michigan’s farming industry and impeded on a family’s right to farm. State Rep. Aric Nesbitt last year co-sponsored a resolution decrying the proposal, and considers its [...]
‘Kudos’ and ‘positive bottom line’ were among the words spoken by two representatives of Plante & Moran PLLC as they presented the 2011 audit for Three Rivers Health during the April meeting of the Three Rivers Health Authority Board Thursday morning (April 26). A PowerPoint presentation supplemented written material describing the hospital’s financial performance during [...]
The Michigan Cyber Awareness Breakfast Conference Series 2012 was announced Friday (April 27) as part of the ongoing Michigan Cyber Initiative aimed at defending Michigan against cyber attacks and positioning the state to take advantage of opportunities in the growing cyber security industry. The breakfast conferences will provide updates to the Michigan Cyber Initiative unveiled [...]
Jobless rates in Southwest Michigan continued to decline in March with job additions in seasonal sectors. According to the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget, hiring activities were recorded in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, retail trade, and construction in March throughout Southwest Michigan. Unemployment rates inched down in March by an [...]
Lansing, MI – The Michigan Downtown Conference Planning Partners, a coalition of state agencies and statewide nonprofits, has announced it will consolidate its annual conference with the recently rebranded Building Michigan’s Communities Conference (BMCC). The Building Michigan’s Communities Conference is the largest conference of its kind in the country. The consolidation of the Michigan Downtown [...]
The list of outstanding persons recognized by the Three Rivers Lions Club as ‘Citizens of the Year’ grew by two Tuesday evening (April 24) as the local service organization honored Jim and Vera Bippus of Three Rivers as ‘2012 Citizens of the Year.’ As noted in an earlier River Country Journal story, more than 100 [...]
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) issued the following statement Wednesday (April 25) after House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) named him one of 33 House Members to negotiate with the Senate on the federal highway bill. Last week, Upton joined his House colleagues in passing a bipartisan extension of federal surface transportation programs [...]
Gary Turner of Three Rivers is the newest member of the Three Rivers Industrial Development Authority (TRIDA) Board of Directors. Turner, Engineering Production Manager at the American Axle & Manufacturing facility in Three Rivers, was appointed recently by the Three Rivers Community Schools Board of Education to a four-year term expiring on March 1, 2016. [...]
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 is the fourth anniversary of the River Country Journal. The online publication was launched on April 25, 2008 with the posting of a story reporting that the Village of Constantine and Riverside Elementary School had received tree seedlings to enhance that ‘River Country’ community. This story, noting the anniversary, brings to [...]
“Hospitality” is a word heard on more than one occasion Tuesday evening (April 24) during the banquet program honoring Jim and Vera Bippus as the Three Rivers Lions Club’s 2012 ‘Citizens of the Year’. More than 100 people were on hand for the celebration at Belle Epoque – formerly A Place In Time – to [...]
Here’s news of an event to add to your summer calendar: The St. Joseph County 4-H Youth Council is planning a Benefit Dinner & Auction for Saturday, June 23, 2012, to be held at the Livestock Show Arena on the fairgrounds in Centreville. The dinner will be catered by Bob’s Big Butt BBQ, which has [...]
There will be a single-lane closure on southbound US-131 from South Street in Schoolcraft, Kalamazoo County, to Flowerfield Road in St. Joseph County, from 6 a.m. Monday, April 30, through 4 p.m. Friday, May 11, for concrete repairs. Source: News release from Michigan Department of Transportation
LANSING – Every spring as the flowers begin to bloom, orange construction barrels also seem to pop up all over Michigan. In order to help Michigan motorists navigate around construction zones on the state highway system, the Michigan Department of Transportation has created the 2012 Paving the Way highway repair map that highlights construction zones [...]
Cassopolis, MI – At the end of 2011, Facebook had more than 845 million monthly active users across the world. The social media giant was founded in 2004 and has changed the way that people stay connected with family and friends, discover what’s going on in the world, and share and express matters of personal [...]
The Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency’s Board of Health released its list of “Certificates of Excellence” in food service for the year 2011. Food Service Establishments that met the guidelines were eligible to receive a certificate from the department. The guidelines specified the following criteria: The food service facility must be free of critical item [...]
MICHIGAN FAST FACTS: Rail car manufacturers will have an opportunity to submit bids to produce the first American-made, standardized passenger rail cars. By 2015, Michigan will receive 25 American-made, bi-level rail cars for service on Amtrak’s Wolverine, Blue Water and Pere Marquette intercity routes. The total cost of all the Michigan rail cars is approximately [...]
THREE RIVERS, MI – Three Rivers Health is now providing standing order pre-registration service for patients who need to have tests repeated on a regular basis (e.g. weekly, monthly, bimonthly) as ordered by a physician. “We realized we needed to make the testing process easier and faster for our customers” says Deb Kinney, registration supervisor. [...]
The Michigan Department of Transportation reports there will be a center-lane closure on southbound US-131 from the US-12 junction to a half-mile south of US-12 in White Pigeon from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday (April 24) for maintenance. Source: News release from Michigan Department of Transportation
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) voted Thursday (April 19) to provide tax relief for Michigan small businesses through the Small Business Tax Cut Act (H.R. 9). The temporary tax cut proposal would reduce taxable income on businesses with fewer than 500 employees by 20 percent in 2012. This one-time 20 percent cut [...]
