Watervliet, MI

VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Police found more than 400 grams of cocaine and $30,000 while busting a drug dealer they believe was responsible for supplying “most of the cocaine and crack cocaine” that has entered Van Buren Township. Michigan State Police detectives searched a Van Buren Township home on...

VAN BUREN, Mich. (FOX 2) - The Van Buren Police Department announced Wednesday morning that a parolee who was wearing a GPS tether has been arrested for the double murder of a woman and her 14-year-old daughter inside their apartment. According to the police, the suspect was arrested Tuesday afternoon...

VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Michigan State Police believe they have caught the drug dealer behind most of the cocaine and crack cocaine in Van Buren Township. A drug trafficking arrest was made by the state police's narcotics unit was made on July 22. The bust included over 400 grams...

GOBLES, Mich. — A man who stabbed a sheriff’s K9 in Gobles, Michigan was shot and killed by a deputy of the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office Monday night, according to authorities. Sources identified the man killed as Jacob Bender, 39, according to local media outlets. Sheriff Daniel Abbott said...

CASS COUNTY, Mich. — New guidance from the C.D.C. recommends that everyone-- even vaccinated people-- mask up inside public places. That's in areas of the country where they say community transmission of coronavirus is high. Three local counties meet that threshold: Marshall, Kosciusko, and Cass County in Michigan. In Kosciusko...

The Michigan Department of Transportation has announced a detour that will be in place for those who go to the Berrien County Youth Fair in August. The fair is slated for August 16 through August 21, and MDOT’s Nick Schirripa tells WSJM News if people heading there from the north use M-139, that could cause problems.

BENTON HARBOR — The 60 teens taking part in the Benton Harbor Summer Youth Work Program are doing more than earning money. They are learning skills that will help them get jobs for the rest of their lives, Benton Harbor Commissioner Jerry Edwards said while volunteering to help supervise the teens cleaning up Broadway Park on Tuesday.

DOWAGIAC — Community members will soon have an opportunity to learn more about what it means to be a local police officer in Dowagiac. The Dowagiac Police department is gearing up to host its second annual National Night Out event from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 3 at Burke Park, near the intersection Main and Lowe streets.

VAN BUREN COUNTY, Mich. — Van Buren County and Cass County health officials announced updated mask-wearing recommendations for all individuals Wednesday. In a written statement, officials recommended that all Cass County and Van Buren County residents wear a mask in indoor public environments, regardless of vaccination status. At this time,...

The Michigan Department of Transportation says it will begin a project along M-60 near Niles next week. It says it’s resurfacing the shoulders along seven miles of M-60 between US-12 and Leet Road. The $1.2 million investment includes cold milling, resurfacing, and asphalt shoulder widening. The work is intended to preserve the pavement and extend the life of the road, as well as improve ride quality and safety for drivers. MDOT says improved shoulder pavement provides a safe alternate lane when work is being performed on the travel lanes or when traffic needs to be diverted around a crash. The project starts Monday and will finish September 2. It will mean single lane closures.

CASS COUNTY, MI — More than 1,500 freedom seekers are said to have used Vandalia’s network of safe houses in the mid-1800s along their journey on the Underground Railroad. That welcoming history of the small Cass County village, along with its well-represented population of “free Blacks” who migrated to the area, led to the village’s Paradise Lake later becoming a popular resort spot in the 1920s. It was a place “where Black families escaped, unwound and enjoyed one another’s company in a peaceful environment,” said Cathy LaPointe, of the Underground Railroad Society of Cass County.

CASSOPOLIS – Residents of Cass County will have the opportunity to get rid of unwanted household wastes and chemicals next month. Cass County is hosting a hazardous waste collection from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 21 at the Cass County Road Commission, located at 340 North O’Keeffe St., Cassopolis. A used tire collection event will be hosted at the same time and location.

The CDC updated its mask guidance this week, advising people in areas with high levels of COVID-19 transmission to wear a mask when at an indoor public setting, regardless of their vaccination status, and now the Van Buren/Cass District Health Department is following suit. Department Health Officer Danielle Persky tells WSJM News Van Buren and Cass counties are in a level of substantial community transmission.

HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s statement this week indicating she does not expect to issue any mandatory mask orders — despite new U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommendations that people use masks indoors, in communities with rising cases of the virus, especially the Delta variant. Michigan’s numbers have more-than...

A $200,000 Housing and Urban Development grant is giving Benton Harbor kids a chance to improve their community. There’s a brand new summer work program. For eight weeks, kids ages 14 to 19 will be going around to different parks and cleaning them up. What they get out of it is more than just money.

Two people were arrested in Niles last week on several different charges. Back on July 21, officers stopped a vehicle and arrested the driver, a 27-year-old woman from South Bend, for allegedly carrying a concealed pistol and allegedly furnishing false information to police. The vehicle’s passenger, a 31-year-old South Bend...