Local News

“Not one person was hurt”

FREE No one injured after bus carrying Carson City-Crystal High School Marching Band catches fire in Florida

Members of the Carson City-Crystal High School Marching Band are hugging each other a little tighter after safely escaping a bus fire 1,200 miles from home Sunday evening. Currently visiting Orlando, Florida for the band’s three-day trip to Walt Disney World and Universal Studios, Band Director Chad Parameter told the Daily News that all 53 people on the trip were able to safely evacuate the bus that transported the students from Michigan to Florida after it caught fire following the band’s visit to Disney’s Magic Kingdom. 

Saranac’s ‘liquid gold’

 Ionia syrup farmers continue their grandfather's work harvesting sap from downtown Saranac trees

If you drive through Saranac during daylight hours recently, it would be difficult to miss the buckets, hoses and other equipment affixed to dozens of trees in front of homes and businesses in the downtown area.

This was primarily the work of Jake Smith, who manages about 1,500 taps on downtown Saranac sugar maple trees and on more trees surrounding his family’s Dusty Lane Farm on Patrick Road outside of Ionia.

Playing at a ‘higher level’

Central Montcalm High School band celebrates 10 straight years of top Div. I ratings 

As the final note played by the Central Montcalm High School Band resonated throughout the Performing Arts Center at Greenville High School, Director Matthew Reed could only look upon his students with a great sense of pride.

Performing at the annual Michigan State Band and Orchestra District 7 Band Festival on March 6, Reed didn’t have to wait for the judges to award their scores to know that an elite, high-quality performance had just emanated from his musicians. 

Montcalm County commissioner suggests lowering county’s operating millage

Everyone is feeling the pinch in their pocketbook.
All food prices in 2023 increased by nearly 6% from 2022 and are expected to continue to increase by 3% this year, according to the USDA (food prices increased by nearly 10% in 2022, faster than any year since 1979).
Gas prices are currently around $3.50 per gallon or higher and people think twice before going out to eat. Filling up a few bags of groceries is an eyebrow-raising experience.

Daily News wins Newspaper of the Year award

FREE For the eighth time in nine years, DN named best small daily newspaper in Michigan

The Daily News was named Newspaper of the Year in its class for the eighth time since 2015 in Thursday’s Michigan Press Association Better Newspaper Contest.
The Greenville-based newspaper took home a total of 38 awards for editorial and advertising excellence, including two open class public service awards, 12 first place awards, nine second place awards, 10 third place awards and five honorable mentions. Along with being named Newspaper of the Year, the Daily News was a top three finalist for the Daily Advertising contest.

Denied partnerships with surrounding counties, Ionia County goes it alone on recycling

The Ionia County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved the creation of an 11-member Materials Management Planning Committee to replace the existing Solid Waste Planning Committee after a request from Conservation District Manager Melissa Eldridge.
The new committee’s membership is “pretty spelled out” by state law, Eldridge said, and must include township officials, city managers, waste haulers and citizens.

JUST IN: Sen. Peters announces $2.1 million in funding for Ionia Community Library relocation

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U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced on Friday that the Senate has passed a bipartisan package of six bills to partially fund the government through Fiscal Year 2024, including $2.1 million in funding for the renovation of the former Mercantile Bank in downtown Ionia to be the new home of the Ionia Community Library.

MCC evaluating potential addition of $10 million housing complex for Sidney campus 

A proposed $10 million, three-story, 84-unit student housing complex could be making its way to Montcalm Community College, providing a new element not currently found at the college: on-campus living. 
During Tuesday’s MCC Board meeting, the board welcomed a presentation from Mathison I Mathison Architects of Grand Rapids, which has spent more than a year’s time working with the college and Progressive AE | Architectural Design and Engineering to draft a concept and site plan for a student housing building for the college’s Sidney campus.

Local wildfires rampant amid low-humidity weather conditions

Fire chiefs are reminding people to call their local fire departments for permission to burn and to use extreme caution during low-humidity weather, as local fire departments responded to at least 12 wildfires from Tuesday through Thursday.

Ionia County begins 18-year process of distributing federal opioid settlement funds

Starting in April, organizations or groups in Ionia County dealing with opioid addiction can begin applying for grant money from a $18.5 billion court settlement, after the Board of Commissioners approved a request for proposal on Tuesday.
Over the next 18 years, Michigan will receive about $1.5 billion from a federal court settlement, with $833.8 million going to the state and counties, townships and cities splitting about $725 million.


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