Portage News

Jennifer Hardy-Tindle has nothing against flowers, cards or chocolate. She just believes that, for many people, Valentine's Day has fallen into a rut.

It appears that, starting this fall, half-day kindergarten in Kalamazoo-area public schools will be history.

As Portage Public Schools considers a move to implementing all-day kindergarten in fall 2012, the move seems to have overwhelming support from parents and teachers, according to a memo to the Portage school board.

Money may not be able to buy you love, but local retailers are hoping Southwest Michiganders are willing to try this Valentine's Day.

The homey haunt for more than three decades of countless sports teams, couples, families and those just looking to raise a glass will close this spring.

Paul Kersey, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, will speak on Right to Work legislation in Michigan at the Beacon Club in Portage on Feb.

It took just one week for gas prices in Southwest Michigan to rise by around 30 cents, then fall by the same amount.

The private search for Matt Johnson , the Portage man presumed dead after he went missing in Japan in January, is drawing to a close.

Bronson Methodist Hospital JO-ANNE and SCOTT MILLER, of Allegan, a daughter. GLENN ROSS and BRIDGETTE MOORE, of Kalamazoo, a son.

Saying he thought there was enough evidence to show that Theodore Gould stole more than $53,000 from the Portage grocery store he once managed , a Kalamazoo County District Court judge ordered Gould Thursday to stand trial on a charge of felony embezzlement.

A pair of local public safety departments are gearing up for a big mathup on the ice this weekend at Wings Stadium.

The private search party formed to search for Matt Johnson , the Portage man presumed dead after he went missing in Japan during a business trip in January, has begun day two of a five-day search for traces of his whereabouts.

Prosecutors in Van Buren County are appealing the decision of a district court judge who dismissed charges last month against a Portage Public Schools teacher in a drunken-driving case .

Portage parents are invited to a workshop Thursday by psychologist Marcia McEvoy on "Helping Kids Get Along at School: What Parents Can Do to Reduce Student Cruelty and Improve Peer-to-Peer Relationships." The workshop will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Woodland Elementary School, 1401 Woodland Ave.

The sister of Matt Johnson , the Portage man who went missing in Japan after camping on Mt.

Kenneth Daniels , 51, of Reed Street, was sentenced to three to 22 1/2 years in prison, victim restitution, court costs and state fees for home invasion as a second-time habitual offender in October in Kalamazoo.

Windemueller, a Wayland-based electrical services, communications and information technology firm, has opened an office in Kalamazoo, saying the satellite location will help it better serve the many commercial, industrial and municipal customers it already has in southwest Michigan.

The first IMAX in the area. A significant expansion of the Kalamazoo Air Zoo. Stryker's conversion of an old Upjohn building long empty.

The Gazette's Business section runs announcements of various kinds - items we consider of news interest to the general public.

Here are the latest Kalamazoo-area births and deaths: BORGESS MEDICAL CENTER TRACIE AND JACK BINKLEY, of Vicksburg, a son.