Business

Hunger relief in West Michigan scored unprecedented gains in 2016, with Feeding America West Michigan distributing more food to needy families and individuals than ever in its history. In fact, the non-profit hunger relief agency which has a major branch warehouse in Benton Harbor, provided just under 29-million pounds of food and household goods to its network of food pantries, soup kitchens and child hunger agencies and partner food banks in 2016. That's a 6.1-percent increase over 2015.... ...Read Full Story

If you purchased milk or most dairy products over the last 14 years, you may be entitled to a piece of $52-million dollars in court-ordered refunds, but you've got two weeks to get your claim filed to share in the payout, as the deadline is January 31,, 2017.... ...Read Full Story

A start-up company that launched aerial drone operations headquartered in Watervliet is now into satellite operations. They're not actually adding satellite service — as in space vehicles — they're just establishing new satellite service offices in both Grand Rapids and Lansing, effective immediately.... ...Read Full Story

The prolific restaurateur who launched her food service career with a sizable Pizza Hut enterprise and brought Moe's Southwest Grill, Panera Bread, and Sonic to our shores, has set sail on a course that could more than double her enterprise over the next eight years. The only uncertain part of the current equation is whether or not one of her new restaurants will drop anchor in the local marketplace.... ...Read Full Story

Visitors to downtown St. Joseph will earn a great mid-winter escape that affords them the chance to sample more than two dozen chili recipes from many of their favorite restaurants and diners along with some other competitors all battling to take home the Chili Pepper Award, or to win the hearts of the people at large.... ...Read Full Story

All good companies take time out to assess where they're at, where they've been and where they're headed next, and Lakeland Health is no exception. As has become standard practice by the staff and board of the regional hospital organization, the Lakeland team recently published its corporate annual report for distribution to the community at large.... ...Read Full Story

At least part of the mystery has been solved in Benton Charter Township where wholesale tree removal along Fairplain Drive has baffled passersby for the better part of the past year. Not even the Benton Township Building Inspector, Tom Baldwin, was able to pin down what the land owners were doing or had in mind, as nobody had ever filed any sort of site plan for development one way or the other.... ...Read Full Story

State Senator John Proos of St. Joseph typically finds himself aligned with business interests in the state of Michigan, however, the manner in which the issue gets resolved may not win a lot of friends at the Michigan Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business in the current income tax fight in Lansing.... ...Read Full Story

Members of the Lake Michigan Shore Wine Trail have installed a new organizational President for 2017, but he's backed up by veterans in two other key posts as well as their first ever association executive, Kathryn Sturm. Third generation wine maker Tony Peterson, the owner of Contessa Cellars just off of I-94 in Coloma will serve as the association's President for a one-year term that began on January 1st. ... ...Read Full Story

Every so often a key group of Michigan leaders will gather for what they call a Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference. It's a fancy name for what is, in reality, a look down the road at how much money is now available, how much is known to become available, and how much might be out there for the state to use to pay its bills, conduct its business, and grow the economy for its citizens.... ...Read Full Story

He's an award winning producer and has even been Realtor of the Year, but now George Lucas is at the pinnacle as the newly installed President of the Southwestern Michigan Association of Realtors for 2017. Lucas, who is a licensed associate broker with RE/MAX Harbor Country in Union Pier was sworn in by Natalie Rowe, the Michigan Realtors District 6 Director at a recent installation dinner. ... ...Read Full Story

As you travel the region and run into folks at networking events and the like, it's often quite easy to determine the "cool places to work," because cool teams frequently travel in packs. Small groups of connected employees who go places together, do things together, and enjoying working together. If you've always dreamed of a career  in a space where the "cool kids" work, there's news today that will brighten your day. Kinexus has established a Career Event on Wednesday, February 8th at their Benton Harbor offices.... ...Read Full Story

For the past week, the finishing touches, training, clean up and more have been undertaken at the new Haymarket Brewery in Bridgman…and a lot of great free food has been shared with friends, families and invited parties during the soft opening, but now it's show time! The sparkling new brewery in the former Bridgman State Police Post had one last pre-party tonight with a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony, and the officially open to the general public tomorrow, Thursday, January 12, 2017.... ...Read Full Story

Three young Benton Harbor people died in a fiery crash on the southwest side of Atlanta, Georgia in the early morning hours of Sunday, January 8th including the sister of former NBA star Robert Whaley, according to authorities in Georgia. ... ...Read Full Story

An early morning dispute at a Cass County plastics manufacturing plant turned into murder today, with one man dead and a co-worker in jail.... ...Read Full Story

Tony Pedraza says "It's been the longest 'week' of my life." On New Year's Eve of 2015 the owner and operator of Chivo's Pizza on Niles Avenue in Southtown St. Joseph was forced to shut down by a major leak in the roof of his leased pizzeria. He originally projected that the business would be shut down for "about a week." Since that time he has worked in an Indiana factory…sold cars for a living…tried his hand at selling insurance…and now he's finally ready to get back to business with the new Chivo's Pizza.... ...Read Full Story

A smoky fire at a popular take out restaurant in the Southtown neighborhood of St. Joseph caused considerable alarm and a massive response on social media tonight, but at first blush, the rapid response from fire and safety crews appears to have helped save the building and the business.... ...Read Full Story

For the second time in as many months, the international trade community is working to protect American manufacturing, which is another victory for Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool Corporation. ... ...Read Full Story

You'll have to pardon "The Crew in Blue" for the near term if they themselves are feeling a bit blue. They have, and the entire community with them, lost the patriarch of the Ross family, owners and operators of City Plumbing & Heating Company in downtown St. Joseph.  Edgar "Ed" Ross was 83 at the time of his death on Monday, January 9th. His Crew in Blue is shown in the photo accompanying this story at Moody on the Market.com, where Ed is standing fourth from the left, while his son Michael is 8th from the left and his son Carey is on the far right. Photo credit to City Plumbing & Heating for sharing. ... ...Read Full Story

Go ahead and do a double take when you see one of the new special edition State Police squad cars on the road as early as tomorrow morning…but you'll do well to pay heed if the officer behind the wheel is motioning for you to pull over, because it's legitimate — a real squad car on patrol just like all of the bright blue ones.... ...Read Full Story

The newly streamlined business awards program from the Cornerstone Chamber of Commerce and their colleagues at Cornerstone Alliance is now less than a month away, and local businesses and organizations are lining up their tickets for the 2017 Business Recognition Breakfast program which will unveil the winners of those key awards.... ...Read Full Story

In the worldwide realm of Chicago Cubs fans the National League Baseball club could have traveled virtually anywhere and drawn a substantial crowd to see their shiny new World Series Commissioner’s Trophy.  Reality is, however, that the famous prize will visit less than a dozen total cities on its World Series Champions Tour and one of those is in St. Joseph, Michigan.... ...Read Full Story

More than 600,000 men and women in Michigan are engaged in the world of manufacturing…a large contingent right here in Michigan's Great Southwest. The employers of those men and women — the manufacturing community of Michigan — are responsible for fully one fifth of the gross state product of the state of Michigan. They hold a significant voice in the development of state policy and have released today their blueprint for what they hope will be the ongoing drive to build on the manufacturing-driven economic recovery of our state.... ...Read Full Story

The world is made up of all sorts of people. We've heard before that some people watch things happen, some make things happen, and far too many just stand around wondering what happened. The communities of Berrien County are extremely fortunate to have the Berrien Community Foundation to help make things happen, and there's no better component of that organization at getting to the heart of the matter than the team from Indiana Michigan Power Company's Cook Nuclear Plant at Bridgman. ... ...Read Full Story

As work continues on the new $160-million pavilion expansion project at Lakeland Health in St. Joseph, St. Joseph City Commissioners are being asked tonight to approve additional parking capacity at the regional hospital…including a new fourth level on the existing three-story parking garage located there. The hospital is seeking to increase the number of parking spaces when the project is done by 201 total spaces from the proposed 1,050 slots to 1,251.... ...Read Full Story

A Benton Harbor party store that has fallen victim to armed robberies twice in ten days time has lost a substantial amount of cash at the hands of thieves in a case that is now part of a Michigan State Police Major Case Unit investigation. One of the robberies took place the day after Christmas, and the other occurred as recently as last Thursday morning. Police are seeking help in tracking down the armed robbers involved.... ...Read Full Story

Lots of folks talk about environmental sustainability, and how their company is working hard to 'go green,' but now they can actually go up against others and prove their ability to reduce energy consumption in the 4th Annual Battle of the Buildings getting underway.... ...Read Full Story

Guys like Mark Longstroth and Bill Shane don't get the luxury of kicking back and putting their feet up just because the fields, orchards and vineyards dotting the landscape of Michigan's Great Southwest are hibernating under a layer of fresh snowfall. As Fruit Educators and key players in the Michigan State University Extension system, Longstroth, Shane and their colleagues are busy with research year round, but also working to keep the agricultural community of our region on the cutting edge with tools and techniques to protect their crops and help them to flourish.... ...Read Full Story

No sooner had word gotten out that Republican State Senator Jack Brandenburg was kicking open the door onto the new year with a bid to eliminate the personal income tax in Michigan when the assault began in opposition. While Governor Rick Snyder hasn't publicly commented yet, he had already sounded the alarm warning against the budgetary impact of such a move.... ...Read Full Story

When the FIRST Robotics Competition advanced in year two from an elementary first year challenge of stacking recyclable totes to the Medieval challenge, essentially storming the castle parapets, the excitement level ratcheted up considerably. This year, however, students right here in Michigan's Great Southwest are ready to go full steam ahead against students nationwide in the multi-faceted new FIRST Steamworks competition revealed worldwide this morning.... ...Read Full Story