Van Buren County

After nearly a day and a half on the run, a Van Buren County jail inmate has been recaptured. Inmate Matthew Brady got away Friday night while using a salt spreader to clean sidewalks in Paw Paw. But sheriff's officials tell us that around 5:30 Sunday morning Brady was found walking on I-94 near the Kalamazoo County line. He was recaptured and charged with escape.

Police say alcohol may be to blame for an overnight crash that sent a car into a Van Buren County house. It happened just after 12:30 Monday morning when a Chevy Cobalt driving west on Country Road 358 crossed the center line, went through a cornfield and rolled several times before hitting the house and landing on its roof. The 20-year-old driver suffered several cuts and injured her arm. Officers say a small amount of marijuana, unopened beer cans and an empty vodka bottle were lying in and around her car. She admitted to drinking one alcoholic beverage before the crash.

VAN BUREN COUNTY — A young girl is in critical condition, after she was hit by a car in Van Buren County. Police say David Curl stopped his van on 80th Avenue to let his 9-year-old daughter, Sarah, get the mail. They say Sarah ran out in front of a car that was passing the van. Investigators say the driver couldn't have avoided her. She's now hospitalized in critical condition.

A year-long investigation is over in Van Buren County. Bones found last July are Native American remains. They were found on July 21 last year in a wooded lot in Hartford Township on 56th Avenue after a storm. Police sent the remains to the Michigan State University Anthropology Department, where it was determined they were from a Native American man and were between 100 and 200 years old. Police turned the remains over to the tribal authorities of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians.

DECATUR - An autopsy is expected Tuesday following a deadly house fire in southwest Michigan. Police say shortly after 8 p.m. on Monday, firefighters were sent to a home in the 4700 block of 78th Avenue in Decatur. That is in Van Buren County When police arrived they found the home engulfed in flames. After the fire was put out, a body was found inside. No word yet on what started the fire.

Van Buren County police say evidence at the scene indicates more than one person snuck onto a farm in Bloomingdale Township and pulled 33 young Golden Delicious apple trees out of the ground. This happened sometime during the night from May 9 to May 10. The stolen trees had been recently planted in the field near 45 th Street and 15 th Avenue. They were 2 to 3 years old and won't bear fruit for 4 to 5 years. Two rows of 15 trees and another partial row were stolen, according to police.

Police are looking for three suspects who robbed a store in Van Buren County late Monday afternoon, then fled with the cash. The robbery happened about 5:40 p.m. EST at the Keeler General Store, according to Michigan State Police at the Paw Paw post. Three partially masked suspects, armed with a gun as well as baseball bats, entered the store and demanded the cash. The clerk was then ordered to get down on the ground as the suspects left. Police continue their search for the three, who were seen leaving in a dark two-door sedan.

A man accused of killing two women and burying their bodies near his Bangor Township trailer entered a plea of not guilty before a Van Buren County judge Monday morning. Junior Lee Beebe faces double murder charges. Police accuse him of killing his cousin's wife, Amy Henslee, and his girlfriend, Tonya Howarth. Family members say Beebe is telling people he and Henslee were having an affair, and when Howarth found out she shot Henslee. He claims he then shot Howarth in self defense.

VAN BUREN COUNTY - Skeletal remains found by a tree trimming/logging company Thursday in Van Buren County have been exhumed and are heading to the anthropology department of Michigan State University. According to police, around 10:30 a.m. officers received a call from the tree trimming company that they found possible human remains in the woods in Hartford Township while surveying storm damage. The workers found the remains under the root ball of an uprooted tree.

VAN BUREN COUNTY, Mich. (WWMT-TV) – Officials in Van Buren County are searching for a missing woman. No one's seen 30-year-old Amy Henslee since 7:30 am Monday morning. Henslee's husband says when he left for work Monday, Amy was at their Hartford Township home. When he returned she was nowhere to be found. The door to their house was locked, and Amy's purse, along with her ID and credit cards, was still there. Now, her family and friends are worried.

The National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for Van Buren County, Mich. until 8 p.m. That's the only county in the WSBT viewing area under a weather alert.

COVERT, Mich. - The much maligned Palisades Nuclear Power Plant got some good news - a safe 2012. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission released a study that said the Van Buren County plant operated safely last year. Two NRC inspectors are assigned to the plant along with others from different offices because of the plant's history. The agency downgraded the plant's status last year because of several safety violations 2 years ago. Inspectors say those problems have been cleaned up, but more improvements are needed.

HARTFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Van Buren County police have released the names of four women killed in a three-vehicle crash Saturday night. It happened just after 6 p.m. on County Road 687, which is also known as 64 th Street, near the intersection of 66 th Avenue. Police say a van slid through the intersection and hit a 2011 Buick Lucerne, pushing it into the opposite lane where it was hit a pickup truck. All four of the people who died were in the Buick.

PAW PAW, Mich. (AP) - A western Michigan man released from jail found himself in custody again after urinating outside the sheriff's department. Van Buren County authorities say the 42-year-old Holland man appeared at the sheriff's office to bail out a friend early Saturday. The man instead joined his buddy behind bars after a deputy looked out the window and saw him urinating on the building. The man was drunk and told the deputy that he simply couldn't hold it. He was arrested for disorderly conduct.

VAN BUREN COUNTY, Mich. - Federal regulators are giving you a chance to learn more about safety at a southwest Michigan nuclear power plant. According to the online news site, MLive.com, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will host a webinar this weekend about the Palisades nuclear power plant in Van Buren County. The online chat will be held Saturday morning at 10:00 and focus on two recent leaks that put the plant out of service for a short time. The Regulatory Commission named Palisades one of the worst-performing nuclear facilities in the country.

After nearly a day and a half on the run, a Van Buren County jail inmate has been recaptured. Inmate Matthew Brady got away Friday night while using a salt spreader to clean sidewalks in Paw Paw. But sheriff's officials tell us that around 5:30 Sunday morning Brady was found walking on I-94 near the Kalamazoo County line. He was recaptured and charged with escape.

SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. - If you have concerns about safety at a poorly rated nuclear power plant in southwest Michigan, tonight you can speak to people in charge of monitoring its safety. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is scheduled to hold a public meeting to discuss how to improve the Palisades plant in Van Buren County. The Covert Township facility has dealt with repeated shutdowns and safety issues. Tonight's meeting will be held at the Beach Haven Event Center on M-140 in South Haven.

VAN BUREN COUNTY - A 32-year-old Kalamazoo man arrested under Michigan's new “Super Drunk” law was arraigned Thursday afternoon in Paw Paw district court. If convicted, this would be his third OWI offense.  The arrest happened around 1 a.m. Thursday. Police say Travis Radtke crashed into a tree in the 22000 block of Red Arrow Highway. When officers arrived, an uninjured Radtke told them "he had way too much to drink to be driving and must have fallen asleep while doing so [and]

SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. (AP) - A suspected drunk-driver has been charged with murder in the deaths of a woman and two young children killed when his pickup truck collided head-on with their car in southwestern Michigan, authorities said Thursday. South Haven District Court Magistrate James Becker said 11 felony counts have been authorized against David Glen Johnson. MLive.com previously reported the charges. Van Buren County authorities have said Johnson is from Alabama, but a court filing lists his hometown as Grand Junction, Mich.

VAN BUREN COUNTY, Mich. - $1.7 million! That was the value of a whole bunch of pot found in a field in Van Buren County's Covert Township. County narcotics detectives got a tip of a possible marijuana grow operation in a wooded area. Police followed the tip and were able to find the plants near what appeared to be camp sites. In all, they eradicated 1,732 marijuana plants worth an estimated street value of $1.7 million. Investigators believe this grow operation may be connected to one uncovered back on August 22, with the elimination of 1,781 plants from the 78000 block of 40 th Avenue.