Van Buren County

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.

PAW PAW TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Authorities are considering criminal charges against a 22-year-old man after finding 86 marijuana plants outside a home in Paw Paw Township. WWMT-TV reports Friday that the pot was found after Van Buren County sheriff's deputies received a tip. Deputies and federal agents found marijuana plants growing in different areas on the property. Some of the plants were growing in starter pots. Police say they also seized drug paraphernalia and packaging materials inside the home.

Power is finally restored to everyone in Berrien County from last Friday's wicked wind, but about 200 in Van Buren County still don't have power. More than 20,000 people were without power at one point. I&M says it's a slow process because 60 percent of the outages affected single customers. That means crews had to move from house to house fixing one problem at a time. This outage also caused problems at a St. Joseph apartment for senior citizens.

VAN BUREN COUNTY - Part of I-94 in Michigan was shut down Thursday, police say, when a reckless driver refused to pull over. According to police, they received calls saying a silver mini-van with Illinois plates was driving recklessly on the interstate. An officer located the van and attempted to make a traffic stop but the driver continued to keep going. The driver was tailgating several other vehicles making it unsafe.  After being surrounded by police cars, officers say the driver stopped near Highland Avenue on I-94 but refused to get out of the van. Access had to come and break the window and the driver was taken into custody.

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]

A 19-year-old woman is dead after a crash in Van Buren County early Sunday morning. Police were dispatched to a location on 34th Avenue, east of 68th Street in Bangor Township on the report of a one-vehicle crash. Upon arrival, officers saw a white Jeep Liberty in a field off of the road with a female body lying next to the vechicle. She was unresponsive and not breathing. She was pronounced dead on the scene by EMS. A female 18-year-old Hartford City resident and a male 27-year-old Bangor Township resident were passengers in the car at the time of the crash.

GOBLES -- A house exploded in Gobles Thursday afternoon, according to a press release from the Van Buren County Sheriff’s department.  Police don’t know what caused the explosion but the homeowner informed them that two 55-gallon barrels of gasoline were stored in the basement. The house, which was in the 600 block of E. Van Buren, was empty because it was being renovated, police said.  Police also said that the homeowner told them she was unable to insure the house because it was being remodeled.

A Saturday night fight at Frosty Acres in Porter Township resulted in the death of a man, according to Van Buren County police. Witnesses say two men who were fighting on the premises were asked to leave around 10:45 p.m. That’s when police say the 26-year-old Lawton man got in his vehicle and ran down the 27-year-old Paw Paw man who was heading down the road on foot. Police captured the suspect and booked him into the Van Buren County Jail. The investigation is ongoing.

CodeRED, a reverse 911 call system, can now alert Van Buren County residents and businesses of countywide emergencies. Residents and business owners are encouraged to register for the free service. Online registration: www.vanburencountysheriff.com Click on the CodeRED icon on the left side menu. Give name, address, primary and alternative phone numbers to receive notifications. Registration forms are also available at the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office, 205 S. Kalamazoo St., Paw Paw or by calling (888)

Police say a woman inexperienced in snowmobiling suffered a fractured wrist after an accident in Van Buren County. Roxanne Hanson, 32, was following friends on a trail between Keeler and Lawton, Mich., when she was unable to make a turn. Her friends towed her to a location on Old Swamp Road in Decatur Township, where she was picked up and taken to the hospital. Speed did appear to be a factor in the crash, according to the Sheriff’s Department. Police say Hanson was wearing her helmet at the time of the accident.