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• Plugging in to new technology
  Dec 30, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Tuesday, December 30, 2008 Kalamazoo Engineering professor outfits Prius hybrid to run all-electric BY PAULA M. DAVIS pdavis@kalamazoogazette.com 388-8583 KALAMAZOO -- While Gov. As a hybrid, a Prius is powered by both gasoline and electricity. The car will be plugged in at the campus and Patten says the wind turbine more than provides enough electricity to charge the car's new battery system.
• Hope remains after rough yearSouthwest Michigan had some tough breaks, but also made progress in 2008
  Dec 28, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Kalamazoo Public Safety chief Jeff Hadley took over in June as chief of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety. Kalamazoo River cleanup The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the fall completed a two-year project to remove contaminated sediments from a stretch of the Kalamazoo River from Plainwell to just east of Otsego. PCBs exist in old paper-mill landfills along the river and in river sediments.
• Northstar Grain to buy Torco facility
  Dec 28, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Bill Hoekstra, NorthStar operations manager, said the expanding seed, feed and fertilizer service could more than triple its current nine-employee company in the next several years. NorthStar's grain processing uses a 160-year-old mill, one of the nation's oldest in operation. The company sells to small, area farmers and it trucks grain to supply Indiana ethanol-production plants.
• Train travelers stuck waiting at the station
  Dec 24, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Snowy weather and mechanical problems on a train from Detroit caused the delay, she said Amtrak employees told her, causing Amtrak to charter a bus to take riders to Chicago. Passengers on shorter-distance trains were put on buses instead. Meanwhile, at the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport, two arriving flights -- one from Detroit and another from Cincinnati -- were each about a half-hour late, airport Director Cliff Moshoginis said.
• PEOPLE NEED YOU
  Dec 21, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Community Living Options -- Landscaping volunteer, clerical volunteer. Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes -- Call-center volunteer, pantry volunteer, mail-preparation volunteer, phone receptionist, special-event volunteers, warehouse volunteers. Volunteer Center of Greater Kalamazoo -- Board members.
• Repairman honored for saving boy
  Dec 19, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Jason Hendrick and Matthew Huber and Public Safety officers Travis Childers, Steve Heyduck, Marc Ochsenkehl, Matthew Schemenauer, Jonathan Schipper, Daniel Siwula and Patrick Wujkowski. Childers, Heyduck, Huber, Ochsenkehl, Schemenauer and Schipper were given the Life Saving Award. Community Service Officer Linnae Witkowski -- Chief's Award of Excellence.
• County offers funds for flood victims
  Dec 17, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Kalamazoo County has allocated a total of $25,000 to help victims of September flooding replace water heaters and furnaces. The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to allocate a total of $25,000 to help people whose homes were flooded replace their furnaces and water heaters. Faul estimated it could cost $3,000 per household to repair or replace a furnace and water heater.
• K-College, WMU watch endowments grow smaller
  Dec 14, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Each year, WMU pays out an average of 4.5 percent of its various endowments. Plunging endowments have been a market-driven malady experienced at colleges and universities around the country, according to reports in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Since June 30, Kalamazoo College's endowment declined by 25 percent, from about $156 million to $117 million.
• Norovirus confirmed as cause of outbreak at school
  Dec 13, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  The cause was determined by state lab tests, said officials at Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services. Norovirus is a highly contagious gastrointestinal illness that is spread by touching someone with the virus or a surface already contaminated, according to the county health department. Victims at the school had symptoms ranging from diarrhea to vomiting and abdominal cramps.
• High school freshman dies after collision with police car
  Dec 8, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Evan Dame died at DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, a hospital spokeswoman said. Brett Dame and another passenger sustained less serious injuries. Emergency officials airlifted Glon to Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Ind.
• Are jobs in life sciences safe?
  Dec 7, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  The outlook for Pfizer Those same trends could hurt drugmaker Pfizer if laid-off workers without health insurance can no longer afford prescription medications or switch to generic versions. But it's difficult to gauge the potential economic fallout on Pfizer's manufacturing plant in Portage. That's because the financial industry is really a system similar to the highway system, Erickcek said.
• PEOPLE NEED YOU
  Dec 7, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Hospice Care of Southwest Michigan -- Administrative-services volunteer, bereavement volunteer, home-care volunteer, nursing-home assisted-living volunteer, project assistant, Rose Arbor volunteer. Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes -- Call-center volunteer, pantry volunteer, mail-preparation volunteer, phone receptionist, special-event volunteers, warehouse volunteers. Volunteer Center of Greater Kalamazoo -- Board members.
• MPI puts layoff figure at 200
  Dec 5, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  MPI has different plans for each building. With MPI's slowdown, Harrison said, the company will delay moving workers into downtown Kalamazoo by about three months, until early 2010. Powell unveiled its plans in April, the same month MPI announced plans for $330 million expancsion that the company said would create 3,300 new jobs.
• School hit by illnesses to reopen Monday
  Dec 5, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Norovirus is diagnosed by testing stool samples of infected people. In 2007, separate norovirus outbreaks closed Schoolcraft Community Schools and Croyden Avenue School in Kalamazoo. A norovirus outbreak was responsible for closing Portage's Lake Center Elementary School in 2005.
• Local events recognize World AIDS Day Monday
  Nov 30, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  The event will be at Community AIDS Resource and Education Services of Southwest Michigan, 629 Pioneer St., in Kalamazoo. v Buy coffee. For every handcrafted coffee purchased Monday, Starbucks will donate 5 cents to the Global Fund for AIDS programs in Africa. v Get tested. Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services is offering free and anonymous HIV/AIDS tests from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday at the health department, 3299 Gull Road, in Kalamazoo.
• PEOPLE NEED YOU
  Nov 24, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Community Living Options -- Landscaping volunteer, clerical volunteer. Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes -- Call-center volunteer, pantry volunteer, mail-preparation volunteer, phone receptionist, special-event volunteers, warehouse volunteers. Volunteer Center of Greater Kalamazoo -- Board members.
• Plainwell may use old dam to generate electricity
  Nov 23, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Other dams Currently, there are eight hydroelectric dams operating in the region: Two on the Kalamazoo River, four on the St. Joseph River and two on the Thornapple River. Several smaller dams, like the one proposed in Plainwell, can make a significant contribution to the greening of the state's power supply, Ribeiro said.
• Pressure on auto chiefsGranholm: Detroit Three must do more to improve image with Congress
  Nov 22, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Saturday, November 22, 2008 Kalamazoo BY PETER LUKE Gazette Lansing Bureau LANSING -- Gov. Granholm serves on Obama's economic transition team. Granholm said she hopes to avert any reductions in state aid to K-12 schools.
• STUDENT ACHIEVERS
  Nov 16, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Christopher Burza Grade: 12 School: Allegan High School Parents: Cristy and Raymond Burza Christopher Burza has found the sciences and math to be challenging, fun and interesting. Burza has participated in Odyssey of the Mind and Destination Imagination since the first grade. As a freshman, Stickels participated in a mission trip through the Appalachian Service Project.
• Direct Air will fly from AZO to Myrtle Beach
  Nov 15, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  DC-9, 105-seat airplanes will be operated by USA Jet Airlines. They will fly twice a week, on Fridays and Mondays, directly to Myrtle Beach International Airport, he said. The destinations will be Charlotte County Airport, located about 25 miles north of Fort Myers, and Orlando Sanford International Airport.
• Kalamazoo County swinging to Democrats
  Nov 15, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  For decades, the GOP has been the ticket to success in Kalamazoo County politics, dominating countywide and township offices. Democrats were undefeated in Kalamazoo, Oshtemo and Comstock townships, creating Democratic majorities on three township boards for the first time in Kalamazoo County. Even the sole candidate for Wakeshma Township supervisor ran on the Democratic ticket.
• Tourney to honor memory of Hackett grad
  Nov 15, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Pulling, an Eagle Scout, volunteer soccer referee and youth referee instructor, died Nov. 8, 2004. On Nov. 22, the fourth annual Texas Hold 'em Poker Tournament in Pulling's memory will take place at Hackett, 1000 W. Kilgore Road, and proceeds will go into the scholarship fund. Adam Pulling, a big fan of Texas Hold 'em poker, helped coach basketball and other sports at St.
• Economist: Auto bailout helps allLocal jobs tied to vitality of carmakers
  Nov 13, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Through October, new cars and light truck sales in the United States were on track to end 2008 at 10.5 million units. And companies like Benteler Automotive Corp., in Galesburg, and Checker Motors Corp., in Kalamazoo's Northside neighborhood, manufacture metal components for the auto industry. Rogers talked up the auto-parts supplier's move into producing components for commercial vehicles.
• Kalamazoo Valley Community College program would help those underprepared for higher education
  Nov 12, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  The program is something officials say KVCC is exploring at this point. He was hired by KVCC to design the program along with David Hutton, retired superintendent of Comstock Public Schools. Also Tuesday, KVCC trustees approved a $900 fee for the college's new Animal Tech Academy, which is being created in partnership with Western Michigan University.
• Lockport and Climax Townships reevaluate fire service after tax requests fail
  Nov 7, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  That puts in jeopardy the township's relationship with the joint Lockport-Fabius-Park Township Fire Department, which already has started constructing the new fire hall. Lockport Township After Tuesday's vote, Lockport Township has funding to continue providing fire services to its residents, but it must secure an agency that can perform the work. But village officials feel that because village residents also pay township taxes, they are being double taxed.
• Readers respond to election with hopes for Obama
  Nov 6, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Affordable health care for all might be an unobtainable aspiration. Manufacturing jobs cannot find safe haven in our country if union aggression is allowed. Cooperation would be nice.'' -- James Koning, Kalamazoo ``Here are some changes I would applaud: Less government.
• DeShazorekes out thinvictory in 61st
  Nov 5, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  So it will be DeShazor, a 49-year-old team manager for State Farm Insurance, who represents those residents in Lansing, replacing a term-limited Jack Hoogendyk, R-Texas Township. Brian Calley, R-Portland, won a second term by capturing 67 percent of the vote. The current representative, Fulton Sheen, R-Plainwell, must leave Lansing because of term limits.
• Police suspect suicide in woman's death on I-94
  Nov 5, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Police continue to investigate, but said preliminary findings indicate it likely was a suicide. No other vehicles were involved in the crash, police said. At least two injured in apartment fire WAYLAND -- At least two people were taken to a hospital this morning as firefighters battled an apartment fire near downtown Wayland, authorities said.
• Choices abound Tuesday for region's voters
  Nov 2, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  From a fire tax in Climax to a school millage in South Haven to a Kalamazoo County transit tax, voters have a host of a pocketbook decisions to make. A new sheriff Term limits in Lansing will give St. Climax tax Voters in Climax Township will be asked to approve a 2-mill, three-year tax increase to operate the township fire department.
• Semi driver dies after clipping truck on I-94
  Oct 31, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Tom Coles of the Michigan State Police at Paw Paw. The truck that was clipped did not crash and Coles said he believed the driver was in good condition. Man sentenced for dealing crack GRAND RAPIDS -- A Detroit man has been sentenced to federal prison for dealing crack cocaine in Kalamazoo, police said.
• University President Dunn says WMU has 'a vision that works'
  Oct 31, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Because WMU has diverse investments, the move didn't present a cash-flow crisis for the university, Dunn said. But with the market fluctuations, WMU's endowment has dipped. WMU and other state universities have experienced cutbacks in past years.
• Tactics become the issue
  Oct 29, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  DeShazor and Rogers came to the hour-long debate, sponsored by the Kalamazoo Gazette, ready with stacks of campaign mailers the candidates said they found contemptible. DeShazor said Michigan needs a business tax structure that is equitable and easily understood. On nuclear power: DeShazor said he favors expanding Michigan's nuclear power capability.
• PEOPLENEED YOU
  Oct 26, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Community Living Options -- Landscaping volunteer, clerical volunteer. Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes -- Call-center volunteer, pantry volunteer, mail-preparation volunteer, phone receptionist, special-event volunteers, warehouse volunteers. Volunteer Center of Greater Kalamazoo -- Board members.
• RepublicanHoogendyk offers change
  Oct 26, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  As Hoogendyk works his way around a banquet table, Gary Borton leaps out of his chair to pump Hoogendyk's hand. Hoogendyk is up against Democratic U.S. Sen. Term limits prevent Hoogendyk from seeking re-election this year.
• Advocate for Mexican homeless girls dies
  Oct 23, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  His real home for nearly 20 years, however, had been Casa Amparo, a shelter for about 60 girls and for the nuns who care for them, in Reynosa, Mexico. With Parker acting as the father-figure and advocate in Michigan for the girls, people from Gull Lake, Portage, Parchment and elsewhere raised funds to buy the shelter a new stove and computers. Thomas More Student Parish, 824 Dobbin Drive, in Kalamazoo.
• Lead-poisoning rates high among kids in Kalamazoo Co.
  Oct 23, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  That's the message Kalamazoo County Health & Community Services officials want to convey, especially this week, which is Lead Poisoning Prevention Week. Kalamazoo is one of 13 communities identified by the Michigan Department of Community Health as having high rates of childhood lead poisoning. And the younger the child, the more damage lead poisoning does.
• `Real life' set Merle's political course
  Oct 19, 2008 — Kalamazoo Gazette
  Would you believe 41-year-old Greg Merle is a Libertarian? Merle credits author Ayn Rand, as well as ``starting to pay taxes'' after he was employed, with his transformation from a self-described college liberal to the political right. More taxes, more reading and frustration with what he calls ``Republicans who cower in the corner'' now has Merle running for the 6th Congressional District seat.