With warmer weather tends to comes more plentiful outdoor activities to enjoy, and disc golfing is no exception. And it will only be a matter of weeks now before residents of Belding and avid disc golfers from across the state will be able to enjoy a new nine-hole course at Lightning Bend Park after members of Belding City Council voted unanimously 5-0 on Tuesday evening to approve the construction of SMASH Park.

A Belding woman who has been accused of committing arson in 2010 was back in court Tuesday in an attempt to prove she is indigent and cannot pay for court expenses and her court-appointed attorney. After testimony from attorneys and two recesses, 8th Judicial Circuit Court Judge David Hoort ruled that Cynthia Stewart-Matzen is not indigent and does not qualify for a court-appointed attorney.

Easter festivities were in full swing this past holiday weekend, especially at local egg hunts such as the annual “Easter Eggstravaganza” event at the Belding Covered Village Mall.

Opening a new business is seldom easy in tough economic times, but a recently opened auction house in Orleans Township is aiming to make a profit while also doing what it can to give back to local schools. The owners of A-squared Theatre and Auction Hall, an indoor heated auction and special events venue at 7500 N. State Road (M-66) just 1.5 miles north of M-44, have set a goal to give 3 percent of total purchases made at their auctions to any local school at the buyers’ request.

An afternoon chemical fire at JICE Pharmaceuticals in Belding was extinguished Thursday afternoon with no hazardous threat poised to the community.

With a few plucks of some strings and and a lot of time and effort, students at Belding Middle School are picking up a musical skill that many of them hope can lead to greater things. On Wednesday afternoon, evidence of “greater things” arrived in the form of a one-hour clinic by professional guitarist Joel Mabus, who wowed more than 50 seventh-graders who have either taken or are currently enrolled in guitar class at the school.

A controversial bill that died before appearing before the state House of Representatives or state Senate in December has emerged with new life after passing before the House last Thursday. The establishment of the Education Achievement Authority (EAA), which is defined in House Bill 4269, was approved by the House in a narrow 57-53 vote. The bill must pass in the Senate and be signed by Gov. Rick Snyder in order to become a law.

Members of the Belding City Council officially accepted a city manager contract with Margaret “Meg” Mullendore on Monday evening at the Pere Marquette Depot in Belding. In a unanimous vote, council members approved the two-year contract at the special meeting.

Sen. Carl Levin may have had one of his busier weekends in Washington, D.C., in recent memory, but that didn’t stop him from making a scheduled stop in Montcalm County Saturday evening. After a 13-hour process resulting in the first formal United States budget proposal in four years finally ended at 5 a.m. Saturday, Levin boarded a plane and flew back to Michigan with his sights on the VFW Hall in Sheridan for the eighth annual Eleanor Roosevelt Dinner, hosted by the Montcalm County Democrats.

An exotic jungle halfway across the world, deep beneath the ocean, or in a hallway towering with pieces of artwork, a walk through the doors of the 39th annual Education Showcase at the Central Montcalm High School/Middle School Complex Thursday evening was a trip that offered endless opportunities for one’s imagination to wander. Featuring hundreds of projects created by students from preschool through 12th grade at Central Montcalm Public School, there was no end to the creativity and hard work displayed from the minds at work within the school district.