An Ionia County lake in jeopardy of seeing its lake level drop significantly is on course to receive repairs on a dam that will properly maintain the lake level for another 30 years. Ranney Lake, located in the upper northwest corner of Ionia County just south of the county line and north of Belding, is a private lake with approximately 14 lots surrounding it.

Belding Area Schools Board of Education members were treated to an unexpected, colorful and thoughtful surprise Monday evening on a night in which School Board Recognition Month was celebrated toward the end of an organizational board meeting. After board members Robert Insley and Cori Anderson, who were re-elected to the board in the November general election, were officially sworn in for their new four-year terms, the board voted to assign officer positions for the new year.

When school principal Tiffany Jackson stood in the new east wing addition at Ellis Elementary School on the first day of classes after winter break, she gazed upward toward the large glowing chandelier hanging from the ceiling skylight as students hustled around her to their new classrooms.

With the aroma of freshly baked dough, spicy pepperoni and a variety of cheeses wafting through the air of the Alvah N. Belding Memorial Library, more than 60 members of the community filled their plates with slice after slice of delicious pizza from five Belding businesses with an intent to discover who was offering up the most tantalizing slice.

Crawling through dark, narrow trenches between crumbling pieces of broken concrete, in the worst of emergency situations, there will always have to be an individual who must volunteer and venture into that dangerous unknown in the event that a victim may be trapped in such a severe emergency situation.

An early morning altercation today between a male suspect and a Belding police officer led to a shootout between the man and two police officers, resulting in the man’s death.

As DTE Energy Regional Manger Roger Royer held a giant check in the amount of $10,000 to be given to the Belding Skate Park Committee, he reflected on the importance of helping to bring the skate park to downtown Belding at Central Riverside Park.

For Marie Brodock, Christmas Eve was sometimes a day spent alone as her children spent the day with their father. But for the past several years, that festive day that so many spend with family hasn’t seemed so lonely for the Greenville resident as she travels a few miles south to Bridge Street Cafe in Belding.

For Rick Moore, the journey from Belding High School student to Nashville songwriter and author of a recently released eBook has been a long one, filled with unexpected twists and turns. And though the road hasn’t always been an easy one, at least it hasn’t been boring. Moore’s new eBook, “Bringing in the Sheep,” is the culmination of years of work and decades of writing.

When visitors arrived to the reveal of the new Belding Performing Arts Center Sunday afternoon, an atmosphere of professionalism took hold of each and every child, student and adult as they placed their first steps into the vast 550-seat auditorium. People shuffled slowly to their armchairs, feeling the texture of the wooden handrails under their palms while staring in amazement at the giant suspended sound reflectors hanging from the ceiling.