The cause of a Friday morning fire that was being investigated as “suspicious’”has now been ruled arson. State Fire Marshal Trever Slater investigated the scene on Monday and determined the fire was set on purpose, three days after the fire at 1680 W. Boyer Road.

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.

A Friday morning blaze was the fifth house fire for the DeGram family and is now under investigation by the state fire marshal. The Sheridan Community Fire Department was dispatched at 8:47 a.m. to 1680 W. Boyer Road in Fenwick. The house was a total loss.

Gerald Marsh, 17, of Belding, has been charged with unlawfully driving away and fleeing and eluding police following a high-speed chase that took place at about 10:10 p.m. Saturday.

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.

The conversation threatened to spiral out of control during the question-and-answer period of a contentious seminar on hydraulic fracturing Monday evening at Rockford High School. More than 100 area residents turned out to hear from author Maryann Lesert, who extensively studied the topic while doing research for an upcoming novel.

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.

Before Sen. Carl Levin leaves the United States Senate in his final term after more than 30 years of service as the longest-serving senator in Michigan’s history, he’ll be making at least one final local appearance. The Montcalm County Democrats will welcome Levin to the 8th annual Eleanor Roosevelt Dinner on Saturday, along with State House Rep. Brandon Dillon, D-Grand Rapids, to be a featured guest speaker at the fundraising event.