The founder of a now-defunct marijuana club in Montcalm County was arrested Friday on drug charges in Kent County. David Overholt, 55, of Sidney, is charged with delivery or manufacturing narcotics/cocaine less than 50 grams, delivery or manufacturing marijuana and maintaining or frequenting a drug house. He is out of jail on bond.

Both Montcalm and Ionia counties received improved rankings this year through the annual County Health Rankings results, which were recently released. The University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation published the annual rankings.

The “Take Back the Night” event was held to highlight the fact that April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

A diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease is never good news. The degenerative disease cases movement-related problems such as tremors, stiffness and difficulty walking. And that’s in the early stages. Later, cognitive functions may be effected, followed by dementia. A host of other symptoms accompany the disease, none of them pleasant.

A man who allegedly robbed the Chemical Bank in Edmore on Saturday morning remains on the loose

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.

Donald Beach’s neighbors have had enough. Carolyn Tubbs and Mary Vusich appeared at Monday’s Montcalm County Board of Commissioners meeting to see if there is anything the county government can do to help them.

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.

Shannan Kooistra and her husband, Josh, can’t help thinking of their 3-year-old son, Zade, as their “miracle” child. The rambunctious tyke, paralyzed from the hips down as a result of being born with myelomeningocele spina bifida, had undergone eight major surgeries before his second birthday. A shunt embedded in his brain carries excess spinal fluid from his head to his abdomen. And of course, he cannot walk. But these days, thanks to a coordinated effort by several area Lions Clubs, Zade zips around the Kooistra home with an ease he never could manage in a traditional wheelchair.

Do you know what “fracking” is? Three local organizations are sponsoring a community educational event at 6:30 pm on Monday at Rockford High School regarding hydraulic fracturing, which is an industrial oil and gas extraction technique commonly known as fracking.