A cancer treatment manufacturing facility went up in a blaze Tuesday morning, with flames shooting 50 feet into the air. The Howard City Fire Department responded to New Age BioScience at 6244 Henkel Road at 5:45 a.m. The building is located just off Federal Road (old 131) behind the VFW Hall south of Howard City.

Before looking to their new futures as high school graduates, 144 seniors at Tri County High School — including nine foreign exchange students —had one last chance to look back, back to their earliest school days, to a time when wisdom was dispensed by the doctor. Dr. Seuss.

When you wade into the world of music with most high school students, certain names tend to rise to the surface — Maroon 5, Carly Rae Jepsen, Justin Bieber. Tri County High School senior Isaac Smith marches to the beat of a different drummer — or he would if drums were featured more prominently in bluegrass music. Del McCoury, Earl Scruggs and Mississippi John Hurt are far more likely to find their way onto Smith’s iPod than any pubescent heartthrob crowding pop’s top 100.

A $15 million road construction project on U.S. 131 is well under way. The Michigan Department of Transportation is resurfacing 12 miles of U.S. 131 from Cannonsville Road north to M-46. Traffic is being maintained on U.S. 131 at all times using crossovers, which were constructed last year.

Six fire departments responded to a fully involved fire at a barn that housed dairy cattle late Friday morning. The Maple Valley Township Fire Department was called to 477 Marble Road at 11:25 a.m. with a report that the roof of the barn was on fire.

Montcalm County parks and pavilions officially opened for the season on Tuesday and will remain open until Oct. 31. Members of the Montcalm County Parks & Recreation Committee took their annual parks tour on Tuesday.

Tri County’s annual trip to Fifth Third Ballpark was a successful one this year. The Vikings had no problems with the Grant Tigers on Monday, winning 10-4 in the annual game at the home of the West Michigan Whitecaps.

Three decades have passed since Montcalm County Sheriff’s Lt. William “Mac” McCarthy was murdered in the line of duty. The memory of April 27, 1982, still brings Lewis Corwin to tears.

The Tri County Area Schools community has come together to mourn the death of a Pierson teenager who drowned in a fishing accident in Little Whitefish Lake. Sheriff’s divers recovered the body of Dalton Gustinis at 2 p.m. on Saturday — 38 hours after he disappeared. Montcalm County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to Little Whitefish Lake in Pierson Township at about 12:30 a.m. on Friday.

A boy is missing after three teenagers went fishing during the early hours this morning. Montcalm County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to Little White Fish Lake in Pierson Township regarding a boating accident. The information the deputies have received is three male teenagers launched their 14-foot aluminum boat at the public boat launch. A short time later, the boat began to take on water and capsized.