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.

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.

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.

Montcalm County officials are preparing to cut ties with Recycle World and establish six new unmanned recycling sites throughout the county. Montcalm County currently contracts with Recycle World, based out of a building at M-91 and Sidney Road in Montcalm Township. Recycle World is owned by Kevin Willemstein of Gowen, along with his son. They have four additional employees.

A Howard City woman allegedly on drugs caused multiple car accidents Sunday morning, leaving one man dead and others injured. Montcalm County sheriff’s deputies responded to a three-vehicle crash on Ensley Street south of Walnut Street at 9:23 a.m. After striking the Tahoe, Stapleton’s vehicle continued north and just missed the Dairy Bear ice cream parlor before striking a tree, where the vehicle came to rest.

Multiple fire departments battled a blaze for at least five hours this morning in downtown Pierson. Randy and Denise Granger’s home at 321 Amy School Road just off Federal and Stanton roads was left in shambles after a fire raged through the 22-room old farmhouse.

Because of increased amounts of people driving and using cell phones, a federal law was recently passed requiring commercial motor vehicle drivers to use hands-free devices. The latest action by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to end distracted driving will prohibit commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers from using hand-held cellphones while operating their vehicles, which includes CMV drivers with or without a commercial driver’s license (CDL).