The seventh annual Make a Difference Awards was held Wednesday to recognize those who have gone above and beyond in helping students with special needs. About 100 people were in attendance at the Greenville High School Performing Arts Center to show their support for those who were nominated and honored for going beyond what the job description states.

Two counties are coming together to develop a student-focused system called Hair on Fire. School districts in Montcalm and Ionia counties are working on the program that focuses on the needs of students.

Montcalm County union employees want one of their paid holidays reinstated. In December 2011, the Montcalm County Board of Commissioners and Local 3067.03 approved a three-year labor contract good from Jan. 1, 2012, through Dec. 31, 2014.

Graduates from Central Montcalm High School received well wishes and advice on how to be themselves and have a successful future. On Sunday, the high school filled with friends and family to wish 113 graduates well in their next chapter.

It’s going to be a busy Memorial Day weekend in Sheridan. That’s when the Sheridan VFW Ladies Auxiliary hosts the annual Springfest celebration. In addition to the carnival and parade, this year’s event offers a variety of new activities for adults and children. Event organizer Jean Peterson is especially excited about the addition of a pie contest.

It started in the seventh grade with a challenge of making her first cake … and spiraled into running her own cake business a short time later. Alyssa Ruggles, 18, of Stanton, has been running her own cake-making business called “The Cake Kid” from her home after her mother received a request to make a graduation cake.

A Stanton man was taken to the hospital after failing to stop at a traffic sign and crashing into a Freightliner dump truck Wednesday afternoon.

If you live in the village of Sheridan and have an old ’74 Pacer rusting away in the back yard, you may want to consider finding a new home for it. At Monday’s regular meeting, the Sheridan Village Council discussed the possibility of adopting a recently drafted ordinance dealing with junk within village limits. The present ordinance, some council members say, doesn’t have much teeth when it comes to enforcement.

Retirements in the Montcalm County Clerk’s Office and Sheriff’s Office are likely leading to promotions and new hires.

A 16-year-old Sheridan teenager was seriously injured and flown to a Grand Rapids hospital Sunday after the car transporting the teen struck a tree.