Latest news with #TheMonroeNews
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Yahoo
Monroe County Sheriff's Office arrests drive-by shooting suspect
MONROE — The Monroe County Sheriff's Office arrested a 15-year-old in a drive-by shooting case that injured two in the 6200 block of Greenwycke Lane at 8:45 p.m. Saturday, May 10. While initially responding to the incident, deputies received the report that a suspect vehicle, a tan sedan with several occupants, was involved and fled the scene. Deputy Austin Graham was the first to arrive in the area and saw a tan 2002 Honda Civic pulling out of Greenwycke Lane and on to South Dixie Highway. A traffic stop was made on the vehicle, but it was discovered that the suspected shooter had exited the car prior to it leaving the scene and had fled on foot. Investigators identified the shooter and detectives obtained a search warrant for the suspect's home in the 6100 Block of Greenwycke Lane. The search warrant was executed and the suspect arrested. "He was lodged at the Monroe County Youth Center on three counts of assault with intent to murder," read the report from the sheriff's office. Two people were struck by gunfire in the incident and transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital. As of Sunday, May 11, they were in stable condition. — Contact reporter Connor Veenstra at CVeenstra@ This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe teen arrested after drive-by shooting that injured two
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Mother's Day: Free frozen custard for moms at Monroe Culver's
MONROE — Celebrate mom this Mother's Day with a free scoop of frozen custard with one topping. Culver's of Monroe, 1899 N. Telegraph Road, is offering the cool treat for moms of all ages. 'It's a promotion to celebrate all the moms in the community,' said Darian Dykstra, general manager. 'We invite moms to come in and get a free scoop of custard. We're just excited to celebrate moms and everything they do for their kids and our community.' Since opening in 2021, the local eatery, known for its butter burgers and fresh frozen custard, has been offering the free promotion on Mother's Day. The Sunday, May 11 event and custard are always popular with families, according to Dykstra. 'The fun thing about custard is that it is not an ice cream based solely on how we prepare it,' she said. 'It's premium ingredients. It's smooth and velvety unlike ice cream which has ice particles in it. We freeze it to a temperature where you don't get those ice particles so it's creamy versus an ice crystal crunch.' More: Mother's Day is May 11. Here are some gifts she'll love from local stores Dykstra said her crew is ready to serve the free frozen dessert. 'It's been pretty big since it started but there's always more we can do to promote it,' she said. 'We're really excited to reach out to as many moms as we can to thank them for all they do for their kids.' — Contact reporter Lisa Vidaurri-Bowling at lvidaurribowling@ This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Mother's Day: Free frozen custard for moms at Culver's of Monroe
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Monroe County meetings: Where and when
MONROE COUNTY — The Monroe News is providing a weekly round-up of meetings happening throughout the county and the biggest topics being discussed. Municipalities are not required by the Michigan Open Meetings Act to provide an agenda in advance of a meeting, but they are required to provide notice. Please visit your local municipality website for the most up to date information. Here are the biggest topics for meetings scheduled for May 5-9: Ash Township Zoning Board of Appeals: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, 1677 Ready Road, Carleton Bedford Township Township Board: 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, 8100 Jackman Road, Temperance Brownstown Township Township Board: 6 p.m. Monday, May 5, 21313 Telegraph Road, Brownstown Dundee Village Planning Commission: 7 p.m. Monday, May 5, 350 West Monroe St., Dundee Village Council: 7 p.m. Tuesday May 6, 350 West Monroe St., Dundee Milan City Council: 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, 147 Wabash St., Milan Monroe City Council: 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 5, 120 East First St., Monroe Full agenda: There will also be a 6 p.m. work session discussing MSHDA TIF overview Monroe County Parks and Rec Commission: 6 p.m. Monday, May 5, 106 East First St., Monroe Board of Commissioners: 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, 106 East First St., Monroe More: Accessing local journalism is even easier with the Monroe News app Raisinville Township Board: 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 6, 96 Ida-Maybee Road, Monroe — Contact reporter Connor Veenstra at CVeenstra@ This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe County meetings roundup: May 5-9
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Look deeper into Monroe Public Schools' funding, enrollment, future plans
— In an effort to reduce its general fund expenditures by approximately $2 million for the 2025-26 school year, recently cut 25 district staff positions and plans to implement other changes, including changes to custodial cleaning. Andrew Shaw, MPS superintendent, said the efforts will help the district balance its budget and prevent it from having to spend more of its fund balance. Here's what officials had to say: The fund balance is essentially a district's savings fund. The balance fluctuates depending on the district's financial situation. According to slides presented during an April 28 financial update to staff, MPS expects to end this school year with $7,731,360 in fund balance. Shaw provided a recording of the call to The Monroe News. MPS's total budget for this year is approximately $75 million. 'We are set to spend approximately $3 million out of fund balance this year. And, the last couple years, we've been spending out of fund balance,' Shaw told staff on the call. 'That $3 million, if we make no changes, would go to next year, and then next year, we'll still be in the same spot because we have pay increases and normal increases due to all expenses out there and inflation, and then we also budgeted for a student loss. So, that's another $2 million to $2.5 million loss. We'd be looking at $5 million more of expenditures verses revenue. It just continues to multiply itself." 'Our conservative estimate at the end of this year is $7.7 million, using $3 million fund balance. Continuing to use that much of our fund balance is not sustainable, so we have to look at how we can prevent that from continuing,' said Cassandra Shook, the district's executive director of business and finance. "Our ultimate goal is a balanced budget," Shaw said. Shaw said in pervious years, Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund money helped with COVID-related issues, such as student achievement. It's federal money given to schools to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 'ESSER helped us with summer school, interventions and (upgrades to improve) air quality,' Shaw said. 'We've used those funds up. We don't have that additional funding anymore,' Shook said. The State of Michigan provides school districts funds for every student each year. Shaw said the per pupil rate has been flat for two years. 'It sets the district behind. We get the same amount per pupil, but expenses go up because we have legacy costs with staff contracts and natural increases in the cost of items,' Shook said. For 2025, Michigan gave a per-pupil allowance of $9,608. That was a zero increase from the previous year, Shaw said. He said for next school year, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Republicans are discussing increasing the allotment by just over $400 per pupil. 'We're waiting on the Democrats for their number,' Shaw said. 'We fully expect that we'll see a nominal increase in our foundation this coming year. We need $600 a year (per pupil) just to break even. $400 is a big step in the right direction. With that, and changes we're making, we have the potential to get back to having a balanced budget." He said the district is also waiting to hear about federal funding. 'The fed, we get a nice amount through title funds. What will that look like? It's hard to say where that's going to land,' Shaw said. Shook and Shaw said declining enrollment is an issue for most schools in Michigan because of lower birth rates and families moving out of areas. Lower enrollment means less funding. 'This is the first year since 1942 with less than 100,000 live births in Michigan,' Shaw said. "It's a huge shift. These are numbers we're going to continue to watch.' Shaw said the district budgets each year for a 150-student loss. Last year, MPS saw only an 80-student loss. 'The sinking fund is a beautiful gift the community has given to MPS. The sinking funds get used for a lot of projects. If we didn't have the sinking fund, those costs would have come out of the general fund,' Shaw said. The current updates to Waterloo Elementary, for example, were funded by a bond and sinking funds. Previous Coverage: 'Waterloo's coming back' 'The technology milage (part of the general fund) ... is a gift from the county. We have two gifts in our community that have a huge impact on what we can do," Shaw said. Shaw said there is always a need to invest in the district, including buildings and staff. 'We have to always continue to move forward. All the work we've done since COVID, student achievement, behavior, social/emotional; we see all this great work that is happening. That work still must continue," he said. "We still have to invest in staff and programs. All the investment in professional development, if all of these great employees we have are not getting pay increases, they're going to another district. Then, it's all for not and it rolls us back. We have to continue to move forward." Support local news: Subscribe for all the latest local developments, breaking news and high school sports content. Shaw said the district is likely heading into some lean years. 'I wish that wasn't the case, but there are a lot of indictors. I would love to be wrong. I hope I am," he said. "We have to plan for what appears to be on the horizon.' — Contact reporter Suzanne Nolan Wisler at swisler@ This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Look deeper into Monroe Public Schools' funding, enrollment, future plans
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
DeSana introduces sanctuary city bill package
LANSING — State Representative James DeSana, R-Carleton, introduced state legislation with other Republican representatives that would ban sanctuary city policies in Michigan. "We want to send a very clear message that illegal immigration is a problem and that all of our municipalities and law-enforcement agencies should be cooperating with immigration to prevent crime, to prevent [illegal immigrants] from coming crimes against American citizens," he said. The plan aims to prohibit local governments in Michigan - cities, counties, townships, etc. - from adopting or enforcing sanctuary policies that shield individuals residing in the country illegally from federal immigration enforcement. It would also make cities who continue enforcing sanctuary policies ineligible for enhancement grants. More: DeSana moves to repeal "Red Flag" laws "Michigan dollars should be focused on helping our seniors, schools, working families, and people who are working hard to get back on their feet, not individuals who have entered illegally and skipped the process to stay here," DeSana said. The resolution laid out by the bill package defines a sanctuary municipality as any county or city that "actively maintains any rule, policy, ordinance, or resolution that would subvert immigration enforcement in any way or that refuses to comply with federal immigration enforcement measures." — Contact reporter Connor Veenstra at CVeenstra@ This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: State Rep. DeSana introduces bills outlawing sanctuary cities
