News

Have you ever heard the expression, “Too many cooks in the kitchen spoil the broth?” It means, when a bunch of people with differing opinions come together to work on a project, that project tends to fail. But in the case of the band Slim Gypsy Baggage, those different styles make for a pretty flavorful soup.

Interstate 94 in Kalamazoo County is just a step away from being renamed in honor of a public safety officer killed in the line of duty. State lawmakers have approved a bill to call the 25-mile stretch of freeway the "Officer Eric Zapata Memorial Highway".

Zapata was a Kalamazoo Public Safety officer who was killed while investigating reports of shots fired in the Edison neighborhood in April 2011.

A new auto insurance reform plan could mean lower rates for Michigan drivers. The Gongwer News Service says Governor Rick Snyder and other officials gave details of the plan during a news conference Thursday.

Snyder says it would cut $125 from premiums for each vehicle in the first year. Rates after that would be set by the market.

Western Michigan University is moving closer to an agreement with Thomas M. Cooley Law School. During their regular board meeting on Thursday, trustees authorized Western President John Dunn to move forward to try and reach an agreement for an affiliation plan with the law school. The resolution approved by the board says that Cooley will remain an independent, non-profit school. But will be called the Western Michigan University Thomas M. Cooley Law School. 

Four women will receive “Women of Achievement” awards from the Kalamazoo YWCA next month. The winners announced Thursday include Margaret Merrion,  the dean of Western Michigan University’s College of Fine Arts. The others are Jeanne Baraka-Love, the director of Ujima Enterprises which works with African-American youth in Kalamazoo; Willie Mae Pierson, the first black female real estate agent in Kalamazoo; and veterinarian Heidi Stucki.