SW Michigan

Faced with budget deficits, the Springfield City Council is considering a hefty millage increase or contracting with another department for public safety services. The council will listen to residents Wednesday about the future of its public safety department. A special meeting of the council begins at 6:30 p.m.

BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP, MI - State Superintendent Mike Flanagan has released money to the Buena Vista School District to allow the school to reopen and complete the school year. The Saginaw County school district of 430 students has been closed for two weeks after the district could not make its May 24 payroll and laid off all but three employees.

lKALAMAZOO, MI - Kalamazoo City Commissioner Don Cooney and Kalamazoo Public Services Director Bruce Merchant on Monday discussed the latest developments in city's fight with the EPA over the Allied Paper landfill site. The Allied site sits in the city's Edison neighborhood and has been in the news since March, when the U.S.

PORTAGE, MI - With no discussion, the Portage City Council has voted for a financial agreement with Kalamazoo County over the closing of the Shaver Road district court. The agreement calls for Kalamazoo County paying Portage $70,000 a year for 10 years to cover Portage's costs by the court closing.

Mark Schauer, 51, is in the final stages of preparing for a race for governor. He won't say definitively yet that he's in, but in an interview with the Free Press Tuesday, he said: 'I'm strongly leaning toward putting a campaign together and getting going. The desire is there.'