Elisabeth Waldon

The owner of Edmore’s first meadery is also hoping to open the village’s first cannabis microbusiness. Nate Holmgard is a disabled veteran of the U.S. Army and describes himself as “a lifelong horticulturist.” After being injured while serving in Iraq, he was prescribed morphine by a doctor. After two years on that drug, he quit cold turkey and transitioned to cannabis for managing his pain. He then used his GI bill from the Army to study horticulture and plant science in college and he spent time working in Colorado’s cannabis industry before marijuana was legalized in Michigan. 

The property previously home to a historic local museum is now being readied for its next chapter as an assisted living facility. The Old Fence Rider Museum at 222 Sheldon St. in Edmore closed this past March and was donated to the village, along with all the museum’s contents.

Montcalm County is losing its community nutrition instructor due to the elimination of federal funding. Michigan State University Extension District 8 Director Bill Hendrian appeared before the Montcalm County Board of Commissioners on Monday to request that they approve the annual operating agreement between the county and MSU.

The Belvidere Township Board appointed a new clerk on Thursday, but the reasons why were kept secret from the public as the board violated the Open Meetings Act by deliberating in closed session, despite a warning from the Daily News. Supervisor Leigh Murray was absent from the special meeting, so new Trustee Wayne Watts (who was just appointed in August) chaired the meeting. Also present were Treasurer Yolanda Lane and her son, Trustee Brent Dietrich.

Plans for four new Taco Bells in Montcalm County are continuing to come to fruition. As covered by the Daily News this past March, Robert Grabowski and Greg Lautzenheiser of Great Lakes Taco LLC announced plans to build Taco Bell restaurants in Carson City, Howard City, Lakeview and Stanton.

Motorists traveling through Stanton have likely noticed work on multiple streets throughout the city this summer. While streets are the most visible part of the project, the work is actually centered on nearly $5.5 million worth of water infrastructure improvements.

The Reynolds Township Board last Thursday voted to approve more than $1.1 million worth of non-competitive bids for a new township hall, which is already erected and roughed out inside. The vote to approve the costs was basically just a formality as work is already well underway on the building at 1200 S. Ensley St. (also known as Federal/old 131) on Howard City’s south side between Heckman & Son Lawn Care and the Marathon gas station.

An elderly Edmore man driving an off-road vehicle across M-66 after checking his mailbox was killed when he failed to yield to traffic on Monday afternoon. The Montcalm County Sheriff’s Office and multiple emergency responders were dispatched around 1:16 p.m. to M-66 near Church Road, six miles north of the sheriff’s office.

In the wake of a British newspaper’s investigative article into a Coral man’s YouTube channel, the Maple Valley Township Board issued a statement saying they “strongly condemn any statements or behaviors intended to marginalize or discriminate against any group of people.”

Legal arguments continued on Thursday over a defense attorney’s motion to compel the prosecution to turn over unredacted 911 dispatch logs related to an alleged family assault case. Robert Lee Graves, 57, and Lorena Sue Graves, 54, were charged after a Feb. 2 incident in Belvidere Township. Michigan State Police Lakeview Post Det. Cody Ransom and Trooper Kyle Boost investigated.