The city of Richmond will issue more than $36 million in bonds to support an ongoing Blue Buffalo expansion project after a Dec. 16 Richmond Common Council vote. Blue Buffalo, which opened in 2018 at a Midwest Industrial Park site along West Industries Road, began a 169,000-square-foot expansion in 2023 that requires purchasing additional equipment […]
Author Archives: Mike Emery
Mike Emery is a reporter and layout editor for the Western Wayne News.
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Health officer: Vaping harms children
One in 10 U.S. high school students uses e-cigarettes. Dr. Jennifer Bales, the health officer for Wayne County, highlighted the dangers that e-cigarettes and vaping pose during the Dec. 17 meeting of the county’s health board. She said dangers of smoking, such as risk of stroke, heart disease, lung disease and cancer, are well-known, but […]
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Grateful judge
Judges bear the weight of their rulings on their own, but the judicial system requires contributions from many. When Judge Charles Todd Jr. sat behind the desk in his Superior Court 1 chambers and spoke about nearly 16 years on the bench, he expressed gratitude toward all those people — his colleagues and staff, the […]
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Building Together transforms houses, people
The Building Together program has transformed a burned-out Crosshall Street house into a beautiful home while it tries to guide transformations within the men working on the renovation. Jeff Holthouse, the primary instructor, and Tim Pierson of Bridges for Life provided a Building Together update Dec. 18 to Wayne County’s commissioners. The commissioners provided $200,000 […]
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Studio, 1st-floor units OK’d for apartments
An apartment project at the former Elder-Beerman site can now officially include first-floor and studio units. Richmond’s Board of Zoning Appeals approved in a Dec. 18 meeting televised by Whitewater Community Television a variance from the 700-square-foot minimum unit size and an exception for the first-floor apartments in the central business district zone. Developer Flaherty […]
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Firefighters’ deal includes 4.5% pay bumps in ’25, ’26
Richmond’s union firefighters will receive a 9% pay raise across the next two years, triple the raises they’ve received during the 2023-24 contract. A new two-year contract between the city and Richmond Professional Firefighters International Association of Firefighters AFL-CIO Local 1408 was approved 3-0 by Richmond Board of Public Works and Safety members Dec. 19. […]
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$1 million payment protects ARPA money
With time ticking toward the end of 2024, Wayne County government worked to ensure that it would not return any of its American Rescue Plan Act dollars to the federal government. The county had until Dec. 31 to spend or commit — through contract, memorandum of understanding or interlocal agreement — the entire $12,797,195 it […]
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Reid Health EMS: Service with a cost
Reid Health EMS lost nearly $1 million providing emergency medical service during 2023 in Wayne County. Jacob Cox, the director of Reid’s EMS program, and Matthew Cain, director of Wayne County Emergency Management Agency, provided an update about EMS services during the Dec. 11 meeting of Wayne County’s commissioners. Cox said Reid billed patients and […]
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Paw-sitive partnership helps animals
Wayne County’s ability to help neglected and stray animals is far better today than it was a year ago. That results from the partnership between the county and the HELP the Animals shelter on West Main Street in Richmond. The two entities are completing the first year of a contract that HELP would accept animals […]
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U.S. 27 subdivision passes initial step
A planned eight- or nine-lot subdivision along Webster Road and U.S. 27 took an initial step toward development Dec. 12 by receiving a variance of use from Wayne County’s Board of Zoning Appeals. Webster Heights would use about 20 acres from two parcels that are bordered on the north by the Cummings Brothers subdivision. The […]