Belisle regularly begins her posts with the announcement, “Weather nerd here,” but Belisle is more than a mere hobbyist. She is a SKYWARN spotter, a volunteer trained by the National Weather Service, who supports meteorologists and other professionals by reporting weather phenomena as it happens.

Lowell alumnus Joel Fritsma helps lead Michigan Storm Chasers, the state’s premier online weather forecaster and coverage provider.

Biniam Van Wynen is a teenager from Lowell who races Limited Late Models at Berlin Raceway in Marne, and on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025, he was honored at the Berlin Raceway Banquet 2024 at The Pinnacle Center in Hudsonville.

On Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, the City of Lowell announced that it had chosen Lieutenant Dennis J. Albert, of the Kent County Sheriff’s office, as its new police chief, replacing Chief Christopher Hurst, who is set to retire on Monday, March 3, 2025.

Buchanan gave the ring to the LAS central office, and the central office reached out to the Lowell Ledger, in hopes that the ring could be reunited to its owner.

Nearly 65 years later, after a long career with the Litehouse Family YMCA in Lowell, Rozema is retiring as its executive director. Her last day is Friday, Jan. 31, 2025.

Thompson, who had been taught that his ancestors were the first pioneer family in Vergennes Township, asked the professor why he could not find any records of the Thompson name in the annals of Vergennes Township history.

Lowell’s city council met on Monday, Jan. 6 at 6 p.m. for a special meeting concerning lead lines in the city’s water system.

Having entertained Jaimie Desjardins of PLM Lake and Land Management Corp in December, the board met with Rich Perry of SOLitude Lake Management to discuss how his group would manage the Eurasian milfoil problem in the Flat River.

On Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority met at City Hall for the first time in six years. Mike Burns is Lowell’s city manager. “We’ll be meeting a lot more now,” Burns said in response to Brownfield chair Jim Reagan’s jokes about infrequent meetings.

It was not until Yankovich received an unexpected package in the mail that he became aware of what had been happening overseas.

Attending the Santa visit on Monday, Dec. 23, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., on the other hand, was a completely different experience. There was no loud Christmas music playing on the showboat and no lines.

Water rates for Lowell Township residents will now follow a tiered-billing system. The Lowell Charter Township unanimously approved new water and sewage ordinances during its December 16 meeting.

Unlike the Lowell Area Museum’s oral histories, the ambitious project included the digitizing of the letters, the reading of the letters by family members, recording them and visual displays. “It’s a combination of all of these things,” Whitlock said. “We teamed up with Dale Kropf to do this.”

As Police Chief, Albert will lead recruitment, training, supervision and professional development of the department’s 12 sworn officers.

“Generally, for the areas prone to lead service lines, it’s going to be the older part of town. Areas like Valley Vista probably don’t have a lot of lead.”

The Brownfield Redevelopment Authority met to discuss creating a policy to give developers incentives to build in Lowell

“I’m doing it a little bit for the love of the game. There’s not a windfall for these contracts. If there was, I wouldn’t get the grant money.” 

Lowell Light & Power has been able to stay ahead of the curve and guarantee that they can meet state minimums without negatively affecting the price passed down to the ratepayers.

There were 209 students from Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Wyoming, and New York that competed in 330 events.