BRADY COOK

MICHIGAN CENTER, MI - Michigan Center School District students and staff will have a four-day weekend the district hopes will slow the spread of COVID-19 that has resulted in excessive absences. Superintendent Brady Cook announced the district was closed Friday, Jan. 14, due to a high number of students and staff who either tested positive for COVID-19, had symptoms of being sick or were quarantining. As of Friday morning, MCSD’s COVID-19 dashboard had 28 students and staff who tested positive COVID-19 and 91 individuals identified as close contacts. With no school on Monday, Jan. 17, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Cook said the district plans to be back with in-person classes on Tuesday, Jan. 18. “Our hope is that the four days off will be beneficial in slowing the spread and allowing those that are off time to heal,” Cook said.

Cole Talley kicked a 41-yard field goal as time ran out and Army rallied to beat Missouri 24-22 in the Armed Forces Bowl.

Stetson Bennett passed for 255 yards and two touchdowns before giving way to former starter JT Daniels, leading No. 1 Georgia to a 43-6 win over Missouri.

$40K and counting raised to help Michigan Center families affected by Faster Horses tragedyNearly 500 donors have contributed to a fund to help Michigan Center families affected by tragedy at the 2021 Faster Horses Festival. Death of woman at Faster Horses Festival still under investigation, police sayThe death of a 30-year-old Croswell woman at the Faster Horses Festival at Michigan International Speedway remains under investigation, police said. Jackson business owner to transform vacant lot into paintball parkLocal business owner Greg Schultz is extensively renovating a vacant lot and bringing Jackson County new entertainment-- a paintball park. Woman killed in Jackson County crash, police sayA Jackson County woman was killed Saturday in a two-vehicle crash in Hanover Township, police said. He believed in hard work, finishing things he started and making the Jackson County community a better place, his son James “Steve” Shotwell Jr. said.

MICHIGAN CENTER, MI - Michigan Center Schools and its athletic community have had a “bad run of tragedy” in the past five years, but it’s undeniable this time feels different, Superintendent Brady Cook said. At a candlelight vigil Monday, July 19, in the school’s football stadium, they brought everyone in a grieving community together one more time. All three died Saturday, July 17, of carbon monoxide poisoning, in a camper at a Lenawee County campground, where they were staying for the Faster Horses country music festival at Michigan International Speedway. “The outpouring of love you’re seeing here is a reflection of their legacy,” said Cook, who also was the trio’s principal and middle school athletic director. In 2018, when Michigan Center student-athlete Roger Hayward was involved in a life-threatening car crash, as many as 200 people gathered in the hospital waiting room.

JACKSON, MI-- The Jackson County Health Department is partnering with East Jackson High School to host a Pfizer vaccine clinic Friday. “Our goal at the district is to provide access to the vaccine,” East Jackson Community Schools Superintendent Steve Doerr said. “We’re not trying to push it, we’re just trying to get easy access.”By providing space for the clinic, East Jackson offered the vaccine to students and family members of staff. East Jackson and Michigan Center parents must sign a consent form for their children age 12 to 17 to receive the vaccine. Appointments for this vaccine clinic can be found here.