Albion Recorder & Morning Star

Showing Up When It Matters: Albion Takes Care of Business on Feb. 2

Showing Up When It Matters: Albion Takes Care of Business on Feb. 2

Editorial Staff Feb 6, 2026 5 min read

More residents than usual attended Albion’s Feb. 2 study session and regular meeting at City Hall. As people arrived, they picked up printed agendas from the podium at the front of the room and settled in for an evening focused…

Mike’s Musings: Messing with your brain to fix tremors, my week in a fog

Mike’s Musings: Messing with your brain to fix tremors, my week in a fog

Editorial Staff Feb 4, 2026 3 min read

It’s been a week.Struggling with the cold and snow has been one thing, but last Tuesday I had an appointment for focus ultrasound on the brain and since then I have literally been in a fog.Now some readers might point…

Officers perform rescue on frozen lake in subzero  temperatures

Officers perform rescue on frozen lake in subzero  temperatures

Editorial Staff Jan 30, 2026 3 min read

By ELIZABETH FERSZT Contributing Writer Jackson County Sheriff’s officers and Michigan State Police troopers braved subzero temperatures and unstable ice to save a person in crisis early Saturday. JSO officers responded to an emergency call Jan. 25 at about 6:30…

Frederick Noakes charged in fire that injured two last week in Jackson

Editorial Staff Jan 30, 2026 2 min read

By ELIZABETH FERSZT and KATHRYN PALON Contributing Writers Frederick Lewis Noakes, 43, was arraigned Jan. 23 in the courtroom of Magistrate Christopher Dickerson on felony charges related to a Jan. 21 fire that injured two other men. According to a…

Council approves ordinance tightening oversight of adult-use marihuana grow facilities

Editorial Staff Jan 30, 2026 4 min read

Albion City Council approved updates to the city’s adult-use marihuana ordinance Jan. 20, following discussion and a first reading earlier in the month. The ordinance clarifies municipal licensing requirements and expands the city’s authority to inspect and enforce compliance at…

Homicide victim found on Jackson’s east side

Homicide victim found on Jackson’s east side

Editorial Staff Jan 30, 2026 3 min read

By ELIZABETH FERSZT Contributing Writer Michael Mishaw of Jackson is the victim of the second homicide of the year in the City of Jackson. He was found dead in a parking lot on the city’s east side. According to a…

Deer culling to take place this weekend in Jackson

Deer culling to take place this weekend in Jackson

Editorial Staff Jan 30, 2026 4 min read

By ELIZABETH FERSZT and KATHRYN PALON Contributing Writers A deer culling originally set to take place in Jackson, Jan. 16-18 has been rescheduled for this weekend. According to information posted on the City of Jackson’s website, the city, “in partnership…

Hearty Chili and Strong Roots: Albion Community Gardens Brings Neighbors Together

Hearty Chili and Strong Roots: Albion Community Gardens Brings Neighbors Together

Editorial Staff Jan 30, 2026 5 min read

On a frigid January evening, while winter weather disrupted travel across much of the country, the warmth inside St. James Episcopal Church told a different story. Nearly 100 people, including volunteers, gathered for the Albion Community Gardens annual Chili Dinner…

Cass Street Vote Advances Broader 2026 Construction Plan

Cass Street Vote Advances Broader 2026 Construction Plan

Editorial Staff Jan 30, 2026 4 min read

By Maggie LaNoue, Contributing Writer Albion City Council voted Jan. 20 to approve a Michigan Department of Transportation contract for improvements on West Cass Street, advancing a project that has been in planning for several years and helping define the…

Mike’s Musings: Greenland Matters to U.S. Security — But Its People Should Choose Its Future

Mike’s Musings: Greenland Matters to U.S. Security — But Its People Should Choose Its Future

Editorial Staff Jan 28, 2026 4 min read

My son and I have always toyed with the idea of living in Greenland. I being drawn to the heat, couldn’t survive 50 degrees below zero. My son on the other hand is drawn towards the cold and has fancied…

Woman charged in overdose death of two people found dead at Jackson motel

Editorial Staff Jan 23, 2026 2 min read

By ELIZABETH FERSZT Contributing Writer Angela Marie Chapman, 41, of Jackson was arraigned by 12th District Court Magistrate, Christopher Dickerson on Jan. 20 on charges that include two counts of delivery of a controlled substance causing death, and two counts…

Family seeks answers in deadly hit and run

Family seeks answers in deadly hit and run

Editorial Staff Jan 23, 2026 2 min read

By ELIZABETH FERSZT Contributing Writer Norman Joseph Heim, age 76, was struck and killed while walking by a vehicle traveling on Lansing Avenue near South Oak Creek Drive in Rives Township at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 15. According to…

City reviews inspection requirements for city-owned housing

City reviews inspection requirements for city-owned housing

Editorial Staff Jan 23, 2026 5 min read

By Maggie LaNoue, Contributing Writer During the Jan. 5 Albion City Council meeting, council members discussed how the city’s rental certification and inspection requirements apply to city-owned housing, raising questions about potential overlap with existing federal inspections and the impact…

Jackson man arrested after alleged arson injures two roommates

Jackson man arrested after alleged arson injures two roommates

Editorial Staff Jan 23, 2026 3 min read

By Kathryn Palon Contributing Writer JACKSON, Mich. — A Jackson man was arrested after police say he admitted to setting fire to a residence at 324 Clinton St., injuring his two roommates. The incident occurred at approximately 10:07 p.m. on…

From sewer lines to city leadership, Albion finds unexpected answers

From sewer lines to city leadership, Albion finds unexpected answers

Editorial Staff Jan 23, 2026 5 min read

By Maggie LaNoue, Contributing Writer Albion officials used a lightly attended Jan. 20 meeting to advance several significant initiatives, moving forward on infrastructure planning, economic development and a pivotal leadership decision, while also pausing to recognize community contributions during a…

Al the Albion Squirrel’s creator Aiden Wade celebrates five years

Al the Albion Squirrel’s creator Aiden Wade celebrates five years

Editorial Staff Jan 23, 2026 6 min read

By SYLVIA BENAVIDEZ Contributing Writer The comic strip Al the Albion Squirrel made its debut twice a month in The Recorder five years ago and a hundred strips later, is still being read in both The Recorder and the Morning…

Mike’s Musings: The roadblocks to a cancer cure are frustrating

Mike’s Musings: The roadblocks to a cancer cure are frustrating

Editorial Staff Jan 21, 2026 4 min read

Every few years, the same frustrated question resurfaces: With all the money, technology and brainpower in the world, why haven’t we cured cancer yet? It’s a fair question. We’ve put men on the moon, decoded the human genome and carry…

13-year-old suspect held in the shooting death of a 16-year-old

Editorial Staff Jan 19, 2026 2 min read

By ELIZABETH FERSZT Contributing Writer A late breaking press release from the City of Jackson Police Department confirms the first murder of the year has occurred: on Jan. 15, at approximately 1 a.m., in the 500 block of Harris Street,…

Winter Storms Highlight Albion’s Public Works Challenges and Changes

Winter Storms Highlight Albion’s Public Works Challenges and Changes

Editorial Staff Jan 19, 2026 4 min read

By Maggie LaNoue The snowstorm that hit Albion around New Year’s brought more than icy roads and cold temperatures — it also put the city’s winter operations and aging snowplow fleet under a public spotlight. At the Jan. 5 Albion…

Montez White arraigned in Anthony Owens murder case

Montez White arraigned in Anthony Owens murder case

Editorial Staff Jan 19, 2026 4 min read

By ELIZABETH FERSZT Contributing Writer After being apprehended in Ohio, Montez Martees White was arraigned Jan. 14 by District Court Magistrate Jake Dickerson on charges of open murder, three counts of assault with intent to murder, and felony firearm. According…