Albion Recorder & Morning Star

Mike’s Musings: I dare you to put down that cellphone and pay a visit

Mike’s Musings: I dare you to put down that cellphone and pay a visit

Editorial Staff Oct 8, 2025 3 min read

Interaction with other people is critical to our mental health. The texting, phone calling crowd must put down their cellphones occasionally and actually visit friends and families. Unfortunately, this is not happening enough and so many problems are caused because…

Roe Dedeaux back in court for Bond Modification 9/26

Editorial Staff Oct 3, 2025 2 min read

By Elizabeth Ferszt Contributing Writer Defendant Roe Dedeaux was in 12th District Court Sept. 26 via video link in front of Hon. Robert Gaecke to discuss bond modification. At his previous hearing, his attorney George Lyons motioned the court to…

Judge Thomas Wilson granted an extension from JTC review

Editorial Staff Oct 3, 2025 2 min read

By Elizabeth Ferszt Contributing Writer Judge Thomas Wilson received an extension to respond to a complaint issued against him by the Judicial Tenure Commission of the State of Michigan. He originally had until Sept. 25 to file an answer. The…

Jackson music community pays tribute to an icon

Jackson music community pays tribute to an icon

Editorial Staff Oct 3, 2025 8 min read

Last week the Jackson musical community came together twice for one of their own. First to honor Craig Playford with a musical tribute on Sunday, Sept. 21 at the Michigan Theatre of Jackson. Then, to remember him at his funeral…

Local groups raise suicide awareness, Calhoun County numbers still high

Local groups raise suicide awareness, Calhoun County numbers still high

Editorial Staff Oct 3, 2025 6 min read

 By Sylvia Benavidez                                         Calhoun County suicide rates continue to be higher than both the Michigan and U.S. averages according to the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Calhoun County. Local groups raised suicide awareness through education and personal contact in downtown Marshall…

Marshall’s SkeletonFest adds more spooky fun

Marshall’s SkeletonFest adds more spooky fun

Editorial Staff Oct 3, 2025 2 min read

SkeletonFest organizers added two new activities to keep the fun going all month long. Saturday younger kids were seen scurrying in and out of stores playing the Bone Voyage Scavenger Hunt. Kimber Thompson, director of tourism at Choose Marshall said…

Mike’s Musings: Elected leaders- Do the right thing, eliminate earmarks

Mike’s Musings: Elected leaders- Do the right thing, eliminate earmarks

Editorial Staff Oct 1, 2025 4 min read

One of my often rants is the use of earmarks or pork barrel, as we used to call them, projects sneaked into the federal or state budget at the last minute, to benefit a particular constituency. It happens every year…

HISTORICAL NOTEBOOK

HISTORICAL NOTEBOOK

Editorial Staff Sep 26, 2025 3 min read

By Frank Passic HARNESS RACETRACK ONCE LOCATED HERE Have you ever wondered why there is a “jog” in the road on North Street headed east at the intersection of North and Clinton Streets? The reason is that there once was…

Albion Council Approves River Restoration Plan

Albion Council Approves River Restoration Plan

Editorial Staff Sep 26, 2025 4 min read

By Maggie LaNoue Albion City Council voted unanimously on Sept. 15, to move forward with a river restoration plan that, if fully funded, would reshape Victory Park and the riverfront. The project will remove the Hannah Street Dam, fill in…

Albion Council advances road and sewer projects from Capital Improvement Plan

Albion Council advances road and sewer projects from Capital Improvement Plan

Editorial Staff Sep 26, 2025 4 min read

By Maggie LaNoue Less than two weeks after adopting a $70 million Capital Improvement Plan, the Albion City Council voted on Sept. 15, to actively fund several urgent infrastructure projects. Council approved $600,000 for the replacement of the sanitary sewer…

Antonio Greene requests change of venue for murder trial

Antonio Greene requests change of venue for murder trial

Editorial Staff Sep 26, 2025 3 min read

By Elizabeth Ferszt Contributing Writer Defendant Antonio Treyvonne Greene was in 12th District Court Friday, Sept. 19 via video link in front of Hon. Robert Gaecke, for a Probable Cause Conference. Greene, age 22, faces charges of 2nd degree murder…

Ribbon cutting at Gardner House marks triple celebration during Festival of the Forks

Ribbon cutting at Gardner House marks triple celebration during Festival of the Forks

Editorial Staff Sep 26, 2025 8 min read

By Maggie LaNoue Albion’s Festival of the Forks drew thousands of people downtown on Saturday, Sept. 20, filling Superior Street from Ash to Michigan Avenue with food vendors, live music, and the energy of a community gathering. The festival, first…

Mike’s Musings: Erika Kirk’s Greatest Act of Courage-Forgiving the Unforgivable

Mike’s Musings: Erika Kirk’s Greatest Act of Courage-Forgiving the Unforgivable

Editorial Staff Sep 24, 2025 4 min read

When tragedy strikes, our instincts often turn toward anger, resentment, and the pursuit of vengeance. That is human nature. Yet, every so often, someone rises above those instincts and shows us a higher way — a path of grace that…

Judge Thomas Wilson under judicial review

Editorial Staff Sep 19, 2025 8 min read

By ELIZABETH FERSZT Contributing Writer 4th Circuit Court Judge, Thomas Wilson, is now formally under judicial tenure review by the Judicial Tenure Commission of the State of Michigan. On Sept. 11, the JTC filed a formal complaint against Wilson, including…

Two dead after Wednesday morning fire

Two dead after Wednesday morning fire

Editorial Staff Sep 19, 2025 1 min read

By KATHRYN PALON Contributing Writer Two people perished in a Tompkins Township house fire Wednesday morning. According to the Michigan State Police, troopers from the Jackson post were dispatched at around 10:20 a.m. to a residential fire in the 6800…

Downtown Rental Rehab Grants raise questions and opportunities

Downtown Rental Rehab Grants raise questions and opportunities

Editorial Staff Sep 19, 2025 3 min read

by Maggie LaNoue At its Sept. 2 meeting, the Albion City Council approved applications for Community Development Block Grant funding to rehabilitate three downtown buildings. The requests total more than $618,000. The properties include 217 S. Superior Street, home of…

Volunteers make Binder Park Zoo’s Corks & Kegs a success

Volunteers make Binder Park Zoo’s Corks & Kegs a success

Editorial Staff Sep 19, 2025 3 min read

By SYLVIA BENAVIDEZ Contributing Writer Binder Parks biggest fundraiser Corks and Kegs at the Zoo, held Sept. 6, brought out 60 volunteers from all over Calhoun County and even some from Jackson County to raise money for the care of…

AUSTIN BLAIR: Michigan’s radical Civil War governor

AUSTIN BLAIR: Michigan’s radical Civil War governor

Editorial Staff Sep 19, 2025 6 min read

By Ken Wyatt Generations have come and gone since Austin Blair served as Michigan’s great Civil War governor from 1861-65. He once was a towering figure in Michigan history. But even great historic figures wane in the knowledge of successive…

Mike’s Musings: A Father’s Painful Choice Shows True Honor

Mike’s Musings: A Father’s Painful Choice Shows True Honor

Editorial Staff Sep 17, 2025 4 min read

Many of us are grieving the assassination of TPUSA founder, 31-year-old Charlie Kirk. Its unimaginable to me that in this day and age, a person debating students at an outdoor rally in Utah would be murdered.The assassin has been named…

Dam removal talk highlights long road to river renewal

Dam removal talk highlights long road to river renewal

Editorial Staff Sep 12, 2025 2 min read

By MAGGIE LANOUE Contributing Writer Blueprints showing the future of the Kalamazoo River in Albion, both the north branch and the south branch, took center stage at the Sept. 2 City Council meeting as a consultant outlined 43 pages of…

By Mike Wilcox
Owner/Publisher

Every year, as the Christmas season draws near, I’m reminded just how generous our communities can be. For nearly two decades, Wilcox Newspapers has hosted what’s become one of my favorite traditions: our Annual Christmas Wish Program.

It started simply enough. We asked readers who were struggling to write in and tell us what would make their Christmas a little brighter. The idea was to connect local families in need with local people who wanted to help. Over the years, it’s grown into something truly special—and this year, we’re doing it again.