Kate Sheridan

From frolicking on Lake Michigan's white-sand beaches, to sipping a mug of local brew to browsing through the dozens of historical sites and family-centered amusements, there's plenty of activity for folks of all ages and inclinations in Berrien County this Memoral Day.

A state-centralized system designed to impose equality in funding Michigan's public school districts has gone awry and needs to be changed, parents say.

The four Republican candidates for the 78th District House of Representatives seat aired their opinions on issues at a recent get-together sponsored by the South County Republican Club.

Decorating your apartment patio for summer need not be a chore or dreaded task, and in fact, can be wonderfully satisfying and rewarding. Just follow a few decorating, common-sense tips and tactics.

A camping trip that combines tent-camping overnights with a canoe as vehicle-of-choice by day is a sure way to pack extra fun, exercise, adventure, relaxation and scenic beauty into any camping vacation. Here's how to plan and execute a canoe camp trip.

Amid breathtaking scenery and little automobile traffic, Michiana boasts no fewer than 12 designated, paved and well-marked "Backroads Bikeways." Take a self-guided ride on paths as brief as five miles, or as extensive as 60 miles.

Affordable, family-style beach vacations are easy to enjoy in Berrien County, where miles and miles of white-sand beach draw visitors to Lake Michigan's cool, clear waters.

There is a dizzying assortment of rental units available, from beachfront cottages to downtown walk-up flats to the more typical suburban apartment complexes. But seasonal changes in availability and, more importantly, in cost, are common,

When the great glaciers departed, carving out the deep Great Lakes basins, they left behind some of the best soil for superb grape-growing in southern Berrien County, where year-round winery-related activities are now key to the regional economy.

By mixing-and-matching herbs - from the garden, on the sill or in the cupboard - you can make-ahead a number of common kitchen-spice collaborations to use yourself, give as gifts or even sell on consignment at the local roadside farm market.

Michigan's Department of Natural Resources now offers teepee camping in three state parks. The adventurous thrill, especially for children, of teepee camping may be enhanced for parents by the low cost: teepee sites may be rented for just $30 a night.

Overhead shelves are one logical answer to the do-it-yourself dilemma of finding more space in your home or condo. Shelves hung over doorways, above cupboards or over windows not only add storage space, but also add a new decor update opportunity.

With a year-round calendar of costume parties and historical celebrations, residents in southwestern Michigan make shopping for vintage clothing - at its coolest, most imaginative and most colorful - a favorite past-time, so retailers cater to this.

These 7 beaches are so secluded that visitors overlook them in their hurry to get a blanket down anywhere there's obvious sun and sand. Their amenities range from nothing but a strip of sand beneath forested dunes, to a full-service beach-house and cafe.

Southwestern Michigan eyes Memorial Day as the year's economic harbinger. With so much riding on tourist trade, tiny towns and quaint villages work hard to offer an array of activities, events and festivals to lure visitors beyond the beaches.

Most modern-day pioneers who've relocated to rural America admit they weren't prepared for the dramatic lifestyle changes that characterize "the good life." Heading to the heartlands? Here's a quick checklist to make that transformation easier.

From early May's 100-year-old Blossomtime Festival - Michigan's oldest - to the end-of-summer Youth Fair, Michigan's "sunset coast" lives up to its reputation as the friendliest family-festival destination in the Midwest. Most events are free.

Few places on earth offer more perfect settings for your wedding than the misty mountains, secluded coves and picturesque river valleys of the Great Smoky Mountains, a region outpaced only by Las Vegas as the country's most popular wedding destination.

There are a lot of used cars in the Motor City, and these two charities want to turn them into much-needed cash to help fund operations. Donors get a tax break!

Both tax-deductible car donation programs active in Berrien County - Kars4Kids and Great Lakes Adventist Academy Auto donation Program - use the donated funds to help children in need.

Start your futures together with a picture-perfect wedding in one of these beautiful and unusual settings that recall the Motor City's great and historic past, especially the region's deep and enduring links to rivers, inland lakes and the Great Lakes.

St. Valentine's Day in Chicago rocks in any year ... but a twist of fate and a hail of bullets in Chicago, February 14, 1929, blew this town onto front pages worldwide and marked the beginning of the end of Capone's Gangster Rule.

Whether your great-great-granny stitched it together 100 years ago, or you found it at a neighborhood moving sale, a damaged antique quilt always deserves a second chance to warm someone's life. Here's how to repair it yourself.

The bustling community of Benton Harbor has a full contingent of tax preparers, from mom-and-pop shops to large tax-house franchises. Three of the city's best are Tri-County Bookkeepers; Jackson Hewitt Tax Service; and H & R Block Tax Service.

One of the most common problems with older homes is the development of cracks and holes in plaster walls. To keep your plaster-walled home in good repair, stay on top of the little cracks and holes by spot-filling them as soon as they develop. Here's how.

From year-round investment advice and tax-friendly estate planning strategies, to earned income credits and late-filing advice, these three tax specialist firms alleviate the taxing issues that give April 15 a bad name.

This Inn's clients come for the ambiance and return for the type of beauty-refreshing and spirit-restoring body-and-soul salon treatments that catapulted legendary Queen Cleopatra to fame and fortune.

Six easy ... fast ... beautiful ... fun ... and practically free Christmas decorating and gifting tips. Try these money-saving ideas that are sure to brighten even the most curmudgeonly among us.

Each with its own special "floral philosophy," three local firms - Buchanan Floral Company & Greenhouses, The Flower Cart, and Beikmann Associates Floral Designs - offer the widest range of choices for the choosy retail flower shopper.

This holiday season, Southwestern Michigan is the place to be for folks who want to choose a "real" Christmas tree, fresh-cut from the scenic, rolling countryside at one of the region's sprawling, family-centered tree farms.

With 16 rooms of treasures galore, Country Mates is a one-of-a-kind gift and Christmas shop that sprawls along New Buffalo, Michigan's main drag, a can't-miss destination for thousands of tourists who flock to this tiny upscale community each season.

Before you hang out that PR shingle, take care of a few pre-business-formation details. Ponder, plan and prepare to ensure your fledgling firm enjoys every opportunity it needs to take root, grow strong and flourish into all you could hope it would be!

Before you go to venture capitalists for cash with your can't-miss proposition, look at your business plan through painfully critical eyes.

After 500 years, this "Garden of Miracles" is thriving once again. Villa d'Este's allure is undiminished, due in part to its ageless grace and beauty, and in part to its captivating symbolism. Nothing in design or element is without meaning in Villa d'Es

The single most common reason why major household cleaning efforts fail is lack of preparation to do the job at hand. Unplanned activity leads to frustration, lost time and wasted effort. So before you dive in to that unspeakable attic mess or tackle that

In addition to twice-a-year inspections for splinting, rusting and missing or protruding nails, give your deck this thorough, top-to-bottom spring cleaning. It will ensure that your deck looks great, resists mildew and keeps you more than a slip-and-a-sli

It's harder and harder to hide upscale borderline illiteracy in the era of on-demand personal communications. If you're part of the growing underground of professionals who fear their secret inability to write effectively will come to light, simply vow --

Are you one of today's harried urban gardeners, with less time to putter but more need to relax? Now, even the busiest week-end gardener can stop to smell the roses -- and the sweet-peas -- and the beebalm -- and the cottage pinks -- and the peonies. Whe

Do phrases like "six hat thinking" or "strategic planning model" or worse, "Hoshin Kanri," cause your throat to constrict and set your fight-or-flight instincts into high gear? Relax! You can demystify and defang the dreaded business planning process --

From cinnamon to carrot peels, cranberries to Kool-Aid, blueberries, onion skins and many flora and fauna in-between, you can brighten up those rainy Spring days by helping your kids cook up a batch of indigo, copper, yellow, pink, purple, and more -- for

Fueled by the adage that one's man's trash is another man's treasure, the once-lowly garage sale has come of age.Like "must-see TV" and must-read political blogs, garage sales -- and their brethren flea markets, moving sales, estate sales and yard sales -

Where once only mud and muck prevailed, now flowers and foliage can take over. Blooming bogs can flourish in any soggy spot ... border a pond or water garden ... or trim a stream or drainage ditch. It's easy, fun and rewarding!