Premiums are expected to rise an average of 27 percent for the hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents who buy their own health insurance.

Consumers eligible for income-based tax credits will be protected from the premium increases.

The state Department of Insurance and Financial Services published the rates on Wednesday.

Enrollment for 2018 begins in a week.

The state says the premiums are higher than expected because President Donald Trump recently ended cost-sharing payments to insurers for providing lower-income customers discounts on out-of-pocket costs. 

A 31-year old Big Rapids man could face up to life in prison after being charged with sex crimes.

Charles Dulzo was arraigned on one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of child sexually abusive activity and one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Big Rapids Police say the alleged incidents took place July 13th and 27^th.

Investigators say they were contacted by Dulzo’s wife after she discovered inappropriate images of a child who she had watched for a friend on her husband's phone.

Dulzo's bond was set at $750,000. 

A recall involving packaged produce sold at Meijer stores. The Grand Rapids-based retailer says the recall of more than 30 vegetables is due to listeria concerns.

Mann Packing,which provides produce to Meijer, notified the company of the possible contamination involving items in plastic containers or foam trays with printed labels with various sizes and weights.

The produce was sold between September 27th and October 20th at stores.

No illnesses have been reported.

People who bought the produce should throw it out or return it to a Meijer store for a refund.

Here is the recall list: 

A Traverse City woman suffered life threatening injuries following a two car deer vehicle accident on US-131 in Mecosta County.

Deputies say a 34 year old woman from Traverse City was traveling on southbound on the highway when she tried to swerve to miss a deer in the road that had been previously hit and lost control of her vehicle after hitting the deer. The vehicle then was struck by a vehicle driven by a 50 year old Grandville man.

Both vehicles left the roadway and overturned.

The 50 year old man, and two passengers were taken to Spectrum Health Big Rapids Hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

The 34 year old driver of the other vehicle was taken to Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids for possible life threatening injuries. 

It was a scary situation for Chippewa Hills students Friday morning heading to school when a bus they were on was involved in an accident with another vehicle.

Deputies in Mecosta County say it happened at the intersection of 30th Avenue (M-66) and Arthur Road.

The driver of the vehicle, a 32-year-old Remus woman, was heading southbound on 30th Avenue when the school bus turned left in front of her. She tried to stop, but hit the back corner of the bus.

The driver of the car had the right of way and was not at fault.

The students and bus driver were not injured in the crash.

The driver of the car also did not have any injuries, but the minor child she had with her in the vehicle was transported to a hospital in Mount Pleasant for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

Alcohol and speed were not factors in the crash.

As we continue into the deer hunting season, law enforcement would like to remind motorists about being more cautious and to look out for deer while traveling in the area.

942 motorists in Mecosta County were involved in deer/vehicle crashes in 2016.

Big Rapids and Green Township tied with the most deer/vehicle accidents last year with 118 a piece. Then Colfax Township and Mecosta Township at 82 and 75 accidents last year respectively.

Statewide, more than 45,000 Michigan motorists collided with deer in 2016.  Deer-vehicle crashes injured more than 1,200 people and killed 14 in 2016.

Here is a breakdown of deer/vehicle crashes in Mecosta County:

Big Rapids Twp	118
Green Twp	118
Colfax Twp	82
Mecosta Twp	75
Hinton Twp	55
Morton Twp	55
Wheatland Twp	55
Millbrook Twp	53
Austin Twp	48
Sheridan Twp	48
Chippewa Twp	43
Martiny Twp	42
Aetna Twp	39
Fork Twp	37
Deerfield Twp	32
Grant Twp	23
Big Rapids	15
Barryton	2
Mecosta	1
Morley	1

Deputies in Newaygo County needs the public's help finding a man who is accused of stalking.

Police are looking for 35-year old Joseph Harrell.

He’s described around 5’8”, 195 pounds and has red hair and a beard.

Deputies think he may be around the Allendale area near Grand Valley State University.

Harrell has search warrants out for his arrest that include felony stalking.

If you have any information, call the Newaygo County Central Dispatch at 231-689-5288. 

The Michigan State Police are looking for two women they say are accused of credit card fraud in the Big Rapids area.

Troopers say the suspects are accused of breaking into a vehicle and stealing a credit card from the victims purse which was then used to rack up more than $500 in charges.

Troopers were able to obtain video surveillance from the local businesses and have two suspects captured on film.

Anyone with tips can contact the Michigan State Police Mount Pleasant Post at (989) 773-5951. 

Police in Osceola County are asking for the public's help in identifying a man they say tried to break into a party store in Highland Township.

Deputies say around 2:30am Wednesday morning, a suspect attempted to break into the M-115 Party Store.

The store’s security camera captured video of the suspect in the incident. 

Anyone with information about the incident or who can identify this person of interest should contact the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office at (231) 832-2288. 

The Big Rapids Salvation Army will be hosting an event Saturday that allows area residents to get rid of their unusable, unwanted electronics. 

Area residents are invited to bring their outdated and/or broken electronics to 218 N. Michigan Ave., in front of Big Rapids City Hall and the Salvation Army Family Store, for recycling.

Most items are free to recycle, but a few have a fee, which will be due at the time of disposal.

Items free to recycle include:

• Computers: desktops, laptops, servers, towers, main frames, blades, telecom racks;

• All circuit boards;

• Cell phones, smart phones, PDAs (iPhone, iPod, Blackberry, Palm Pilot);

• Networking equipment: routers, hubs, switches, modems;

• Hard drive/internal and external disk drives;

• RAM, memory, IC chips, processors;

• Power supply, UPS;

• Power cords, cables, wires;

• Heat sinks, AC adapters, VGA connectors, plastic computer fans;

• Printers, scanners, faxes, copiers;

• Tablets (iPad, Kindle, Fire);

• Keyboards, mice, docking stations;

• Audio/visual equipment: DVD, VCR and/or CD players, stereos, receivers, radio, speakers;

• Consumer electronics: kitchen appliances, vacuum cleaners, power tools, clocks

• Gaming systems, GPS units, memory sticks;

• Telephones, answering machines; and

• Rechargeable batteries (terminals must be taped).

For a small fee, the following also can be recycled:

• All TVs /screens, for $0.35 per pound;

• All regular batteries, for $0.60 per pound;

• Lithium batteries, for $3.60 per pound; and

• Over sized TVs, for $0.45 per pound

Ferris State University students can breathe a sigh of relief as the university board of trustees approved not to increase housing and dining rates for the 2018/2019 school year.

Jerry Scoby, vice president for Administration and Finance, spoke about the decision not to increase room and board rates saying it's being done to help students and their families afford a great Ferris State University education while keeping their student loan debt as low as possible.

The board further approved a final general fund operating budget, $211.5 million dollars for the 2018 fiscal year. 

Deputies in Mecosta County believe alcohol is a factor in a rollover accident that sent a White Cloud man to the hospital Thursday morning.

It happened on 15 mile rd. West of 230th ave in Big Rapids Twp. Deputies say that's where the driver rolled his vehicle.

The White Cloud man was taken to Spectrum Health Big Rapids and was later transported to Spectrum health Grand Rapids for non life threatening injuries. 

Sad news out of Isabella County, as a four year old girl is dead following a three car accident Wednesday.

It happened on M20 and Winn Road.

Sheriff Michael Main says when first responders arrived, they discovered that a 4-year girl had been ejected from a vehicle and died at the scene from apparent head injury.

The mother and another driver were taken to the hospital for their injuries.

It appears that one of the vehicles failed to yield at a Red light and struck the other vehicle.

During the collision, one of the vehicles struck a pickup truck that was driven by an man who was on M20, he was not injured in the crash.

The accident remains under investigation. 

Wolverine Worldwide has sold its Big Rapids factory and its department of defense contracts to Tennessee-based footwear manufacturer original footwear.

According to a press release by Wolverine Worldwide, Company President Blake Krueger said because Original footwear qualifies as a small business under Small Business Administration regulations, the Big Rapids factory is expected to be able to compete for a significant number of contracts not available to “large” corporations like Wolverine Worldwide.

"The sale to Original Footwear will provide the opportunity for the Big Rapids factory to compete for Department of Defense contracts set aside for small businesses," said, Blake Krueger, Wolverine's chairman, chief executive officer and president. "We firmly believe that the sale of the Big Rapids factory and the DoD business to Original Footwear is in the best interest of the Big Rapids operations. With new ownership, we feel the factory is better positioned to win additional contracts that will retain important manufacturing jobs for the community." 

Wolverine Worldwide’s Big Rapids factory, is one of the largest producers of footwear to the U.S.. Military.