Good morning, Kalamazoo.

A new 105-room Holiday Inn Express & Suites opened Tuesday, Oct.

20 at 3700 E. Cork St. Court off I-94, bringing 25+ jobs, 1,100 sqft of meeting space, and amenities like an indoor pool, complimentary breakfast, and high-speed Wi‑Fi to serve business and leisure travelers.

Jenison High School's marching band won Flight II at the Portage Northern Marching Invitational on Saturday, Oct.

24 at Portage Northern High School with a top score of 91.700; Rockford won Flight I and Lakeshore Stevensville won Flight IV.

Kalamazoo Public Schools reported a tentative headcount of 12,076 (Oct.

7 count day), down 1.3%, while Portage rose to 8,527 and countywide enrollment totaled 41,628, a 0.7% drop. Those totals are preliminary and districts have until early November to correct absences before FTE audits finalize state funding.

Kalamazoo Public Schools and the teachers union will enter mediation this week after starting three straight school years without a contract, with salaries and class sizes listed as union priorities.

Superintendent Darrin Slade says 42% of teachers make over $90,000 and 18% make over $80,000; the mediator will offer a nonbinding recommendation.

Parchment voters will decide Nov.

3 on a $41 million bond to consolidate schools — closing the middle school, adding a seventh‑ and eighth‑grade wing at Parchment High, and funding upgrades at North, Northwood, and Central Elementary. The bond would raise the debt levy 3.95 mills (about $395 annually on a $200,000 home), and the district will hold info sessions Wednesday, Oct. 28 at the Parchment Community Library (2 p.m. and 6 p.m.).

Portage Public Schools will split Moorsbridge students between Haverhill and Central during the 2027-28 school year (while the building gets major renovations), prompting parents to complain about poor communication and impacts on learning and support staff.

District officials say the split keeps students safe and lets construction finish in one year.

Five candidates — three incumbents and two challengers — are running for four seats on the Plainwell Community Schools Board of Education in the Nov.

3 election; incumbents Andrea Barrows, Julli Bennett, and Rex Hall Jr. face challengers Kyle Lyke and William Geresy, and current trustee Derek Dunn is not seeking reelection.

Doctors say breast density can both raise cancer risk and make tumors harder to see on mammograms, so patients should talk to their doctor about supplemental screening like MRIs or ultrasounds; eligible women can get free mammograms and clinical breast exams through the Michigan Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Navigation Program.

MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette is asking fans to pick the Kalamazoo-area fall Athlete of the Week (Oct.

19-24) from 32 nominees; voting is open until 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 30.

Kalamazoo County officials were told last week that the new youth sports facility has a memorandum of understanding with a naming-rights partner that will include the community name, and commissioners are seeking an operator (the site is on the city's far west side).

They hope to have it open by this time next year.