Michael Candiano

The public hearing on Portage's 2025 budget quickly turned into a discussion about stray cats. The proposed budget includes a line item for a trap, neuter, release program.

"There really wasn't places to take people that were in crisis, so ultimately, it was a lot of bad — a lot of bad choices for us, either an arrest or kind of just getting out of there," Portage Police Chief Michael Candiano told the city council Tuesday. "So we're hopeful that with this training and some of the avenues that this is going to open, that we can really start getting some people some more help."

A longtime Portage crossing guard is hanging up the stop sign.

With Portage crime news frequently in the headlines, the city's police chief says that just shows his officers are doing their job.

The cost of getting a copy of a Portage police video is going up. The city council last week voted to raise the cost of getting footage of a video-recorded incident or arrest from $100 to $150, the maximum allowed by state law.

Portage Mayor Austin Bonta presided over his first city council meeting Tuesday. "What I could say is that the first two days has been like drinking out of a fire hose, but I absolutely love it," Bonta said during his first mayor's report. "It has just been such a joy."

When someone goes into cardiac arrest, a machine called an automated external defibrillator, or AED, can help improve the chances of survival. But even if AEDs are present, they aren't always easy to get to. That issue recently became apparent in the city of Portage.

The Portage Police Department could soon be adding a social worker. The city council voted Tuesday to add the position into the city's salary ordinance.

The Portage police and fire departments are recruiting new members, even as their current ones face some challenges.

Portage residents may now keep chickens in their backyards.