Two people are under arrest and a stolen vehicle recovered after what police are calling a high-risk traffic stop overnight.

A Columbus police officer noticed a vehicle that had been reported stolen earlier Monday driving in the 6000 block of State Road 46 at about 10:15 p.m. last night, according to police reports. With the assistance of Columbus police detectives and Bartholomew County deputies, the vehicle was pulled over. Police say that the two people insider were arrested without incident.

34-year-old Erica D. Burton is facing a preliminary charge of auto theft, while 34-year- old Jayson D. Ackenback was arrested on an outstanding Bartholomew County warrant.

Local fans of board and card games can help raise money for a charity that provides board games to hospitals, senior centers and other organizations at a 24-hour gaming marathon all-day Saturday.

The Dragon’s Hoard Games and Collectibles store on Williamsburg Way will be kicking off the event at midnight Friday and it will run through midnight Saturday.

Brandi Rotert, explains the work of the Spiel Foundation:

The foundation was created by Columbus native, Steve Conway, Rotert said.

Store owner Kirk Adams says that there will be raffles and other activities to support the foundation. That will include streaming video on several platforms, and around the clock playing of tabletop board games, card games and role-playing games.

You can find more information on the Spiel Foundation online here.

For more information, you can call the store at 812-657-3232 or visit the store on Facebook. The store is at 3915 Williamsburg Way.

While the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress in Bartholomew County will be giving its one-year update to the community tomorrow, this afternoon a public board created to oversee funding for projects to fight addiction will be having its first meeting.

The Substance Abuse Public Funding Board will be meeting at 2 today at Columbus City Hall to organize itself and to choose officers. The city of Columbus and Bartholomew County jointly formed the oversight board to make recommendations on funding projects that would request public tax dollars.

The Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress in Bartholomew County will be giving its one year progress report to the community at 6:30 p.m. at The Commons on Wednesday night.

Bartholomew County Commissioners are proposing a $3 million dollar a year capital projects plan, that would maintain and repair county buildings and roads.

We asked candidates for Bartholomew County Council districts 3 & 4 what they thought of the commissioners plan and if the county has been underfunding maintenance..

In Council District 3 Councilman Mark Gorbett is being challenged by Dave Jones.

All county departments should be looking further ahead, Gorbett says.

Jones laid the blame for a lack of previous planning on the commissioners.

In Council District 4 Councilman Jorge Morales is facing Tom Owens.

Morales said the county has not had enough money for regular maintenance.

Owens says the county has definitely been underfunding maintenance.

Four people were arrested Sunday night in North Vernon after police responded to a call of suspicious activity. North Vernon Police say that officers responded to the area of North State Street and Main Street at 7:11 p.m. When they arrived, police say they found evidence of drug activity.

Officers arrested 20-year-old Patricia Perkins, of Seymour, along with 26-year-old Christopher Asbury, 37-year-old Joshua Acree and 29-year-old Shandie Johnson, all of North Vernon. The police report indicated that the four are facing preliminary charges of Possession of Syringe, Possession of Methamphetamine, Visiting a Common Nuisance and Maintaining a Common Nuisance.

Jennings County High School was placed on lockdown Monday afternoon after staff received a phone threat. Sgt. Andrew Richmond, spokesman for the North Vernon Police Department, says that a staff member at the school received the threat at 2:45 p.m. Sgt. Richmond says the call included “threat of violence involving the school building.”

Police say that School Resource Officer Matt Staples was immediately notified of the phone call. Staples activated a response plan that included mobilizing on duty officers to make a security sweep of the school and surrounding area. Richmond says that no active threats were found and the lockdown was lifted.

The investigation is ongoing.

A man tried to jump into another person’s vehicle at Walmart Saturday night to avoid police officers. That led to the arrest of 19-year-old David A. Compton on charges of unlawful entry into a vehicle.

Columbus police report that they were called to the Whitfield Drive store at about 9:15 p.m.  Saturday evening on report that Compton was acting suspiciously in the store. That included filling a cart with merchandise and then fleeing out an emergency exit when he saw police.

He then tried to get into a vehicle with the vehicle’s owner, police say, but the owner told police he did not know Compton nor was he given permission to get inside.

A report of a suspicious vehicle led to three arrests on drug related charges on Friday evening.

According to reports from the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department a deputy was called at about 6:12 p.m. Friday evening to the area of County Road 700S and 100W about a car sitting across from a mobile home. When a man standing beside the car saw the patrol car, he fled into the trailer.

Deputies made several attempts at getting the names of the people at the scene and were given false information, but police dog Diesel alerted to the smell of narcotics inside the vehicle. Nearly 20 syringes were recovered as well as a spoon and other paraphernalia.

30 year old Nathan Shepherd of Columbus was arrested and is facing preliminary charges of false informing and possession of methamphetamine and syringes, as well as an outstanding Bartholomew County warrant. 25-year old Emily Unsworth is also accused of false informing and possession of drug paraphernalia.

33-year-old Justin Sebastian was arrested on preliminary charges of possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia.

Envision Columbus will be gathering your input on plans to improve central Columbus at a public forum starting at 6 p.m. tonight at Columbus City Hall.

Envision Columbus, sponsored by Heritage Fund, the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County is looking at updating the city’s strategic development plan for more than 900 acres in downtown Columbus. That area stretches from Donner Park to the farmland just south of Columbus  and from Mill Race and Noblitt parks on the west to California Street on the east.

The plan was last updated 13 years ago.

David Rubin from the David Rubin Land Collective, the city’s planning consultant for the update, will be leading tonight’s meeting.

More than 1,000 people have already taken an online survey about the update. You can find that at envisioncolumbus.org.

This week, we are taking a closer look at the Bartholomew County Council District 3 and 4 races in the May 8th Republican primary election.

Today we asked the candidates about tax increases.  The Bartholomew County Council has historically been reluctant to approve tax increases. By a very close vote last year, the council approved an increase in the income tax for local residents.  We asked: “What are your thoughts on that tax increase? What would it take for you to support, or would you oppose, future tax increases?”

Council District 3 covers mostly the city of Columbus. Incumbent Mark Gorbett, former two-term county sheriff and retired sheriff’s deputy, is being challenged by Dave Jones, a Cummins employee.

Jones said no truthful candidate can say they will never raise taxes:

Gorbett says his eight years as sheriff allowed him to see the effects of the tight budgets. That led him to push for the tax increase.

Council District 4 covers southwestern Bartholomew County. Incumbent Jorge Morales, who retired from Cummins, is facing former Columbus Township Assessor Tom Owens.

Owens says he will oppose future tax increases.

Morales has not yet been interviewed for this series.