The Columbus East Food Pantry will be having another food distribution Friday.
The pantry is distributing food to BCSC students and their immediate family. The pickups will be drive-up and will have no contact. The pickup point tomorrow will be at Door 31 in the west parking lot behind the school.
Families will receive one pre-bagged parcel of food.
Friday’s delivery is from 4 to 7. The next distribution day is Friday, July 24th.
INDOT says that drivers on the west side of Columbus will see the end to some construction work this weekend.
Between 8 a.m. and noon on Friday, Milestone Contractors will be switching eastbound State Road 46 to its new configuration, with the opening of those lanes of the overpass into downtown.
Eastbound drivers will be using the new bridge over State Road 11 and the new approach to the Robert N. Stewart bridge at Second Street. They will also see a new traffic signal, at the T intersection called a “Green T” or “Continuous Green T” intersection. According to INDOT, these types of intersections allow for free-flow traffic in one direction, on State Road 11 southbound, by using acceleration and merge lanes for left-turns to and from the intersecting road.
And State Road 11 will also be reopening between State Road 46 and Garden City on Friday, INDOT says.
Westbound State Road 46 will remain in its current pattern through mid-to-late July as work continues to prepare the bridge and ramps for traffic. Work will continue near the new overpass through the rest of the summer and fall into next spring, including removing the old State Road 46 roadway, seeding, sodding and project clean-up.
INDOT says you should slow down, use extra caution and drive distraction-free through all work zones, especially as drivers adjust to the new traffic patterns.
IUPUC is outlining its plans for opening the campus for the fall semester.
Dr. Reinhold Hill, the vice chancellor and dean at IUPUC says that the fall semester will begin on August 24th with a combination of blended and online classes. The semester duration will be 13 weeks for many courses, ending on November 20th. There will be no fall break. For students in classes that need to maintain a 16-week format, students in courses that go beyond Thanksgiving will have a 10-day holiday break, finishing with three weeks of online-only study.
The spring semester will operate in reverse with online-only classes beginning on January 19th. On February 8th, the campus will re-open for blended instruction through the end of the semester. There will be no spring break.
IUPUC will use several strategies to minimize the COVID-19 risk to students and staff including new cleaning protocols, managing room capacities and schedules, maintaining safe distancing, wearing masks and personal health checks.
IU is partnering with IU Health to provide all IU students, faculty and staff with comprehensive COVID-19 symptom checking, virtual visits with a health care professional, and testing with continued monitoring when needed.
For more information visit https://fall2020.iu.edu/iupuc.
Hope Heritage Days will not be held this year. The organizers met last night and made the decision not to go forward with the annual festival in northeastern Bartholomew County, one of the largest events in the county.
Michael Dean, CEO of Heritage of Hope said that the organizers “delayed this inevitable decision for as long as we could, hoping and praying for COVID-19 conditions to improve.”
Dean said that the cancellation will be a major blows for Hope-area not-for-profits, many of which earn their entire annual budget at the food booths they operate in the Hope Town Square.
Dean said that many scenarios were considered to help minimize the loss of income for the not-for-profits, however each option brought health risks that could not be managed.
Heritage of Hope will not be out a lot of money after the cancellation, as many of the annual expenses have not yet been paid. However, Dean said that some operating costs, such as insurance, still must be paid despite the cancellation.
According to the most recent update from the Indiana State Department of Health, there are 42,871 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Indiana, an increase of 331 cases since Monday’s update.
There have been 2,377 deaths in Indiana as of Tuesday afternoon’s update, an increase of 14 since Monday.
Bartholomew County has had 568 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and has had 43 deaths.
In other area counties, Decatur County has had 239 cases and 32 deaths, Jennings 164 cases and 9 deaths, Jackson 432 cases and 3 deaths, Brown 37 cases and 1 death, Johnson 1,205 cases and 117 deaths, and Shelby 407 cases with 24 deaths
Cummins is announcing that it is entering into a partnership for hydrogen storage technology.
The company announced the joint venture Tuesday with NPROXX for hydrogen storage tanks. Cummins called the company a leader in hydrogen storage and transportation.
Cummins charman and CEO Tom Linebarger said Cummins is committed to leading the way and being the provider of choice for new power solutions including advanced diesel, natural gas, electrified power, fuel cells, hybrids and other technology. He said the addition of hydrogen storage allows the company to accelerate the viability for that technology in commercial markets.
The joint venture will produce hydrogen and compressed natural gas storage products for both on-highway and rail applications.
Cummins and NPROXX will each own 50 percent of the new joint venture.
Updated: This story has been updated with new information.
Columbus police say a local man is in jail after crashing into a mailbox, then fleeing the scene of the accident. But he is now also facing charges for violating requirements of the sex offender registry.
Columbus police say they have been investigating complaints from the public about 31-year-old Michael O. Kent. Officers recently submitted their findings to the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office, which led to warrants being issued for Kent’s arrest on felony charges of failure to register as a sex offender and a sex offender residency offense.
Kent was already in the Bartholomew County Jail, after being arrested on a charge of leaving the scene of a property damage accident for allegedly crashing into a business mailbox in the 2400 block of West Jonathan Moore Pike. Police said the incident happened just after midnight Monday morning and they arrested Kent after a review of security footage.
After being arrested, Kent is being held without bond. Police say Kent’s bond was revoked for a May incident where he was arrested in for trespassing at a downtown Columbus business.
Kent is a registered sex offender, convicted in May of 2009 of second degree rape in Maryland. He is listed as homeless and unemployed in the registry maintained by the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department.
Over the past three years in Columbus he has been arrested for trespassing multiple times, and accused of more serious crimes including theft, resisting law enforcement, battery with bodily injury, probation violations and trafficking with an inmate.
Carr Hill Road is still on schedule to open by mid-July after crews finish replacing the bridge over Interstate 65.
Natalie Garrett, spokeswoman for INDOT, says crews are planning to pour the bridge deck tonight, followed by approaches on either side of the bridge. Speeds are reduced to 55 mph on the interstate while the work is ongoing, she said.
After Carr Hill Road is completed, County Road 200S is scheduled to close as crews replace the interstate bridge there also. That work is expected to be finished this fall, Garrett said.
Organizers of the Mill Race Marathon announced this morning that there would be no in-person marathon this year, but they are considering virtual events.
The committee announced on social media that “Because the health and safety of all our participants, volunteers and the community are our top priority, we are cancelling the live event.”
Organizers said they were concerned about the many unknowns surrounding COVID-19 including the chances of spreading the disease without ever showing symptoms, saying that makes it difficult to manage the spread in public situations and large gatherings.
For those already registered, organizers will be offering a refund or a transfer to the 2021 event.
The city of Columbus began its annual milling and paving project this week with work on Washington Street scheduled.
According to the city engineer’s office, Robertson Paving crews are scheduled to work this morning in the southbound lanes on Washington Street between 17th and 25th streets and on 25th street from Home Avenue to Maple Street Tuesday afternoon.
Other planned work this week includes:
Wednesday — 22nd Street- Home Avenue to Maple Street
Thursday — Middle Road, north of Rural King
You can expect No Parking signs and lane restrictions while the work is going on. You should use caution if you have to drive in these areas.
The schedule is dependent on the weather.