A California based company has been approved for local tax breaks on a $103 million dollar investment in a new Columbus facility.

Columbus City Council approved a request by Ninth Avenue Foods last night for a tax abatement for its planned Midwest headquarters on County Road 175 West, in the Woodside Industrial Park. The company is planning to spend $1.5 million for land, $32 million in improvements and $70 million on equipment.

Company Vice President of Operations, Joe Lunzer, explained the decision to come to Columbus.

The family-owned business intends to build a 260,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art dairy and plant-based beverage facility and create up to 101 new jobs for the community by the end of 2024. The average wage is expected to be just over $21 an hour.

Under a tax abatement, property taxes on new investment are phased in over a period of 10 years, rather than being due all at once. The approved abatement will save the company about $7.7 million in property taxes according to city calculations.

Council unanimously approved the request.

The cold weather is sticking around for another day at least, according to the National Weather Service.

The current freeze warning expires at 10 this morning, with another going into effect at 1 a.m.  Thursday morning and lasting through 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Temperatures as low as 29 degrees are expected in some areas.

The jury in the Derek Chauvin trial in Minnesota, has found the former police officer guilty of all three charges against him — second degree murder, third degree murder and manslaughter.

The second-degree murder charge carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. Third-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 25 years and the manslaughter charge carries a maximum sentence of ten years. If convicted, Chauvin is not expected to receive the most severe sentences because he has no prior convictions.

Chauvin was accused in the death of George Floyd by kneeling on the black man’s neck until he died. The death set off nationwide protests.

Gleaners Food Bank will be holding a drive-thru food pantry distribution from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Columbus Municipal Airport at 5175 N. Warren Drive.

You will be able to stay in your vehicle and the food will be delivered to you. There will be no early arrivals and there is no parking allowed on River Road or Cunningham Drive.

North Vernon police are looking for a suspect in an armed robbery Monday night at a gas station.

Police were called to the Sunoco station at about 11:30 p.m. that night after a white man armed with a handgun robbed the store. The suspect is between 5-6 and 5-9, and was wearing dark blue or gray shorts with a dragon design on the side, a light gray undershirt with a dark gray shirt over top and a ski mask. The handgun was described as a silver gun with a black handle.

The suspect ran from the store with an undisclosed amount of cash, after brandishing the gun at the clerk, according to police.

If you have any information, you can contact the North Vernon Police Department at 812-346-1466 or 812-346-2345.

The National Weather Service says you will see some cold temperatures overnight tonight and Wednesday.

A freeze warning is in effect from 10 p.m. tonight to 10 a.m. Wednesday morning with temperatures down to 29 expected, and a freeze watch has been issued for Wednesday night through Thursday morning with temperatures getting down to 30.

The weather service says the cold could kill crops and sensitive vegetation. You could also see damage to unprotected outdoor plumbing.

Forecasters are also expecting snow later tonight stretching from Fort Wayne to Evansville and covering most of central Indiana. Some of the snow could be heavy at times, but they don’t expect much of it to stick once it hits the ground.

The vacant Kroger store on National Road in Columbus could become a self storage facility.

The Republic newspaper is reporting this morning that the property was sold last month to Tiptonia Partners LLC out of Indianapolis. The Columbus Board of Zoning Appeals approve the property’s use for self storage last fall, according to the newspaper. A request has been made to city planners to further subdivide the property with the large parking lot being converted into two new lots.

You can read more information at therepublic.com

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated.

A 2-year-old boy died yesterday after being struck by a pickup in a Greenwood mobile home park.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department says that 59-year-old Christopher L. White of Greenwood, an employee of Winterbrook Mobile Home Community, was driving a company truck at about 4:39 p.m. Monday afternoon when the boy was hit. The child, Isaiah D. Bonds, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Johnson County Coroner’s office.

According to the accident report, White came to a complete stop at an intersection and never saw the boy enter the intersection over the tall hood of the truck. After he started driving again,White said he felt his truck hit something and stopped to see what it was. That’s when he discovered the boy had been struck.

Bartholomew County officials are seeking a grant in part to buy two drones for the sheriff’s department.

Shannan Cooke, director of emergency management for the county, outlined the proposal to the county commissioners yesterday. The annual Indiana homeland security grant request of just over $210,000 would provide almost $84,000 for the county to purchase two drones along with their associated camera equipment and software and also to train operators in their use.

The other $126,000 of the grant would go to purchase cameras, handheld metal detectors and a magnetometer for Columbus City Hall and the fire and police training facility at the airport, Cooke said.

Bartholomew County Commissioners approved the grant application.

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools are announcing plans for next month’s graduations that include outdoor ceremonies with plenty of room for social distancing.

The district is planning for three graduation ceremonies on May 27th and 29th. The first will be for CSA New Tech graduating seniors and will be held on the Columbus East football field starting at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 27th.

Columbus East will hold its ceremonies at 9 a.m. on the morning of Saturday, May 29th, on the football field. Later that morning, at 11 a.m., Columbus North is scheduled to hold its graduation on the North football field. All of the ceremonies will be live-streamed through the district’s YouTube page.

The schools also outlined alternate times and dates in case of bad weather. In the worst case scenario, North and East could hold their ceremonies at the same time across town from each other. In case of inclement weather, the CSA graduation will be moved to Friday, May 28th at 7 p.m.  Columbus  East will have a backup time of 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 29th, or an evening time between 5 and 8 p.m.  Columbus North would switch to 4 p.m. or an evening time between 5 and 8 p.m. that day in case of inclement weather.

The district is announcing that limits on capacities will be put in place to meet COVID-19 guidelines and the exact number of tickets each graduating senior will have available will be announced closer to the date.

The district will be requiring masks, physical distancing, hand hygiene and contact tracing will be in effect.