Parts of southeastern Indiana will be under an Air Quality Alert starting at midnight tonight and running through midnight Sunday.

The Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management issued the warning because of expected high levels of ozone in the air.

Members of sensitive groups may experience health effects including trouble breathing. Those groups include the elderly, children, those with asthma or other breathing problems and those with lung and heart disease. If you are in those groups you should limit your outdoor activities Saturday to limit your exposure.

IDEM recommends that you take actions to lower ozone levels, including walking, biking, carpooling or using public transportation; avoid going through drive-throughs, if your vehicle is going to be idling for more than 30 seconds, shut it off; combine your errands into one trip; avoid refueling your vehicle or using gas-powered lawn equipment until after 7 p.m. Saturday night.

The warning includes Jefferson, Washington, Scott, Floyd, Clark, and Harrison counties in Indiana, along with Bullitt and Oldham counties in Kentucky.

Legal Aid is holding a Free Legal Aid Phone Clinic from 3 to 5:30 Tuesday.

Legal Aid offers the clinics for low-income residents of its eight-county district which includes Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings, Johnson, Rush, and Shelby Counties.

If you take part you will have a brief consultation with a volunteer attorney to answer general questions, to offer legal information or to receive other advice over the phone.

To take part, you must first register between noon and 2 Tuesday afternoon by calling 812-378-0358.

A project is underway to plant more than 5,000 trees around the railroad overpass into downtown Columbus.

Mayor Jim Lienhoop explains that mitigation rules by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, require replacing trees when you disturb an area, such as the trees that were moved to make way for the overpass.

The mayor said only a small portion of the trees will even be visible to the driving public, as most will be off of the roadway in the wetlands area closer to the river.

Seymour police will be hosting a Cover the Cruiser event on Sunday to raise money for Special Olympics Indiana.

A parked police cruiser will have its flashing lights on between 12:30 and 4:30 near the Taco Bell at Tipton Street and Burkhart Boulevard.

If you make a donation to Special Olympics, you will be able to write your name or a special message on a sticky donation card to decorate the cruiser. Police say they hope to get the cruiser completely covered.

This is the weekend for the Great U.S. 50 yard sale, the 22nd annual event which encourages sales across the country on the highway, stretching from Maryland to California.

The sales will be taking place today through Sunday.

Indiana State Police are asking you to be careful if you are running a sale or just visiting them.

Sgt. Stephen Wheeles with the state police says there is potential for serious crashes, resulting in injuries.

He says drivers should keep their speeds down and be alert to hazards, such as pedestrians crossing the highway or walking along the route. If you are searching for a sale, he says you should make sure not to stop suddenly and keep a safe distance from vehicles ahead of you, as they may suddenly stop. And make sure you park in a safe spot, if you do find a sale you want to visit.

For those walking along the highway, Wheeles says that you should avoid crossing the road if you can. And he reminds you that vehicles going highway speeds can’t stop suddenly.

All of the sales are individually organized. If you are planning a sale, promoters remind you not to set up in the state right of way and don’t set up on private property without permission. Sites should allow for off-road parking. You should also make sure you follow all local laws.

Schneck Medical Center in Seymour is looking for golfers to help raise money for nursing scholarships.

The 40th Annual Dr. “Bud” Charity Golf Tournament will be held Wednesday, June 30, at Shadowood Golf Course in Seymour. Proceeds go to scholarships for registered nursing students in Jackson, Jennings, Scott, and Washington counties.

The cost is $475 for a corporate golf team and $80 for an individual entry.

Morning tee times at 8 a.m. and afternoon tee times at 1:15 p.m. are available. Prizes and awards will be presented following the afternoon round.

For more information about the tournament, sponsorships or registration call 812-524-4238 or 812-523-7849.

You can expect a major racket when the Brood X cicada horde emerges within the next week or so. The Purdue extension office points out that the bugs are harmless to humans and pets but they could damage your trees.

Cora Jessie Carter, agriculture and natural resources educator with the Bartholomew County extension office explains.

She says that the bugs are not poisonous and they do not bite or sting. But they will chew on trees.

Purdue recommends that you use netting or bags to cover tress that are less than 3-4 years old, or that have stems smaller than a pencil because they are most at risk. Make sure that you buy netting for insects, and not birds. The holes should be smaller than a quarter of an inch.

We could see up to 1.5 million insects per acre. The emergence will last about six weeks, before the bugs go back to sleep for 17 more years.

You can go here for more information: extension.entm.purdue.edu/cicadas/

Photo courtesy of Purdue Extension.

Organizers of this year’s Ethnic Expo events will be diverting waste from the Bartholomew County landfill through efforts to improve recycling at the festival.

Instead of a single weekend’s worth of activities, this year’s Ethnic Expo will be held over four weekends: June 19th, August 28th, September 11th and October 2nd.

The Bartholomew County Solid Waste Management District’s Citizens Advisory Committee received a grant from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to increase recycling rates at the festivals. During previous Ethnic Expo events tons of waste has been added to the landfill, especially Styrofoam. The city has tried to increase recycling at the event previously but because of contamination most if not all of the waste still ended up in the landfill.

Local residents will serve as waste station volunteers for each event to help attendees sort their trash into recycling, landfill, and composting. Recyclables and trash will be weighed by category, to show how successful the efforts were at diverting materials from the landfill.