The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department is remembering the department’s police dog, Diesel, a year after his death while chasing a suspect.

Diesel died on Nov. 14th of 2020 after getting struck by a vehicle while pursuing a suspect onto Interstate 65. He served with Deputy Matt Bush.

Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers said he remembers Diesel for the sacrifice he made in service to our community.

Hundreds of police and canine officers from around Indiana and the region attended services in Diesel’s memory, including a procession through the city and a public drive-through memorial at Fair Oaks Mall. The sheriff’s department received hundreds of cards, prayers and donations in Diesel’s name.

A portrait of Diesel now hangs in the lobby of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office.

Diesel started his service to the sheriff’s office in December 2016.

Photo: Diesel receiving his badge at a ceremony in December 2016 at the Bartholomew County Commissioners meeting.

IUPUC is receiving a $275,000 grant to enhance its efforts to improve educators ability to teach science, technology, engineering and math classes.

The Division of Education is receiving the grant from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education to enhance the South East Indiana STEM program. The program, part of the Center for Teaching and Learning at IUPUC, provides kindergarten through 8th-grade teachers with professional development in STEM areas through workshops and summer classes. The program also helps teachers already in non-STEM areas to obtain their licenses to teach science or mathematics to elementary and middle grade classes.

The funds will allow the program to enhance its workshops and summer programming, as well as creating a new mentorship program for STEM teachers in their first through third years in the classroom.

The STEM Teacher Recruitment Fund was established in 2013 by the Legislature to increase the number of high-quality science, technology, engineering and mathematics teachers in Indiana schools.

Former President Trump is defending the January 6th rioters who chanted “Hang Mike Pence.”

In an interview with an ABC reporter, Trump called the reaction by rioters to the Columbus native and former Indiana governor certifying Biden’s win as “common sense.”

The former President took issue with Pence not intervening as he presided over what Trump felt was a fraudulent electoral college vote count. Trump said he wasn’t concerned about his vice president’s safety during the Capitol Hill riots, insisting that he heard Pence was in “good shape.”

Story courtesy of TTWN Media Networks Inc.

The Indiana Department of Health COVID-19 Strike Team will be holding a testing and vaccination clinic today and Saturday from noon to 8 p.m. at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fairgrounds.

The team will be set up in the midway area, just off of County Road 200S.

Rapid antigen and PCR tests will be available. There will be Pfizer, Moderna as well as Johnson & Johnson vaccines on hand. Booster shots are available for all vaccines and children 5 to 11 can receive the Pfizer vaccine.

No appointment is necessary and you are encouraged to walk in.

An IUPUC professor will have three poems published as part of the INverse Poetry Archive, a joint project between the Indiana Poet Laureate, the Indiana State Library and the Indiana Arts Commission.

Lisa Siefker Bailey, a teaching professor of English at IUPUC, will have her poems added to the archive in both text and audio versions, the school announced recently. Her poems are titled, “One Guide,” “If a Bee Is Working, It Does Not Look like the Apocalypse,” and “Pandemic Generation.”

Siefker Bailey teaches both literature and creative writing, and sponsors IUPUC’s student literary magazine, Talking Leaves. She said that she was inspired by a colleague to write about the pandemic and that poetry helps her wrestle with these uncertain times.

The archive was created in 2019 by Indiana Poet Laureate Adrian Matejka. You can find a link to the archive here.

Bartholomew County Highway Department has several road paving projects underway in the coming days.

County Road 1000E, between 400S and 500S, will be paved today between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

County Road 50N, between 850E and 1000E, will be paved Monday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Marr Road, from 550N to 600N, will be closed to all traffic on Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.  And on Tuesday it will be closed from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m..

You should avoid these areas if you can, or expect delays. The schedule is dependent on the weather.

There’s still time to buy a raffle ticket to help Columbus Regional Health’s VIMCare clinic.

The hospital is holding a virtual fundraiser this year, without the usual dinner and entertainment. Instead, the process to determine the winners of the Reverse Raffle will be held virtually.

The top prize is $10,000 in cash.

VIMCare provides medical services for the uninsured and underinsured patients in our community. While a doctor and two nurse practitioners are paid through insurance, Medicad and Medicare, other services are not covered and must be paid through generosity. That includes help navigating insurance paperwork, prescription assistance and mental health counseling.

Proceeds from the annual raffle make up about a third of the clinic’s budget.

The deadline to buy a raffle ticket is 5 p.m. today. Tickets are $100 each. The raffle drawing will be tonight via a Facebook Live feed.

You can get more information or buy a ticket at crh.org/raffle.

Columbus Regional Health is looking for your thoughts on the future of the former Fair Oaks Mall. Specifically, the hospital is asking for current or previous patients of Columbus Regional Health Primary or Specialty Care Services to take part in community input sessions.

Columbus Regional Health and the city of Columbus purchased the 35-acre mall site at 25th Street and Central Avenue in 2018 with an eye to making the property into a health, wellness, sports and recreation center for the city. It is now called Nexus Park.

CRH said this week that is looking for input from patients as the hospital plans to bring together multiple CRH services under the same roof.

There are in person community input sessions from noon to 1 p.m. today and Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon at the former mall. There will be a virtual input session from 12:30 to 1 p.m. on Saturday. To take part in the virtual session, you can email [email protected] to receive an invitation.

Area colleges and universities recently wrapped up a first-ever conference to smoothly transfer students’ credits between the schools.

Ivy Tech Community College in Columbus, IUPUC, Purdue Polytechnic, and Franklin College — along with the Community Education Coalition held their first-ever Transfer Conference at the Columbus Learning Center last month.

They met to discuss transfer options for students in the Columbus, Franklin, Shelbyville, Greensburg, North Vernon, and Seymour communities. The goal is to build a better regional college transfer system and to support student success.

Ivy Tech offers programs called Start as a Sophomore and Transfer as a Junior. The Start as a Sophomore program offers 30-hour under the Indiana College Core, which transfers to all public four-year institutions in the state. There are 13 Transfer as a Junior programs with specific pathways. All those credits are guaranteed to tranfer at any public four-year university.

Jackie Fischer, Ivy Tech’s chancellor of academic affairs said that she is confident the schools can increase college accessibility and degree attainment throughout the region.

A reminder, Bartholomew County’s annual Veterans Day services will be held at 11 a.m. today at the veteran’s memorial on the courthouse lawn.

In case of inclement weather, the location will move to Columbus City Hall.

Despite the holiday, Columbus trash, recycling, compost, loose leaf and brush collections are all running on schedule with no delays. Local government offices will be closed for the day, however.

Photograph from the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.