A coalition of local communities has been approved for funding under a state program to stimulate development and investment.

The South Central Indiana Talent Region sought $50 million dollars from the state’s READI program, or Regional Economic Acceleration Development Initiative, with a proposal submitted in September. But Gov. Eric Holcomb announced yesterday afternoon that the local coalition had been approved for a $30 million READI grant.

The coalition includes the communities of Columbus, Seymour, North Vernon and Edinburgh, and Bartholomew, Jackson, Jennings and portions of Shelby and Johnson counties.

The governor and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation board met yesterday afternoon at Butler University to make the awards. The initiative, first announced in May, had $500 million to give out to coalitions. The program requires all READI funds be matched on a dollar for dollar basis by local governments or other public sources.

South Central Indiana Talent Region put together a 187-page grant proposal offering details on 25 projects and initiatives to be implemented in the region. Those include:

1. Mobility Test Park & Proving Ground — Columbus, $31.8 million.
2.  Propeller Innovation Center & Venture Studio — Columbus, $6.7 million.
3. Seymour High School Career & Technical Program Extension — Seymour, $10 million.
4. AirPark Columbus College Campus Access & Success Project — Columbus, $19.8 million.
5. Jackson County Learning Center Expansion — Seymour, $2 million
6. Panther Technology Education Center — North Vernon, $10 million.
7. Arvin Manufacturing Blight Elimination Project — North Vernon, $1.6 million.
8. Country Squire Lakes Housing Redevelopment — North Vernon, $17 million.
9. Downtown Columbus Housing & Urban Grocer — Columbus, $40 million.
10. Edinburgh Housing and Road Extension Project — Edinburgh, $8.5 million.
11. Housing Developer Incentives Program — Regionwide, $7 million.
12. Jennings County Broadband Expansion — Jennings County, $6.8 million.
13. Land Bank of South Central Indiana — Regionwide, $10 million.
14. North Vernon Knobstone Subdivision — North Vernon, $28.6 million.
15. Uniontown Sewer Expansion — Uniontown, $8 million.
16. “Welcome Home” Talent Attraction Program — Regionwide, $1 million.
17. Workforce/Affordable Multi-Generational Housing — Seymour, $13 million.
18. Chateau de Pique — Jackson County, $3 million.
19. Columbus Riverfront Project — Columbus, $10 million.
20. Downtown Hotel & Conference Center — Columbus, $44 million.
21. Downtown Revitalization Fund — Regionwide, $5 million.
22. NexusPark — Columbus, $78 million.
23. Quarry Adventure Park — North Vernon, $5 million.
24.  Schneck Cancer Center Linear Accelerator Project — Seymour, $7 million.
25. Shared Arts-Based Placemaking Programming — Regionwide, $600,000.

Five of the 17 regions that applied received the full $50 million dollars offered by the state.

Accelerate Rural Indiana which includes Greensburg, Shelbyville, Batesville and Rushville as well as Decatur, Rush and Shelby counties applied for $50 million and received $20 million according to the governor.

Indiana Uplands which included Brown and Monroe counties along with others, was awarded $30 million.

Note: This story has been updated.

Authorities are releasing more information about a shooting in Elizabethtown Monday night.

According to Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department reports, deputies were called to a reported shooting at Sunny Brook Mobile Home Park in the 10200 block of East Legal Tender Road Monday evening.

52-year-old Don Brown of Elizabethtown was found to have been shot three times. He was flown by medical helicopter to an Indianapolis hospital. His current condition is not known.

Witnesses identified 21-year-old Ethan Sherfield of Nineveh as the shooter. He was found by deputies nearby and was arrested on preliminary charges of battery resulting in serious bodily injury and intimidation with a deadly weapon. The incident remains under investigation.

Two new state troopers will be patrolling Bartholomew and Jackson counties.

According to Indiana State Police reports, two new probationary troopers have been assigned to the Versailles District and will be patrolling Zone 1. They are among the 29 graduates of the 81st Indiana State Police Academy class which graduated earlier this month.

Trooper Clayton Saltzman is 26 and a graduate of Boonville High School and Murray State University with a degree in criminal justice. Prior to the state police, Saltzman worked at UPS. He lives in Bartholomew County.

Trooper Gavin Ludwig is 21 and a graduate of Heritage Hills High School in Lincoln City and Vincennes University with a degree in law enforcement. He lives in Jennings County.

The Probationary troopers now begin a three-month field training period, working alongside veteran troopers. After completing field training, the troopers will be assigned a patrol vehicle and begin solo patrols.

Photo: Probationary Troopers Clayton Saltzman and Gavin Ludwig. Photo courtesy of Indiana State Police.

Organizations around the state should be finding out today whether they qualified for a share of $500 million in state funds to stimulate housing, to improve regional amenities, to enhance workforce training and to encourage innovation in their regions.

The state is scheduled to announce grants today from the READI program, or Regional Economic Acceleration Development Initiative which was first announced in May. The program established 18 regions, with the possibility of up to $50 million in grants per region, for a total of $500 million dollars. The hope is to attract $2 billion in private and public investment. The program requires all READI funds be matched on a dollar for dollar basis by local governments or other public sources.

Among the proposals, the South Central Indiana Talent Region sought $50 million dollars. That includes the communities of Columbus, Seymour, North Vernon and Edinburgh, and their counties of Bartholomew, Jackson, Jennings and portions of Shelby and Johnson counties.

Also applying for a $50 million grant was a group of eastern Indiana communities along Interstate 74. Accelerate Rural Indiana includes Greensburg, Shelbyville, Batesville and Rushville as well as Decatur, Rush and Shelby counties.

Announcements on the grant recipients are expected this afternoon after the Indiana Economic Development Corporation meets with Gov. Eric Holcomb.

Local animal abuse opponents sought clarification from Bartholomew County officials on who makes the decision to return an animal to an abusive home. That comes after the death of a dog removed several times from a home over three years.

The dog named Thor was removed from a home for a final time last month after ongoing complaints from neighbors of lack of shelter, medical care and food, but soon after died from cancer, according to the activists. But the animal supporters asked the Bartholomew County Commissioners and Animal Control Officer Mark Case to explain how the decision was made to return the dog to the home previously.

Case said that in one incident the dog was returned after the prosecutor’s office declined to press charges against the owner but he did not know the exact circumstances or number of times the dog had previously been removed and returned.

Case said there is a process of escalating warnings, citations and fines the department uses to try to get compliance. And the department tries to educate owners, but sometimes that takes hold and sometimes it doesn’t, Case said. County Commissioner Tony London pointed out that in Indiana animals are considered personal property, giving owners leeway in how animals are treated.

Commissioners President Larry Kleinhenz said the abuse all stems from an inability to make people do the right thing.

A Columbus firefighter is among those deployed to Kentucky as part of Indiana’s elite search and rescue team.

The Columbus Fire Department announced that Firefighter Marcus Gruner has deployed with Indiana Task Force 1 to Mayfield, Kentucky.

Indianapolis Division Chief Tom Neal, commander of the Task Force said that the team was working yesterday at the site of the collapsed candle factory. Neal said the steel structure, which consisted of the factory and office space, collapsed during the height of the storm.

Teams used a 90 foot crane to peel back the factory roof and rubble as they searched. Neal said that the goal was to provide additional spaces for the team’s dogs to search for anyone still remaining in the structure.

The Indiana dogs, Jake, Eddie and Virgil, are specially trained search dogs.

Neal said that as of Monday afternoon, Task Force One had not yet pulled anyone from the rubble.

Note: Network Indiana contributed to this report

Photo: Columbus Firefighter Marcus Gruner. Photo courtesy of Columbus Fire Department.

Indiana State Police will be taking part in a Tip a Cop event in Columbus tomorrow to benefit Special Olympics Indiana.

Troopers from the Versailles District will be on hand volunteering as servers at Texas Roadhouse on Merchant Mile in Columbus and donating their tips to Special Olympics.

The event will be from 4 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday.

The levels in several lakes in the Hoosier National Forest are being lowered.

That’s so boat ramps can be repaired at the five starting later this month, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Affected lakes include Indian, Celina, Tipsaw, and Saddle Lakes in Perry County, and Springs Valley Lake in Orange County. The repairs are expected to be finished in January, but the ramps will not be functional again until rainfall refills each lake.

In addition to the ramp repairs, Indian Lake will remain down through the winter to attempt to control invasive Eurasian watermilfoil. Eurasian watermilfoil was used in the United States as a decoration in aquariums. It may have been dumped into a lake or pond which started the spread.

You will see some traffic changes in the construction zone on Interstate 65 south of Columbus starting tomorrow night as crews put the highway into its winter configuration.

Crews will be closing lanes on the northbound side starting around 9 p.m. Tuesday night beginning just south of State Road 58. After the changes, northbound traffic will no longer use the south crossover but instead use the newly constructed lanes up to the north end of the work zone.

At the north end of the work zone, northbound traffic will shift back to its previous lanes while paving is completed, which is expected to be done by Christmas, weather permitting. At that time, the lane shift and crossover will be removed, and all northbound traffic will travel on new pavement throughout the project.

Also at that time, southbound traffic will shift to the inside, where northbound traffic was previously. This will give motorists a wider outside shoulder and allow crews to prepare for the next phase of construction.

Major construction will resume next spring in the southbound lanes between State Road 58 and State Road 46. There will also be asphalt resurfacing on I-65 northbound and southbound from the Driftwood River Bridge to U.S. 31 at Taylorsville. And there will be a new deck overlay on the I-65 bridge over State Road 46.

The $65 million project is expected to be complete next fall.

The Indiana Region of the American Red Cross is sending volunteers to Mayfield, Kentucky to assist with recovery efforts after deadly tornadoes went through the town Friday night.

The three volunteers will assist with mental health services, feeding assistance, and deployment support. Red Cross teams continue to identify needs across the affected area and more Indiana volunteers may deploy in the coming days.

If you want to help, you can visit redcross.org, call 800-RED-CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Donations enable the Red Cross to provide food, shelter, relief supplies, emotional support and other assistance.

If you would like to sign up to be a disaster action team volunteer, you can get more information at redcross.org/dat.