The National Weather Service is urging you to take extra precautions with tonight’s severe weather. The agency warns that the fast moving storms, with the overnight timing and the unusual time of year could make this an exceptionally dangerous weather event.

The agency suggests that you make a plan with your family and prepare tonight before heading to bed. You should plug in and test your weather radio, putting in fresh batteries if needed. You should also be sure to take your cell phone off of Do Not Disturb before going to bed.

When you have identified a shelter location in your home, you should make sure to have a pair of sturdy shoes and socks in the shelter space, plus an extra set of clothes for everyone.

Bartholomew County Emergency Management is warning that these storms will be fast-moving at 55 to 65 mph. Your could have shortened notification times tonight because of that speed. You could see wind speeds of 90 mph tonight.

Storms with damaging winds, hail, heavy rain, and isolated tornadoes will be moving through central and southern Indiana tonight

In an update this afternoon, The National Weather Service now has all of southern and central Indiana under an “enhanced” risk. That is everything south of a line roughly from Lafayette to Kokomo and Muncie.

An enhanced risk means that the forecasters are confident that widespread storms will develop, and that these storms are capable of causing significant damage. The biggest threat is wind and tornadoes, but you could heavy rain and localized flooding. Up to an inch and a half of rain is expected with locally higher amounts possible.

The system is projected to move through late this afternoon and stick around through Saturday morning. Forecasters say a first wave of thunderstorms is expected starting around 8 tonight. Severe thunderstorms will be most likely betwen 10 and 4 in the morning.

The weather service warns that the fast moving storms, with the overnight timing and the unusual time of year could make this an exceptionally dangerous weather event.

The House committee looking into the January 6th Capitol Riot could ask former Vice President and Columbus native Mike Pence to cooperate.

Pence did not commit to cooperating with the committee.

“We’ll evaluate any of those requests as they come,” said Pence on Wednesday in an interview with Fox News during a stop at a bakery in Bedford, New Hampshire.

The select committee was created by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic majority in the chamber, is investigating the attack. Pence, in his constitutional role, oversaw the congressional certification of the 2020 Electoral College results from the presidential election.

“The American people are going to get the answers they need. They’re going to understand what took place that day. I hope they see more and more that the work we did that day was consistent with the Constitution and our laws,” said Pence.

Pence also noted that some states had some voting issues.

“I believe there were irregularities in states. But I’m pleased to see states around the country beginning to reform their election laws,” said Pence.

Pence also reiterated that the Vice President has no constitutional power to throw out a presidential result submitted to the US Congress by the states, or send the votes back to the states in rejection. At the time, President Donald Trump said Pence had the authority to do that and criticized Pence for not overturning the election results.

“From the founding of this nation, our founders believed that elections should be governed at the state level and that the only role the Congress would have would be to open and count the electoral votes,” said Pence.

Story courtesy of Network Indiana

Thrive Alliance will be offering its Powerful Tools for Caregivers virtual sessions again starting next month.

The sessions are an educational program that helps family caregivers. Each class consists of six sessions held once a week. They will be held via Zoom from January 19th through February 23rd from 3 to 4:30 p.m. on Wednesdays.

For more information or to register you can call 812-372-6918 by January 18th.

A reminder that Schneck Medical Center in Seymour will be holding a COVID-19 vaccination clinic from 9 to noon Saturday on level 4 of the Schneck Professional Building

The clinic will be open to anyone 5 and older. First, second and booster shots will be available.

No registration is required. This is a walk-in clinic only.

Hartsville will be receiving a grant to improve its water infrastructure.

Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs announced earlier this week that planning grants will be going to 11 communities around the state for a total of just over $623 thousand dollars.

The grants are coming through the federal Community Development Block Grant program.

Locally, the Town of Hartsville is being awarded $58,320 for a water infrastructure planning grant.

The water infrastructure grants are meant to allow communities to study issues and opportunities surrounding their drinking, wastewater and stormwater systems. After the planning, communities will be able to make decisions regarding their most urgent water needs.

Crouch said that the grants help communities to “better prepare for their upcoming needs and plan developments and investments that will better the lives of their residents and the community overall.”

Damaging winds, hail, heavy rain, and isolated tornadoes could be moving through central and southern Indiana tonight. And we could see record-high temperatures for early December today.

In an update this morning, The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center
now has all of southwestern and south central Indiana under an “enhanced” risk from a line that stretches roughly from Terre Haute and Bloomington through Corydon. That includes parts of Bartholomew, Brown and all of Jackson County. That means the center is confident that widespread storms will develop, and that these storms are capable of causing significant damage.

Highs in southern Indiana will be in the low 60s this afternoon.

The system is projected to move through late this afternoon and stick around through Saturday morning. Forecasters say the worst of the storms could hit after midnight.

Donation collections  at Indiana National Guard armories for Afghanistan refugees at Camp Atterbury will end this week.

Eight Indiana National Guard armories across the state were being used as collection sites, but they will stop collections Friday at 4 p.m. This comes as many of the people at Camp Atterbury get resettled in homes across the U.S.

As of December 1st, Camp Atterbury had more than one-point-six million items donated since September.

Story courtesy of TTWN Media Networks Inc