A reminder that Mill Street in Hope will be closing at State Road 9 while crews work to rebuild a drain.

The Indiana Department of Transportation says the work is scheduled to start today and Mill Street will be closed on the west side of the highway. The work should be finished by the end of the day Friday. The agency says traffic on State Road 9 shouldn’t be affected by the work.

INDOT asks you to slow down, to use extra caution, to avoid driving while distracted and to be alert for worker safety when you are driving through construction zones.

Columbus City offices will be closing Friday for Good Friday. However, trash and recycling pick-ups will be running on their normal schedule.

City offices will reopen Monday, April 18th.

The Friends of the Muscatatuck River Society are planning a river cleanup this weekend.

The 13th annual “Kevin’s Kleanup” is set for Saturday, with registration starting at 8 a.m. in the morning at the Vernon Commons off of Jackson Street. The cleanup is conducted in memory of Kevin Jayne, the former president of the society.

Volunteers will be walking along the banks of the Muscatatuck collecting trash, or you can paddle the river, but you must provide your own watercraft.

Children must be accompanied by a parent or responsible adult. You are encouraged to dress appropriately for the weather and for outdoor work.

The cleanup will finish at noon at the Jennings County Highway Garage on State Road 3 near the fairgrounds. A free lunch will be provided at the New Bethel Methodist food stand on the fairgrounds, courtesy of local business donations.

If you have any questions you can contact  Troy Jackson at 812-592-0481 or Tom Moore at  812-592-0319.

Photo courtesy of Jennings County Parks.

State troopers had to turn to a lasso skilled deputy to remove a sheep from Interstate 65 near Crothersville over the weekend.

Sgt. Stephen Wheeles put out a call for assistance removing the large, wandering sheep from the highway through social media, including several sheep-related puns.

Wheeles says that a Deputy Thompson from the Scott County Sheriff’s Office was able to wrangle the sheep. If you are missing a sheep, you can contact them to retrieve her.

Photo courtesy of Indiana State Police

Harrison Township Volunteer Fire Department says that they are not fundraising door-to-door right now.

That comes after calls yesterday that someone was knocking on doors on Old Nashville Road seeking money in the name of the fire department.

Firefighters say that if someone approaches you at your home asking for donations to the department, you should contact the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department.

North Vernon now has a state-certified Main Street program.

Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs made the announcement yesterday, saying 11 communities will receive variations of the designation this year.

The Main Street program encourages revitalization of downtown areas in cities and towns. The nationwide designation requires meeting 10 standards and having a paid professional program manager. The Indiana-level designation requires meeting 8 of those 10 standards.

Two communities met the Indiana-level designation this year, Greencastle and North Vernon.

The newly certified programs will be provided a certificate, access to Main Street trainings, networking opportunities with other regional and statewide programs, and tools to meet their community needs.

Student research projects will be highlighted next week at IUPUC.

The Office of Student Research at IUPUC provides up to a $1,000 grant to student and faculty teams to perform their research and present the results. Students submitted project proposals, passed a vetting process and then completed their research projects under the guidance of a faculty member.

This year’s Student Research Exhibition features the work of 16 students and eight faculty members in 10 research projects.

The 12th annual Student Research Exhibition will be held from 2:30 to 4 p.m. on Tuesday in the student commons at the Columbus Learning Center on Central Avenue.

The event is free and you are invited to attend.

A Columbus man has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on methamphetamine-related charges.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana is reporting that 38-year-old Rodney Varela, was sentenced yesterday after pleading guilty to possession with the intent to distribute methamphetamine and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.

In March of 2020, police found Varela, carrying about 135 grams of methamphetamine and a loaded pistol while driving his vehicle. Police later executed a search warrant at Varela’s residence where agents seized another 700 grams of pure methamphetamine and five additional firearms.

Varela has numerous prior felony convictions in California and Indiana and is prohibited from possessing a firearm. He was also on parole at the time of the offense.

The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case. The judge also ordered Varela supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for five years following his release from federal prison.

Seymour police arrested two people yesterday after an investigation into a break-in at a storage facility.

According to Seymour police reports, officers were alerted to a break-in at a storage facility on East Tipton Street on March 25th. The owner said at least one storage unit had been broken into and said there were two suspects in a vehicle. But police could not find the suspects or the vehicle.

The owner later provided additional information, and police developed two possible suspects.

On Wednesday, police found the vehicle and the two suspects, 33-year-old Joshua Shelton and 31-year-old Sonya Thompson, both of Seymour. Neither of the two had a valid driver’s license. During a search of the vehicle, police found a syringe in a backpack owned by Thompson.

Shelton was arrested on preliminary charges of burglary, theft and possession of marijuana. Thompson is being accused of possessing the syringe.

The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department has more details about a person that may have been involved in a home invasion yesterday morning in the southern part of Bartholomew County.

According to the sheriff’s department, the suspect was allegedly wearing a brown Carhartt zip up jacket, a black beanie and tan cargo pants. The department is asking anyone who was travelling on Deaver Road, County Road 300W, 400W or State Road 58 between 6 and 8:30 a.m. and noticed either a person walking or a vehicle pulled off to the side of the road to contact the sheriff’s department.

According to police reports, the incident happened at about 8 a.m. in the area. A woman said she was assaulted and appeared injured after the incident. She told deputies that the attacker displayed a handgun during the invasion.

If you have any information, no matter how seemingly insignificant, you should contact Detective Dane Duke at 812-565-5928.

Information can be left anonymously.