IUPUC will be hosting a math competition for elementary, middle school and high school students from across the area this weekend.

On Saturday, the school will be one of 10 sites for the Indiana State Math Contest which is sponsored by the Indiana Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Students will be able to compete in one of five exam categories. Awards will be presented to top scorers for each category both at the local and state level.

Leigh Britt, lecturer in mathematics at IUPUC and a board member of the teachers council is the coordinator of the statewide event as well as the local site coordinator. She says that for some of the students, it will be the first time they have set foot on a college campus. Students are encouraged to ask questions, to look around and to soak in the environment she said.

IUPUC Professor Rodney Lynch is once again the exam writer for the comprehensive exam this year. He previously wrote the exam in 2019. Lynch also wrote the geometry exam in 2017 and 2018.

Columbus city officials are inviting you to a ground-breaking ceremony today, for the new $40 million dollar development planned on Second Street beside the Bartholomew County Jail.

The project at the intersection of Lafayette Avenue and Second Street, to be called The Taylor, will bring 200 market rate apartments and a 10,000 sq. ft. urban grocer to the formerly city-owned location. There will also be retail space and an extension of the People Trail tying into the 1821 Bicentennial Trail Project.

The city of Columbus provided the property for the project and is providing about $12 million in funding.

Construction is expected to take about 18 months.

The ground-breaking will be at 3 p.m. near the southwest corner of Second and Sycamore Streets. Parking for the event will be available across Second Street at Sycamore Street as well as around the former REMC building.

Several local communities are seeing shares of $107.8 million dollars in state grants for street and road repairs. Gov. Eric Holcomb and INDOT announced Tuesday that 224 Indiana communities are receiving shares of Community Crossings grants.

Communities submitted applications for funding during a call for projects in January. Local governments must provide matching funds of 50 percent for larger communities or 25 percent for smaller communities.

Among area communities receiving funds:

• Bartholomew County  $1 million.
• Columbus $740,171.
• Decatur County $999,999.
• Edinburgh $471,903
• Franklin $1 million.
• Jackson County $983,241.
• Jennings County $501,492.
• Seymour $928,683.
• Shelby County $928,757
• Shelbyville $$217,854.

The next call for projects will open in July.

INDOT says that painting is underway on an Interstate 65 bridge just north of the Bartholomew County line.

Contractors started painting the bridge over Big Blue River in Shelby County late last week. During the work, traffic is being shifted to the outside lane and shoulder of the highway, near the 82 mile maker. The speed limit is reduced to 55 mph in the area.

Crews are working on the southbound bridge now and will complete painting the northbound bridge later this spring or summer. The $640,000 contract is expected to be finished by the end of July. The schedule is dependent on the weather.

INDOT reminds you to use extra caution, to drive without distractions and to be alert to worker safety in construction zones.

Columbus East High School’s food pantry is getting close to ending its food outreach to the larger community.

Greg Lewis, who has organized the monthly pantries during the COVID-19 pandemic said that there will be food distributions this Friday and on May 20th. After that the pantry will go back to just serving the students in need at the school, as it was originally intended.

Lewis said that the pantry expanded its role during the pandemic because of the need for food help in the community. But it has always been labor intensive. As a department head at the school, he was able to flex his time to organize the pantry. But he is retiring at the end of the school year.

Friday’s drive-through food distribution will be from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Door 31 in the west parking lot behind Columbus East near the tennis courts. There will be enough food for about 200 families but due to strong demand, you can only pick up two collections of food per car. Columbus Animal Care Services will also be distributing limited amounts of pet food.

The Bartholomew County Highway Department says that Stafford Road between County Roads 1025E and 1075E will be closing for bridge work. That will be from tomorrow through April 29th. No thru traffic will be permitted.

Lowell Bridge on Lowell Road between County Roads 325W and 250W will be closing from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Friday for bridge work.

You should avoid these areas if you can.

Columbus police are looking for information after shots were fired early this morning near the downtown area.

Police say they were called to the 800 block of 15th Street at about 2:20 a.m. Tuesday morning after several witnesses reported shots being fired. Officers found that a home and several parked cars in the area had been struck by gunfire.

No injuries were reported.

If you have any information on the shooting, you should contact the Columbus Police Department Detective Division at 812-376-2600. Tips and information can be submitted anonymously.

Bartholomew County has two bidders for a major project to make mechanical system upgrades at the Bartholomew County Jail.

Bartholomew County Commissioners accepted bids yesterday morning for the project. And while they said they were disappointed there weren’t more bidders, they also appreciated having at least two to choose from. That comes after recent project bid requests have suffered for a lack of interested construction companies.

The two bidders were Dunlap and Co. of Columbus with a base bid of $2.3 million and Harrell-Fish of Bloomington with a base bid of $1.9 million.

The project would include replacing the aging heating and cooling system that serves the old portion of the jail. The county also requested alternate bids to replace the boilers in the more recent jail expansion along with other HVAC system additions.

Commissioners took the bids under advisement.

Once a bid is awarded, the project is estimated to take 9 to 10 months to complete. Money for the project would come from federal COVID-19 relief funds instead of the county general funds.

Correction: An earlier version of this story was incorrect on Mayor Jim Lienhoop’s role. He will be giving welcoming comments.  

A one-day Bartholomew County Youth Empowerment Summit is coming up next week, organized by the Bartholomew County Council for Youth Development.

100 area students have signed up to take part in the event at the Columbus Learning Center on Friday, April 29th, designed to build leadership skills, to inspire personal action and to expand the vision of a welcoming, safe, and supportive community for all.

Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop will be welcoming the attendees and Tyshaun Allen, of Taylor Bros. Construction Co. and president of the Columbus Area Multi-Ethnic Organization, will be the keynote speaker. He will talk about “Finding Your Own Path to Success”.

Students will rotate through three sessions with local experts, focusing on their strengths, to share insights with other teams and to give them resources to become a leader.

There will also be a panel of four recent graduates who will give a perspective on
life after high school.

Other partners for the summit include The African American Fund of Bartholomew County, Columbus Human Rights Commission, Tu Futuro, Flat Rock-Hawcreek Schools and Bartholomew Consolidated Schools.