Former Vice President Mike Pence says he prays the leaked Supreme Court opinion on abortion becomes final.

Speaking in Indianapolis, the Columbus native said Roe v. Wade needs to be overturned to return the choice to the voters and their elected officials across America.

Pence said said it’s dangerous to have protestors outside Justice’s homes. The former Vice President said protests outside the homes of Supreme Court justices is an attempt to influence their decision.

Pence said Democrats claim overturning Roe v. Wade is an infringement on women’s rights, but really it’s about putting the power to make the choice back in the people’s hands. Pence said that millions of Americans agree with him.

Story courtesy of TTWN Media Networks Inc.

A Crothersville man has been arrested after a Tuesday night stabbing in Seymour.

According to Seymour Police Department reports, officers were called to the scene in the 200 block of East 11th Street at about 8:22 p.m. Tuesday night. Officers found a trail of blood leading from the street to a home, where they discovered a male victim with a stab wound to his upper body.

Jackson County EMS and the Seymour Fire Department provided medical treatment to the victim, who was taken directly to the Schneck Medical Center helipad and then flown to St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis by Stat Flight helicopter. He is believed to be in stable condition, police say.

Investigators sought a search warrant and processed the scene for evidence.

26-year-old Jacob E. Easley of Crothersville was arrested on a preliminary felony charge of battery with a deadly weapon and taken to the Jackson County Jail.

Columbus city officials say there is still time to buy engraved bricks for the 1821 Bicentennial People Trail expansion along First Street.

Bricks are 4 inches by 8 inches and you can have up to three lines of text with a maximum of 16 characters per line. That includes spaces and punctuation. Each engraved brick is selling for $100. They will be placed in the path for the trail expansion that is being built along First Street from Water Street to Lafayette Avenue.

You can still order bricks through the end of May.

You can find a submission form here.

If you have any questions, you can call Robin Hilber at 812-376-2522.

Photo rendering courtesy of Hitchcock Design Group.

Columbus Regional Health is offering sports physicals tonight at Hauser Jr. Sr. High School in Hope.

Students must be accompanied by a parent or guardian and must complete the IHSAA physical form.

The physicals night will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at the school. The event is open to students in 5th through 11th grades. The cost is $25. Proceeds from the physical fees will go to benefit the schools’ athletics programs.

There will be another sports physical night from 6 to 8 p.m. on May 16th at Columbus East High School. The event is open to any high school students or incoming freshmen. Registration begins at 5:30 p.m. and the cost is $30.

Nominations are open for this year’s Jack Cramer Ideals of Athletic Competition Award, according to the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department.

The awards are presented annually to a local male and a female athlete, coach or sports organizer. All nominees must live or work in Bartholomew County and be a senior in high school or adult.

The 2021 winners were Sarah Stair, in the women’s category and Rick and Ron Patberg in the men’s category.

The award is in honor of Cramer, a former local athlete who died in 1978 at the age of 33.

You can find information and nomination forms at Donner Center or at www.columbusparksandrec.com. The deadline to enter is June 17th.

Bartholomew County officials are making plans to save nearly three quarters of a million dollars in interest payments on the new court services building behind the Bartholomew County Jail.

The $3.6 million project was part of a land swap between the city of Columbus and Bartholomew County governments. The goal was to clear the large parking space between Second and Third streets so the city could facilitate a new hotel conference center on that property.

In exchange for the county giving up the parking lot and old court services building, the city agreed to pay the first $1.5 million to construct the new court services building. The city, through the redevelopment commission, also agreed to finance the rest of the cost over 15 years at a 3 percent interest rate. But Bartholomew County would then make those payments through a lease-purchase arrangement.

County Commissioners asked the County Council last night to consider paying that remaining balance in cash, saving the county more than $700,000 in interest payments over the life of the financing. Council members sounded positive about a plan to save the taxpayer’s money in the long-term.

The request was not on the council’s agenda for action, so the council members asked the commissioners to come back with more details and a proposal in the upcoming weeks.

The city of Columbus is ironing out the final details for the construction of a $27.2 million sports fieldhouse on the north side of the former Fair Oaks Mall.

The city’s board of Public Works and Safety yesterday approved an amended agreement with Force Construction for the final proposal, including two alternates for the project. Jamie Brinegar, the city’s finance director, said that those alternates would include increasing the concrete thickness to seven inches and building an 11 foot concrete curtain wall around the bottom of the facility to protect it from damage during sports events. Those alternates increase the base bid of $25.7 to $27.2 million.

Brinegar said that the city will pay about $25.7 million for the project from bond sales. The city will contribute $1 million from COVID-19 relief funds for drainage work at the facility and the rest of the money would come from donations and other city reserve funds he said.

The city expects demolition work on the former Goody’s space to start in August. With a delay in steel construction materials, work on the facility will likely start in February, wrap up in October or November of next year, with the first events taking place in the completed building in 2024.

The city of Seymour is announcing that Airport Road will be closed for up to 3 months while the city builds a roundabout at the entrance to Freeman Field.

Airport Road will be closing at G Avenue starting Monday and will be closed for up to 90 days. This is the next phase of the Burkhart Boulevard extension project.

City officials say you should use the Walnut Street entrance to Freeman Field during the construction. There will be a temporary driveway built around the construction at Developmental Services Inc. so you can access the Humane Society, and other businesses west of Airport Road on Avenue G.

The United Way of Bartholomew County is still looking for volunteers to take part in the upcoming Day of Caring.

During the Day of Caring on May 20th, hundreds of volunteers will fan out across the community to complete service projects for community members, nonprofit agencies, and other organizations. Projects include planting flowers, mulching, painting, organizing, and sorting donations. Volunteers of all ages and skill levels can participate.

Magen Pillar, spokeswoman for the United Way, says that there are 346 total volunteer slots available and about 100 remain unfilled.

You can still register to volunteer for the Day of Caring through Friday. You can find a link on the United Way website at uwbarthco.org.

A Columbus man is being accused of driving drunk, crashing a vehicle and injuring his infant child.

According to Columbus Police Department reports, officers were called to the area of 10th Street and Central Avenue at about 11 p.m. Friday night after witnesses reported a driver fleeing the scene of a crash.

Police found the vehicle a few blocks away and the driver, 20-year-old Pablo A. Calderon Lasaro, was holding his one-year-old child who had been injured in the crash. Officers spoke with Lasaro and say that he was slurring his speech and had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath.

Lasaro failed several field sobriety tests, police say, and was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital to have his blood drawn. After that he was arrested on preliminary charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated with endangerment, child neglect, leaving the scene of an accident and illegal consumption of an alcoholic beverage.

The child was treated for minor injuries at the scene and then released to family members.