YES Cinema will be holding a month-long fundraising event through September with Taco Thursdays at the Cinema Café.

The café, in the cinema on Jackson Street in downtown Columbus will be open from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every Thursday with proceeds benefitting Angels of Love, Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center’s Christmas assistance program.

The café will be offering taco salads, burritos, tacos and nachos during Taco Thursdays. Carry-out will also be available.

For more information, you can call Lincoln-Central at 812-379-1630

Bartholomew County Road 700S, between Road 100 West and the end of the road at Interstate 65, will be closed from about 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. today for a culvert replacement.

Once the culvert is removed no traffic will be permitted in nor out of the road until the replacement and backfill is complete. The Bartholomew County Highway Department says you should avoid the area if at all possible.

Bartholomew County deputies will be better able to communicate with community members with autism and other verbal communication limitations after the donation of communications boards for patrol vehicles provided by the Autism Society of Indiana.

The devices displays photos, symbols and pictures meant to aid people who have limited verbal language skills, so they can express themselves to deputies. Those who need help can use several methods to communicate using the boards, including gestures, pointing or blinking their eyes.

Bartholomew County deputies and corrections officers have been training on using the board.

Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers said the county is constantly working towards being more inclusive. He said: “These communication boards are a welcome addition to our agency”.

A Bartholomew County band received an international award at a recent event in Georgia.

According to HSJ Online, the Hope news website, the Night Owl Country Band was awarded Album of the Year by the International Singer-Songwriters Association for their latest release “Off the Tracks” at the annual awards show earlier this month in Atlanta.

The band was one of more than 20,000 artists who were submitted for consideration by fans. After being nominated, fans can vote once a day over a month for their favorite band. From those nominees, the association chooses the winners.

According to HSJ Online, in addition to album of the year, the band had been nominated for four other awards, including song of the year for their single “Country to the Bone.” The band played that song on the stage at the awards show.

You can read more at HSJOnline.org

Columbus Regional Health will be relocating its outpatient radiology services department for up to a year, after the health system couldn’t reach a deal with its current landlord.

According to the hospital, the lease on the current building expires at the end of the year. And while the health system has plans to move to a more permanent location, that site will not be ready by December.

In the meantime, the hospital will relocate Columbus Diagnostic Imaging to a temporary home on the main hospital campus later this year, as the most cost-effective and efficient option, according to the hospital.

All CDI and Imaging staff will remain employed throughout this move and temporary relocation.

Patients with appointments already scheduled or who need to to be scheduled after Nov. 4 will be rescheduled to the new temporary location. Those patients will be notified and provided detailed instructions.

This year’s free Labor Day weekend concert at Mill Race Park isn’t coming up until next week, but organizers have activities lined up leading up to the big fundraiser.

This Friday, organizers will be holding a drive-through or dine-in fish fry to support the Hospice at the American Legion Post on 25th Street in Columbus from 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., or until the fish runs out. Donations will be accepted at the fish fry.

Yacht Rock Revue will be performing live at the event on Saturday, Sept. 3rd which starts at 6:30 p.m. in the evening. The concert, in its 36th year, is the largest fundraiser for Our Hospice of South-Central Indiana.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, August 30th and 31st, there will be a sale in the parking lot of Nexus Park, where you can buy cookies, T-shirts and raffle tickets. Raffle tickets are $10 each, cookies will be $15 for a box of three dozen, and concert shirts will be $20.

An aging school gymnasium in Seymour has again been listed as one of the most endangered historic places in the state by Indiana Landmarks.

The preservation group released its Top 10 list of endangered places yesterday, including the James M. Shields Memorial Gymnasium on Fifth Street in Seymour. This was the second year in a row for the building to be highlighted for preservation.

The gymnasium was built in 1941 by the federal Works Progress Administration next door to the 1910 high school. It could hold 3,500 fans and was used by Seymour schools until 1981. The buildings were then used by Indiana Bible College for a few years before falling into disrepair. It was purchased in 1996 by local businessmen, who repaired the leaking roof.

However, the building has been continuously damaged by vandals including a 2018 fire that destroyed part of the bleachers.

The building is part of the Walnut Street Historic District.

Indiana Landmarks releases the list in the hopes of educating communities, advocating for the buildings and stimulating efforts to renovate and revitalize historic structures.

Photo: James M. Shields Memorial Gymnasium on Fifth Street in Seymour courtesy of Indiana Landmarks.

The Seymour Parks and Recreation Department will be holding its third annual Parkapalooza 5k on Saturday to raise money for youth scholarships.

Registration is from 7 to 8 a.m. in the morning at Shields Park, with the race start at 8:10  a.m. An awards ceremony will be held at 9:15 a.m.

The registration cost is $30. You can register in advance at Seymour City Hall on Chestnut Street or online at indianatiming.com

The Yellow Trail Museum in Hope is looking for family quilts from the northeastern Bartholomew County community to display during the town’s annual festival.

The museum is asking for anyone in Hope or surrounding areas to drop off their quilts before Sept. 1st. If you have a quilt you would like to display, you can drop them off at the museum on the northwest corner of the Hope Town Square, from 1 to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m.

The quilts will be returned after Hope Heritage Days, which is Sept. 23rd, 24th and 25th.

If you have any questions, you can call the museum at 812-546-8020.

A Clifford man is being accused of firing a gun during a fight on the east side of Columbus Friday evening.

According to reports from the Columbus Police Department, officers were called to the 400 block of Pence Street at about 7 p.m. Friday evening after witnesses said a man fired a gun during the brawl.

Police say that there had been a fight between a large number of people including juveniles. 33-year-old John S. Koop is accused of pulling a handgun from his vehicle and firing a shot into the air. Several people tackled Koop and took away his firearm, which was then secured inside a home until police arrived.

Koop is facing a charge of criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon.

The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department also assisted at the scene and investigation.