A West Virginia woman died in an accident on Interstate 74 yesterday afternoon, after her vehicle crashed into wreckage from a previous collision.

Indiana State Police say that the SUV carrying 63-year-old Kathleen Bunyer of Huntington, West Virginia side-swiped the rear of a semi that had pulled off to the side of the road following a crash moments before. Her vehicle rolled several times and despite life-saving efforts from a Good Samaritan, she was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash at about 2:35 p.m. near the Pleasant View exit.

The driver of her vehicle and an infant inside were taken to area hospitals.

The westbound lanes of I-74 were closed until 7:00 p.m. while the crash was investigated.

Bartholomew County residents who need help paying for health insurance may qualify for help through the Premium Link Bartholomew County Program.

According to the United Way of Bartholomew County, residents may qualify for the program if their household income is less than 250% of Federal Poverty Guidelines and if they have health coverage through Marketplace Silver or Gold Plan or HIP Plus.

As an example, to qualify for a family of two, their annual income would have to be less than $45,775 a year, or $57,575 for a family of three.

For more information, you can call 812-314-2960 or email [email protected].

Local government offices are closing Friday and Monday for the Christmas holiday.

Columbus trash collections will be running on their normal schedule on Friday, but will be delayed a day next week with normal Monday collections happening on Tuesday and normal Friday, Dec. 30th collections happening on Saturday Dec. 31st.

The Columbus/Bartholomew Recycling Center and Bartholomew County Solid Waste Management District offices will be closed Friday and Monday. The Bartholomew County Landfill, and the Petersville and Harrison Township Saturday Convenience Stations, will close at 1 pm on Saturday. The Bartholomew County Landfill will be closed on Monday.

Columbus City Utilities office will be closed Friday and Monday. If you have a problem with your water or sewer service, you can call 812-372-8861 and follow the prompts.

A lawyer who urged then Vice President Mike Pence, a Columbus native, to refuse to certify the 2020 presidential election results, is being referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.

The House January 6th select committee is recommending the Department of Justice investigate and possibly prosecute John Eastman, a lawyer advising former President Trump. The election law attorney’s referral was based on two counts including impeding an official government proceeding and conspiring to defraud the government.

Eastman wrote a memo that outlined a plan for Pence to to toss out the election results. The committee said Eastman was repeatedly warned before January 6th, 2021 that his plan was illegal.

Story courtesy of TTWN Media Networks Inc.

Forecasters are now warning of wind chills as low as -25 heading into Christmas weekend in our area.

The National Weather Service says we can expect dangerously cold weather, strong winds and snow later this week. A strong storm system is expected to come through Thursday night and Friday morning with wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph. A winter storm watch has been issued for parts of Indiana north of Interstate 70.

Forecasters warn that wind chills this low can lead to frostbite in less than five minutes. Hypothermia is a real danger if precautions are not taken. Temperatures are expected to be at or near record lows.

And we could see roads icing over as the Arctic air moves in Thursday night. Along with snowfall, that could make travel difficult on Friday.

The weather service urges you to prepare now, gathering any necessary supplies to protect yourself from the dangerous cold. And you should consider alternate travel plans.

Toyota Material Handling is partnering with Anchor House in Seymour to provide for those in need in the community.

According to an announcement Monday from the company, Toyota Material Handling will be providing more than $100,000 to the Jackson County agency. That will come from direct contributions, donations and volunteer time to help the group.

Anchor House focuses on housing, employment resources and nutritional assistance in Jackson County. It is the only homeless assistance program serving the local community, offering two emergency shelters and the largest food pantry in the area.

Toyota will be providing $100,000 in financial support to Anchor House to be paid over the next four years. The company is planning in-kind donations to help community needs such as non-perishable food or business and interview attire. Toyota employees will be able volunteer to help Anchor House shelter maintenance and food pantry donations.

Toyota will also be helping the agency’s self-sufficiency program by providing employment skills training to residents involved in the program. The training includes interview skills, resumé writing and application completion assistance.

In 2022, Anchor House provided more than 10,500 nights of shelter to citizens in need and served over 14,000 people through its food pantry.

A North Vernon woman was arrested Friday, accused of fleeing from police in a vehicle after a reported domestic disturbance, ditching her vehicle and then hiding at a convenience store.

The incident started at just before 5:30 a.m. Friday morning when North Vernon police were called to the 400 block of Sixth Street and found that one of those involved had fled the scene in a vehicle. Police soon located the vehicle and attempted to pull it over, but the driver sped away, committing other traffic offenses, police say. But after discovering nothing physical had happened during the original incident, police stopped the pursuit.

Jennings County deputies were alerted to the vehicle found abandoned on the side of the road in the 500 block of West Walnut. Witnesses said the driver, wearing only a shirt and underwear had fled to the nearby convenience store. Officers found 34-year-old Amberley R. Day hiding on top of freezers in the back of the store.

She was arrested on preliminary charges of resisting law enforcement with a vehicle and reckless driving.

Nashville police say that a called in bomb threat and sniper threats on Friday appears to have been a hoax, committed by someone not even in the country.

The incident started at about 3:30 p.m. Friday when dispatchers received a phone call saying that multiple bombs had been placed inside and outside of the Out of the Ordinary and Hickory Bar Restaurant on South Van Buren Street. The person making the threat also said that they were watching the scene from nearby, that they had a sniper rifle and they were ready to shoot law enforcement officers.

Nashville Police, the Brown County Sheriff’s Department and Indiana Conservation Officers responded to the scene and called in the Indiana State Police Bomb Squad and the FBI. The state police bomb dogs searched the area and found that it was a false alarm.

Police say that the person making the threats appears to have been watching a live-view street camera while they were making the threats. Investigators say that they concluded the person making the calls was not in the area and appear to have been calling from overseas.

The case remains under investigation by the FBI.

The cause of a fire that gutted the Irwin Block building in downtown Columbus will remain as undetermined.

According to reports from the Columbus Fire Department, inspectors from that agency and the Indiana State Fire Marshal’s office combed through debris for several days in the area where they fire is believed to have started on Dec. 3rd — a ground level storage building at the rear of both 422 and 440 Fifth Streets, near the intersection of Fifth and Franklin streets.

But because of the burned out building’s poor structural integrity and the dangers of further collapse, investigators were limited in how much they could extend their search.

Columbus Fire Department Investigator Troy Todd said it is too unsafe to conduct further investigations, under National Fire Protection Association Standards, meaning the cause will remain undetermined.

The “Undetermined” cause classification is used for a fire incident that lacks physical evidence or accounts of factors that led to a fire. It is one of four possible causes classifications also including natural, incendiary and accidental.

The fire was noticed by a passerby in the storage building at shortly before midnight on Dec. 3rd. Firefighters arrived on scene to find the historic building fully engulfed in flames and had to fight the blaze despite sub-freezing temperatures and several collapses that endangered firefighters and damaged a ladder truck.

Three firefighters were hurt during falls at the scene, but no one was seriously injured and two office cats that lived in the building were found unharmed afterwards.

Forecasters say we are in for some nasty weather later this week.

According to the National Weather Service, a strong storm system is expected to bring severe weather starting late Wednedsay night and continuing through the weekend. Starting Wednesday night, you could see dangerously cold wind chills, well below zero, strong winds and accumulating snow all across central and southern Indiana.

They say that the wind chill could cause frostbite in as few as five minutes if you don’t take precautions.

Forecasters say conditions could begin deteriorating rapidly Thursday night into Friday. The arctic storm could cause roads to quickly ice over Thursday night and snowfall could make travel difficult on Friday morning.

The weather service suggests that you prepare now, stocking up on supplies and making plans to protect yourself against the cold. You should also consider alternate travel plans heading into Christmas weekend.