Legal Aid will be holding an in-person and phone-in clinic on Monday in recognition of Martin Luther King Day.
Legal Aid offers the clinics for low-income residents of its eight-county district.
If you take part you will have a brief consultation with a volunteer attorney to answer general questions, to offer legal information or to receive other advice.
The in person clinic will be from 3 to 5 p.m. on Monday at the Legal Aid Offices in the Doug Otto United Way Center on 13th Street in Columbus. The phone clinic will be from 3 to 5:30 p.m.
To take part in the phone clinic, you must first register between noon and 2 p.m. Monday by calling 812-378-0358.
The second week of filing for upcoming municipal elections wraps up today, with several people filing to run for Columbus City Council.
According to the Bartholomew County Clerk’s voter registration office, since last Friday, Democrat incumbent Councilwoman Grace Kestler has filed to run again for her at-large seat on the council along with Republicans Josh Burnett and Alex Englebert.
Last year, Columbus City Council approved moving the city up to a second class status which changes the makeup of the council after this year’s elections.
Second class cities have nine council members instead of the current seven. Six of those are seats by district, while three more are at-large seats.
Also up for election this year are the mayor and city clerk.
The deadline to file to run in this year’s municipal elections is Friday, Feb. 3rd.
Overnight lane closures on Interstate 65 near the Columbus exit were scheduled to start last night.
According to INDOT, contractors will be removing barrier walls, completing shoulder work and shifting lanes over the next days.
Tonight the southbound left lane will be closed around the Columbus overpass. The work will move to alternating left and right lane closures in the southbound lanes between Walesboro and Columbus on Sunday. The work will be going on between 9 at night and 6 in the morning.
Sunday’s work will move move the southbound traffic back into the southbound lanes in the work zone. The left lane will remain closed will crews install a barrier wall in the median.
This work is part of the $65 million project adding travel lanes between Seymour and Columbus.
INDOT reminds you to slow down, to use extra caution and to drive without distractions in all work zones. The work schedule is dependent on the weather.
The Johnson County Coroner’s office has identified the victim in what they are calling a road rage shooting Wednesday night in Greenwood.
Greenwood police and firefighters found 43-year-old Richard Donnell Hamilton of Indianapolis dead from a gunshot wound inside a white work van in the area of Interstate 65 and County Line Road at about 6:25 p.m. Wednesday evening
Indiana State Police believe this was a road rage incident. They say that a suspect or suspects in a silver car opened fire on the van as they exited the interstate headed northbound. It is not known how many shots were fired.
Troopers are asking that anyone with information including anyone who had a dash camera operating in the area between 6:20 and 6:30 last night contact the Indiana State Police at 317-899-8577. You can also leave tips anonymously at 317-262-8477.
Jesse D. Taylor. Photo courtesy of Columbus Police Department
A Scipio man is under arrest after Columbus police recovered a stolen rifle during a traffic stop Wednesday evening.
According to police reports, officers stopped the vehicle at about 6 p.m. Wednesday near Second and California streets. That’s when an officer noticed the rifle in the front passenger seat.
Officers secured the weapon and discovered that it had been reported stolen from Jennings County. Police also discovered that the driver, 37-year-old Jesse D. Taylor of Scipio was prohibited from having firearms because of previous convictions for armed robbery and domestic battery.
Taylor was arrested on preliminary charges of:
Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Serious Violent Felon
Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Domestic Batterer
A semi-truck fire threatened other vehicles at the northbound Interstate 65 rest stop in Bartholomew County yesterday morning.
According to reports from the sheriff’s department and firefighters, deputies and German Township firefighters were called to the rest stop at about 5:30 a.m. Thursday, and found a tractor-trailer on fire. Deputies cleared the parking area, where other drivers were sleeping in their vehicles.
Columbus Township Fire and Rescue firefighters arrived to help and the fire was extinguished within about 10 minutes of the firefighters arriving.
No one was injured and the cause of the fire is still under investigation. Other agencies assisting at the scene included Harrison Township and Clifford firefighters and Columbus Police.
Photo courtesy of Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department.
Ivy Tech Community College Franklin campus is receiving a $25,000 workforce readiness grant from the American Water Charitable Foundation.
The money will be used to support the school’s early college program for high school students focused on advanced manufacturing and the development of its campus Advanced Manufacturing Lab.
The grant will help the college outfit its Advanced Manufacturing Lab with industry-grade equipment to help prepare students for advanced manufacturing careers. The lab will also support local industry employers in upskilling and training their workforce.
Ivy Tech partners with Center Grove High School and Clark-Pleasant community schools to offer the Johnson County Advanced Manufacturing Program. Under the program high school students can earn an associate degree from Ivy Tech in industrial technology while concurrently earning their high school diploma.
Investigators are looking to the public for information after a man was shot and killed in Greenwood last night.
According to Indiana State Police reports, emergency personnel were called to the area of Interstate 65 and County Line Road at about 6:25 p.m. last evening on reports of a person being shot. Greenwood police and firefighters discovered a man dead from a gunshot wound inside a white work van. Troopers say that a suspect or suspects in a silver car opened fire on the van as they exited the interstate headed northbound. It is not known how many shots were fired or the motive for the shooting.
Troopers are asking that anyone with information including anyone who had a dash camera operating in the area between 6:20 and 6:30 last night contact the Indiana State Police at 317-899-8577. You can also leave tips anonymously at 317-262-8477.
A nearly $1 million grant will expand rural broadband internet access across Indiana including homes in Jennings County.
Lt. Gov Suzanne Crouch and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs are announcing a fourth round of grants under the Indiana Connectivity Program to expand broadband access to 256 addresses across 31 counties. The program helps expand access to high-speed, quality broadband.
This round of grants awarded $935,174 including $63,385 to Southeastern Indiana REMC, which will expand access to 14 addresses in Jennings County.
The grant requires a match of more than $2.4 million from local Internet providers.
Larson M. Brock. Photo courtesy of Columbus Police Department.
Columbus police arrested two people Tuesday on theft-related charges after they were found with stolen items including credit cards, a laptop and a gun.
According to the Columbus Police Department, officers received a report at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday morning that a stolen credit card was being used to purchase food at a restaurant on 25th Street.
At the restaurant, they contacted 27 year old Larson M. Brock who was walking to a car in the parking lot. When officers looked inside, they saw a bag that matched the description of one stolen recently. Police secured the bag which contained the laptop and other items. When Brock was taken into custody police discovered he was carrying several gift cards and credit cards that didn’t belong to him.
A passenger, 24-year-old Lauren N. Welch got out of the vehicle and police discovered a stolen wallet where she had been sitting, as well as a handgun in the vehicle that had been reported stolen from Bartholomew County Monday.
Lauren N. Welch. Photo courtesy of Columbus Police Department.
Both were arrested. Brock is facing preliminary charges of theft of a Firearm, Fraud, and Theft. Welch is being accused of theft, fraud and false informing.
The investigation is ongoing.
Police are warning you to never leave valuable items unattended in your vehicle including firearms. And you should a always lock your vehicle’s doors.
