Seymour police say that a shot fired into a home Tuesday afternoon appears to have been accidental, and possibly related to a medical issue.

According to the Seymour Police Department, officers were called to the 800 block of West McDonald Street about a shot being fired into the home at about 4:20 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. No one was home at the time the shot was fired and no one was injured. Investigation found that the shot came from a neighboring home.

After getting a search warrant for the second home and interviewing people there, police concluded that the shot was not intentional. According to police reports, they say the incident may have been the result of a medical issue, but provided no further information.

Police say that they are forwarding the results of their investigation to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s office to review.

Three area communities will be part of Community Transformation Workshops organized by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs through the Main Street program.

Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch announced Wednesday that North Vernon, Greensburg and Franklin would be among 21 communities taking part in the workshops, slated to happen between now and the end of the year.

The workshops are meant to assist the cities to define community-informed and market-driven strategies to direct and strengthen its revitalization efforts. The chosen communities must take part in the two-day workshops and they will help them become or remain accredited through Main Street America.

Office of Community and Rural Affairs Executive Director Denny Spinner said the communities will learn more about efforts toward economic development and community engagement geared toward their unique city or town.

The workshops will be held with the assistance of consultants from Main Street America.

For more information on the Indiana Main Street program, visit in.gov/ocra/mainstreet. For more information on Main Street America, visit mainstreet.org/home.

Columbus Regional Health has rolled back its mask requirements for COVID-19.

The hospital announced this week that masks were optional in its facilities with a few exceptions.

The exceptions are:

• If you have had a close-contact exposure to COVID-19 within the last 10 days
• Or if you are experiencing any potential symptoms of COVID-19

The rule change affects staff, patients, and visitors.

Hospital officials say that CRH facilities will remain mask-optional as long as the local Community Levels remain in the Low or Medium range.

You can get more information at https://www.crh.org/news/covid-19-pandemic-what-you-need-to-know.

The Lincoln Central Neighborhood Homebuyer’s Program is organizing a workshop for first-time homebuyers next month at Yes Cinema.

The workshop will be presented by Apprisen, in partnership with Union Savings Bank, the Southern Indiana Housing and Community Development Corporation and Lincoln Central.

Workshop topics will include preparing for homeownership, working with a real estate agent and understanding budgets and credit history. After finishing the workshop, participants will receive a HUD homebuyer certificate of completion.

The workshop is free. It will be from  9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 15th. Registration is required. For more information or to register, you can call the Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center at 812-379-1630 or email [email protected].

YES Cinema is at 328 Jackson Street in downtown Columbus.

A teen couple from Seymour is facing charges after an investigation into an armed robbery last month.

According to Seymour police, officers were called to the 600 block of South Vine Street on February 22nd on a report that a man with a gun held up a victim, stealing a handgun. The suspect was identified as 19-year-old Hunter Coomer and he was accompanied by his girlfriend 18-year-old Max Caudill, police say.

Police couldn’t find the couple and arrest warrants were issued for both.

On Saturday, Scott County deputies located the two at a store in Scottsburg. They were arrested on the outstanding warrants and their vehicle impounded. Yesterday, Seymour police served a search warrant on the vehicle and while they did not find the weapon used in the robbery, or the stolen weapon, they did find a a handgun that had been reported stolen from Jackson County.

The warrant for Coomer was for charges of armed robbery, intimidation, pointing a firearm, and theft. Caudill is facing charges of armed robbery and theft.

They are both awaiting extradition back to Jackson County and police say additional charges are possible.

Bartholomew County will try to get a grant to help local law enforcement officers get access to mental health care.

The Bartholomew County Commissioners approved a grant application at their meeting Monday,

Bobbi Shake, grant writer for the county government, explained that the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Awareness grant would be for $200,000 and would give officers 24-7 access to mental health care options. The program includes an app for cell phones where they could reach mental health access, peer-to-peer access and other services.

The grant would allow up to 300 law enforcement officers and their families to take part in the program, far more than the number of county deputies. Shake said the idea would be to spread the access to include Columbus city police, firefighters and other agencies. Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said that he wanted to ensure that all of the smaller town marshals and police officers in the county, would also have access to the program.

Shake said the funding comes through the federal government, it would reimburse county spending and there would be no county match required. While commissioners said they hated to spend tax money, they also realized that the opportunity would just be used by other agencies, if the county chose not to apply.

She said this is the first time the county has applied for the grant.

Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop says he still has things to accomplish in his last 10 months in office. He outlined the successes of his two terms this week in his State of the City address.

Liehnoop said that when he took office the two biggest pressing issues were the increasing train traffic and congestion at the railroad crossing on Jonathan Moore Pike, and the opioid epidemic. He said that the construction of the overpass solved the first problem, and the creation of the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress in Bartholomew County is still working to address the second.

Lienhoop outlined several challenges he still hopes to tackle in his time remaining in office, including addressing problems in the Animal Care Services building at the airport. The building has had repeated plumbing issues with burst pipes causing flooding in the building. He said that the city will be looking at upgrading or replacing the building, which the department has outgrown.

But he also said that he will certainly be passing some remaining challenges on to the next mayor.

The mayor opted not to run for re-election and explained his reasoning at the speech with photos of his two young grandchildren, saying that they lived with their parents in California and will soon be getting a heavy dose of grandparents in their lives.

A Columbus man is being accused of child molesting after an investigation by city police.

According to the Columbus Police Department, authorites were contacted by a 14-year-old girl who said a family member had assauled her earlier this year. After an investigation, police arrested 29-year-old Trent W. McBride at his home Tuesday morning.

He is facing a felony charge of child molesting.

A fire caused serious damage at a furniture business in Bedford yesterday.

According to the Bedford Fire Department, firefighters responded early yesterday afternoon to a major commercial fire at the Living Room Center warehouse near 5th Street and Bellback Road. Police and firefighters asked the public to avoid the scene to give crews room to work and to keep people safe.

Owners of a neighboring business, Guthrie Creek Butchery, said on social media that the warehouse burned to the ground and while their business didn’t suffer fire damage, there was a great deal of smoke damage. They expected to have to close for several days for clean up.

The firefighters controlled the blaze by early evening, and were still working at the scene last night according to local media reports.

Bartholomew County Commissioners will be testing a new warning system to protect drivers on rural 25th Street.

Commissioners President Tony London said there are a large number of accidents at the intersection of 25th Street and County Road 500E in the Petersville area. A study of the intersection by Purdue through a state program concluded that the county was already taking all of the required measures at the intersection, including a flashing red light for the north-south traffic. But local officials decided that was not enough.

The study alerted county officials to the possibility of a traffic conflict warning system. Radar units installed on the north and south side of the intersection would cause a flashing yellow light on 25th Street to warn drivers of traffic approaching the intersection. The system will be solar-powered. County Commissioner Larry Kleinhenz said the goal is to alert traffic driving 60 mph on 25th Street, that a car is entering from the side roads.

The commissioners agreed to purchase a system from Tapco Traffic Control company for just over $16,000 as an experiment to see if the traffic accidents can be decreased. County Engineer Danny Hollander said he approached several companies he found online offering similar systems, but Tapco was the only one to submit a proposal.