Bartholomew County is preparing a major upgrade to the local government’s information infrastructure.

Bartholomew County Commissioners approved a contract Monday with Fortinet, to upgrade the networking hardware countywide. Scott Mayes, IT director for the county government, said that the network infrastructure is aging and there has been a two and a half year project to plan upgrades. He said the last major upgrade was 13 years ago and that equipment doesn’t provide for many of the modern IT needs or speed including cyber security and remote work.

Mayes said that the recent lightning strike at the county’s dispatch center showed the importance of the upgrade, as the county had to cobble together replacements for the damaged and dated equipment.

The contract for about $793 thousand will include replacing all of the dated equipment. In comparison, the county paid about $900 thousand when the existing equipment was installed 13 years ago. Most of the money for the new equipment, about $515 thousand will come from the IT department budget with $277 thousand coming from the county’s telecommunications fund. Mayes said the only other major competitor to Fortinet was Cisco Systems and their bid was about $1.1 million.

The lifespan of the new equipment is expected to be 10 years.

The Louisville & Indiana Railroad is receiving up to $2.7 million in federal dollars to upgrade its tracks in southern Indiana.

The Federal Railroad Administration is announcing $10.8 million in grants for Indiana to improve rail safety, to strengthen the supply chain and to add passenger rail service in the state. The funds are coming from the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program, through the bipartistan infrastructure law.

The objectives for the Louisville and Indiana Railroad are to enhance the reliability of rail service from Indianapolis to Louisville, to mitigate safety risks like derailments caused by potential rail failures, and to add energy-saving infrastructure. The company will use the funds to design and construct track improvements, grade crossing upgrades, and to install solar panels. The railroad and the Indiana Department of Transportation will provide a 52 percent match for the grant.

Also in Indiana, Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway Corp. is receiving $8.1 million for an Indiana-Illinois rail corridor project.

Ignite Columbus, a pitch competition organized by the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce, is returning in October and organizers are looking for your pitches

Participants will present their most innovative or enlightening ideas in five minute pitches. Each pitch will have 20 slides, each shown for 15 seconds. Winners of the most innovative and most enlightening presentations will receive cash prizes.

The innovation category features presentations with competitors pitching their business ideas for funding, while the enlightening presentations are not tied to a particular project but must be fun, entertaining and educational. Both categories must offer improvements to the Columbus community. There will also be a People’s Choice category.

The event is sponsored by German American Bank.

The deadline to apply to make your pitch is October 9th.

Ignite Columbus will be October 26th. from 5:30pm – 7:30pm at Helen Haddad Hall, 315 Franklin St, Columbus.

You can sign up here: https://chambermaster.blob.core.windows.net/userfiles/UserFiles/chambers/1795/File/Ignite/October26th2023IGNITEColumbusInformation.docx.pdf

IUPUC will be recognizing Banned Books Week with a panel discussion talking with teachers about how they incorporate books that have been challenged into their classrooms.

The University Library of Columbus and the IU Columbus Division of Education are hosting the panel discussion with educators sharing their firsthand anecdotes. Emily Dill, executive director of the University Library of Columbus, said that banning books has been a hot topic of discussion in Columbus this year, but the voices of educators have largely gone unheard.

This event is free and you are invited to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

The discussion will be Monday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., in the Summerville Room of the Columbus Learning Center.

There is a chance of severe weather this evening.

The National Weather Service says you can expect showers and some thunderstorms this evening, coming into southeastern Indiana from the northwest. Some of those could turn into strong to moderately severe weather with heavy rain, damaging winds and hail possible.

Authorities are looking for your help finding whoever damaged mailboxes in Brown and Bartholomew Counties last week.

According to the Brown County Sheriff’s Department, the vandalism happened on Sunday Sept. 17th between midnight and 5 in the morning. At least 30 mailboxes were damaged along with several state road signs. Deputies say that the damage started on Bellsville Pike in Bartholomew County, then onto State Road 135. Deputies say that a pickup headed westbound was possibly involved.

If you have have video surveillance from that morning or any information, you can call Brown County authorities at 812-988-6655.

The Bartholomew County Historical Society is hosting the third in its Evelyn Seward speaker series next week with “Telling Our Story: The Black American’s Search for Freedom in Bartholomew County.”

That will be at 6 on Thursday, Oct. 5th at Helen Haddad Hall on Franklin Street in downtown Columbus.

Brenda Pitts and Paulette Roberts will talk about the history of the Black Americans who came to Bartholomew County since the county’s start, why they came; and how their lives have changed over the decades.

Pitts is a lifelong Columbus resident who was vice president for human resources at Cummins and at the Cummins Foundation. After her retirement she became involved in researching her family history, and their migration here in the 1830s and 1840s.

Roberts was a teacher in Bartholomew Consolidated Schools for 33 years. She has directed many local Black history activities, is co-writing a Black history workbook, created a tutoring program at Second Baptist Church and served on the board of the local NAACP.

Pitts and Roberts, along with others, worked to research and to prepare the local African Americans in Philanthropy exhibit and the Bartholomew Black History exhibit.

Funding for the event is provided by the Evelyn Seward Speaker Series endowment.

Admission is free and you are invited to attend.

The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce will be celebrating first responders with a breakfast event in late October and a new grant opportunity.

The second annual appreciation breakfast will start at 7:30 in the morning on Friday, October 27th at Pewter Hall in Brownstown. Members of all local agencies are invited to attend including police, firefighter, medics and corrections officers.

The event is free but you are asked to register by emailing info at [email protected]

The Chamber is also inviting local agencies to apply for a matching grant from the Jackson County Chamber Foundation for department training or equipment that will improve the safety of county residents. The request can be for up to $500 of matching funds. Applications are due by October 6th  by emailing [email protected]

The Alzheimer’s Association is inviting Columbus-area residents to join the fight to end Alzheimer’s by participating in the Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s® on Oct. 8th at Mill Race Park Amphitheater. Gates will open at 12:30 p.m.

On Walk day, participants honor those affected by Alzheimer’s with the poignant Promise Garden ceremony — a mission-focused experience that signifies our solidarity in the fight against the disease. The colors of the Promise Garden flowers represent people’s connection to Alzheimer’s — their personal reasons to end the disease.

“We’re closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer’s,” said Xandra Dungan, manager, Walk to End Alzheimer’s – Columbus. “We invite everyone in our community to join us by starting a team to help the Alzheimer’s Association raise awareness and funds. Every dollar helps families facing the disease today and supports research toward continued advancements in the future.”

More than 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease – a leading cause of death in the United States. Additionally, more than 11 million family members and friends provide care to people living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

In Indiana alone, there are more than 110,000 people living with the disease and 216,000 caregivers.

To register and receive the latest updates on this year’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s, visit alz.org/Indiana/walk.

The Shelbyville Police Department is asking for the public’s help in finding a man accused of an armed robbery of an elderly couple.

Devon L. Parrish, is wanted after he allegedly entered a Shelbyville home on August 18th with an accomplice and robbed the couple, who are 87 and 84 years old. Parrish and the accomplice are accused of shooting and beating the elderly man and physically assaulting the elderly woman.

On August 28th, 2023, an arrest warrant was issued for Parrish by Shelby County on preliminary charges of: Robbery Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury, a Level 2 Felony; Armed Robbery, a Level 3 Felony; and Burglary, a Level 1 Felony.

Parrish is known to frequent the 2900 block of Olney St., Indianapolis IN. 46218, and the 1100 block of E. 106th St., Indianapolis IN. 46280, according to police.

If you have any information concerning this person, please contact Detective Mark Newman, Shelbyville Police Department, Criminal Investigations Division (317) 392–5145 or Crime Stoppers @ (317) 262-8477 (TIPS) / 800-222-TIPS / crimetips.org