Seymour resident John Rust will not be on the Indiana Republican primary ballot for the U.S. Senate in May.

The Indiana Election Commission voted unanimously yesterday to remove him over challenges to his candidacy. State law requires candidates to vote in the primary for the party they wish to represent in the two previous elections. Rust had voted in Democratic Party primaries before 2016, when he voted Republican, and he did not vote in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19, he says.

Rust called it a “very disappointing” ruling and says the Indiana Republican Party wants to keep him off the ballot. Rust released a statement on Twitter saying that if necessary he plans to appeal this ruling in front of the U.S. Supreme Court and claimed that the hearing had a pre-determined outcome.

Rust is a former executive with Rose Acre Farms.

Story courtesy of TTWN Media Networks and Network Indiana

Columbus Township Fire and Rescue Department Chief Dave Thompson has resigned.

Columbus Township Trustee Ben Jackson made the announcement this afternoon. Thompson has been with the fire department for more than 12 years and has served as chief for seven years.

Jackson said that Josh Ferrenburg has been appointed acting chief while a search for a replacement is underway.

State officials say that area communities have submitted proposals through the second round of READI grant applications. The Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative will distribute up to $500 million along with $250 million being awarded by the Lilly Endowment.

The goal is to pair the state fund with matches from local public and private funding to generate $3 billion in investment in community initiatives. The governor’s office announced Tuesday that 15 regions across the state, representing all 92 counties had submitted proposals for this round of funding. According to the Governor’s office, the exact projects included in each proposal will be released next week.

In our area, the Southern Indiana Housing and Community Development Corporation represents Bartholomew, Jackson, Jennings counites and the town of Edinburgh in the South Central region with its application. According to the group, the proposals are meant to “inspire and cultivate collaboration among companies and communities to build powerful technologies, prosperous communities and a resilient future.” The goal is to do that by focusing on innovation, entrepreneurship, education, workforce development, housing and quality of place improvements.

The region was led in the first round of READI grants in 2021 by the South Central Indiana Talent Region group and received $30 million in funding that year.

Brown County is part of the Indiana Uplands region being led by Regional Opportunity Initiatives Inc. Shelby and Decatur counties are part of the Accelerate Rural Indiana region being led by the Accelerate Rural Indiana Regional Development Authority.

A driver who was spotted going the wrong way on a downtown Columbus street Friday night was arrested after a police chase.

According to Columbus Police Department, officers were already working at a traffic stop on Seventh Street near Central Avenue at about 9:30 p.m. Friday evening. That’s when they saw another vehicle moving slowly in the wrong direction, headed directly towards them. Police ordered the driver to stop and he briefly did so, before racing off.

Police began chasing the vehicle, before the driver struck a median near 10th Street and Central Avenue and then another vehicle near 17th Street and Central. The driver of the second vehicle was slightly injured in the crash. That’s when the first driver ran away, police say.

The fleeing driver was taken into a short distance later and identified as 26-year-old Marcos Morales-Cortez. Police say his eyes were glassy and bloodshot and he had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. He was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital to have his blood tested and then arrested on preliminary charges including Resisting Law Enforcement in a Vehicle, Resisting Law Enforcement, Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated, Operating a Vehicle Without a License as well as an outstanding Bartholomew County Warrant

There is a chance of severe weather today, according to forecasters.

The National Weather Service in Indianapolis says that scattered severe storms are possible across the state this evening, mostly from 7 p.m. tonight to 4 a.m. Wednesday morning. You can expect damaging wind gusts of up to 38 mph in our area, with large hail possible.

The agency also says there is a chance for record breaking high temperatures across central Indiana today. Yesterday’s high of 73 in Indianapolis, beat the previous February 26th high by five degrees. The previous high of 68 was set in 1998.

The highest recorded temperature for today’s date in Columbus was 71 in 2000 according to National Weather Service records.

The Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce is making plans for its annual meeting, coming up on April 2nd at The Commons.

According to the business group, the featured keynote speaker will be Vanessa Green Sinders, president and CEO of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. Sinders became the Indiana Chamber’s first female president and CEO in January. Previously she served in Washington D.C. as senior vice president for government affairs at Charter Communications.

At the annual meeting the Chamber also hosts several awards, including including the Edna V. Folger Teacher of the Year Award, and awards for the Company of the Year, Project of the Year and the Community Service Award.

The annual meeting is sponsored by Centra Credit Union and Sinders speech is sponsored by Smithville.

The meeting will be at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday April 2nd. You can register online at www.columbusareachamber.com or call 812-379-4457

The Yellow Trail Museum and Bartholomew County Genealogical Society is continuing its new program recognizing the first pioneer settlers of the town of Hope.

The First Families of Hope will feature monthly talks recognizing and researching the early settlers. Those will be in the form of discussions on the first Saturday of each month through August of next year.

In the first group, there will be a focus on the families who attended the first services at Hope Moravian Church in June of 1830. The next discussion will feature the Martin and Susannah Hauser Family and will be at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 2nd at the Yellow Trail Museum research center on the northwestern corner of the Hope Town Square.

You are asked to bring any photos, genealogy, documents, stories, or anything else you might want to share. The Genealogical Society will scan copies during the sessions to make available to the public and to the museum.

The Hope Moravian Church family series will run through August of this year. A second series will focus on the 124 early landowners who had purchased land in Flat Rock and Hawcreek Townships by 1830.

The program is also part of a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Yellow Trail Museum in 2025.

Heritage Fund – The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County is looking for your thoughts on the need for a new performing arts and entertainment center in Columbus. An online survey is available through March 15th.

The foundation is announcing that the community survey is being done on behalf of a community based steering committee. The foundation has engaged a consultant named Theatre Projects to conduct a market and feasibility study that is meant to assess the current and potential future demands for a performing arts and entertainment center.

You can take the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/columbusarts

Bartholomew County is moving ahead with a major overhaul of the county courthouse.

The county commissioners yesterday approved a construction contract for almost $3.3 million dollars for the work, along with a notice to proceed on the project to its contractor Dunlap & Company.

According to the commissioners, the project will include replacing the pipes in the building along with the heating and cooling system, installing all new lighting, carpet and ceilings, and upgrading the computer cabling throughout the building.

Commissioner Carl Lienhoop estimated that the last time this scale of a project was done was more than 30 years ago. Commissioners President Larry Kleinhenz said that the work will be very disruptive to courthouse offices and the county officials wanted to get it all done at once, rather than stretch the process out.

The project is expected to take just over a year and two months. During the work, the north lane of Jackson Street behind the Bartholomew County courthouse in downtown Columbus has been closed and is being used for a staging area for construction materials.

$2 million in funding for the project is coming from the county general fund, with the rest coming from federal COVID relief funds.