Local Congresswoman Erin Houchin has been appointed to the House Energy and Commerce Committee for the 119th Congress.
Houchin said she is “eager to get to work advancing policies that secure our energy future, improve healthcare access, and support economic growth.” She cited Indiana’s diverse energy sector, manufacturing industry, and healthcare innovation as representing the importance of her new assignment.
As a former Indiana state senator, Houchin served on the state Utilities and the Commerce and Technology Committees.
Houchin, a Republican, represents Indiana House District 9 which includes Brown, Jackson, Jennings, Decatur and southern Bartholomew Counties as well as the rest of southeastern Indiana.
Heritage Fund: The Bartholomew County Community Foundation is announcing the two winners of this year’s Lilly Endowment Community Scholarships.
According to the group, Columbus East High School senior Keana Wooten and Columbus North High School senior Neal White have been chosen as the recipients of the scholarships for Bartholomew County.
Wooten is the daughter of Keesha Wooten. She has been a youth leader with activities at The Ridge, prom committee and Student Assembly and is a Patient Care Technician at Columbus Regional Hospital. She plans to pursue a nursing major.
White is the son of Stacia Neal. He has been active in cross country, track and field, Student Assembly, National Honor Society, Youth Leadership Bartholomew County and peer tutoring. He plans to pursue a computer science major.
The scholarships pay full tuition and required fees for four years of full-time undergraduate study that lead to a bachelors degree at any eligible Indiana public or private nonprofit college or university. Students also receive a stipend to help cover costs for books and equipment.
Keana Wooten. Photo courtesy of Heritage Fund
Heritage Fund received 37 applications for this year’s scholarships, from which 10 finalists were selected:
Columbus East High School: Austin Menefee and Ella Powell.
Columbus North High School: Benjamin Ferguson and Rebeca Cantu Garcia.
CSA-New Tech: Santi De Luna, Sydney Morrow and Dane Tibbs.
Hauser Jr-Sr High School: Samantha Holzer.
Lilly Endowment created the scholarship program in the 1997-98 school year and has since granted more than $490 million dollars to support more than 5,300 Indiana students.
Bartholomew County will be spending about three quarters of a million dollars to continue outfitting its deputies with body and vehicle cameras.
County Commissioners approved the five-year contract with Axon for the body and vehicle cameras yesterday, along with video storage and licensing costs for a total of $757 thousand dollars. According to Brandon Slate with the sheriff’s department, next year would be the first year of the new contract at a cost of $127 thousand dollars which includes a discount for the renewal.
Commissioners President Larry Kleinhenz said that he believes the initiative to outfit deputies with cameras began to gather speed after high-profile incidents such as the death of George Floyd and the public uproar. At the time, the commissioners were able to re-allocate about $1 million set aside for courthouse improvements to fund the cameras. Now the county must spend the price to renew the camera contract, he said.
Kleinhenz and Commissioner Carl Lienhoop said that the cameras are a necessity these days and help protect the county from lawsuits and complaints about what happens during an incident.
Commissioners also approved the purchase of 20 new handguns with their sights, a new computer for accident reconstructions and two new sheriff’s vehicles.
Martavius Mims. Photo courtesy of Columbus Parks Department.
The Columbus Parks Department has hired a new sports manager for the Circle K Fieldhouse at Nexus Park, the former Fair Oaks Mall.
Martavius Mims will fill the role, organizing, creating and booking sports programs for the facility. He holds bachelors and masters degrees in sports management from Western Kentucky University and most recently worked in Round Rock, Texas. According to the parks department, he operated an indoor sports complex alongside a 60-acre outdoor multipurpose facility.
Among the activities he organized there were NFL Camps as well as other sports tourism initiatives.
SPARK Jackson County is announcing the winners of grants through the Duke Energy sponsored SPARK ENERGY Innovation Challenge.
According to the Jackson County Chamber, the inaugural Challenge was a competition aimed at generating innovative solutions for renewable energy and sustainability.
Local entrepreneurs Stephanie Strothmann and Jessica Bowman were chosen for the $2,000 grand prize, sponsored by Duke Energy.
The announcement was made recently at an open house opening the new SPARK Shop, a collaborative space designed to foster creativity and support entrepreneurship.
For more information about SPARK Jackson County, the SPARK Shop you can visit www.sparkjacksoncounty.com or contact [email protected].
The city of Columbus will be starting its collection of live Christmas trees the day after the holiday.
According to the city’s Department of Public Works, you can put your live residential Christmas trees curbside on your regular trash day starting on or after December 26th. Call-ins will not be accepted for Christmas trees and collections will not be made on private streets or in alleys.
Trees must be free of:
Ornaments
Hooks
Lights
Nails
Stands
The city says any items left on trees could damage the mulching equipment.
If you need to dispose of an artificial tree, you should call the Department of Public Works to schedule a bulky item pick up
Christmas Tree collections will run through January 26th.
You can get more information on the city website at https://www.columbus.in.gov/public-works/ or through the Curbcycle and Columbus Collects apps for your phone or tablet. .
State Rep. Jim Lucas, a Seymour Republican, is looking for his constituents thoughts on upcoming issues in the 2025 legislative session.
Lucas is encouraging those who live in state House District 69 to take an online survey.
Among the issues, Lucas is seeking opinions is whether law abiding residents should allowed to carry firearms onto college campuses, legalizing medical marijuana, controlling hospital costs and drug-testing of welfare recipients.
The deadline to submit your survey is Dec. 31st. The legislature official goes back into session on January 3rd.
District 69 represents the far southern portion of the Bartholomew along with parts of Jackson, Scott and Washington counties,
Columbus City Council members are scheduled to consider the final approval of a more than $6 million loan to a Bloomington developer for a housing and commercial project at the corner of 11th and Washington Streets downtown, when they meet Tuesday evening.
Rubicon Investment Group of Bloomington is planning to build a $30.9 million project with a five-story building including a parking garage, commercial space and 120 housing units on the corner property. Before recent demolitions on the site, it previously included two derelict homes, the former Joe Willy’s restaurant and a drive-through bank building. The developers are asking the city to provide $6.4 million in funding through a forgivable loan that would come from property taxes paid into the downtown Tax Increment Financing District.
The apartment rents are expected to range from $1,320 to just over $2,300 a month. 24 of the apartments would be 600 square foot studios all the way to 8 three bedroom units at almost 1,300 square feet. According to city documents, 10 percent of the units would be considered workforce units which would offer a 20 percent reduction in rent.
The Columbus Redevelopment Commission signed off on the proposal at their meeting last month. And City Council gave its first approval of the loan earlier this month with Council members Chris Bartels and Grace Kestler voting against it.
City Council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Council Chambers at Columbus City Hall.
Rubicon project rendering courtesy of developer via City of Columbus Redevelopment Department.
Kathy Oren, head of the Community Education Coalition based in Columbus, will be stepping down as president and CEO effective Dec. 31st.
Oren has been with the education coalition for 12 years and has been leading the group since the retirement of John Burnett two years ago. She talked recently about her decision to retire.
After her retirement, former Bartholomew Consolidated Schools superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts will lead the coalition.
Oren talked about the condition she will be leaving the coalition
During her tenure the coalition has moved forward with efforts such as Tu Futuro and Umoja Unity in working to improve education efforts aimed at minority students, has become a Lumina Talent Hub and 21st Century Talent Region, and launched branding efforts for a unified AirPark Columbus College Campus. Her work has also led to funding from groups ranging from the Strada Education Foundation to the Indiana Commission on Higher Education.
A retirement celebration was held for Oren last week at the Upland Pump House.
Photo: Kathy Oren and Jim Roberts at her farewell event last week. WRB photo.
Three Bartholomew County teachers are being recognized with this year’s Reams Family Awards for Excellence in Teaching.
Heritage Fund – The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County is announcing that private school teachers Sydney Morey, Carrie Sanford and Sarah Brumberg are the winners for this year’s awards. The awards recognize outstanding educators teaching in private schools serving Bartholomew County. Recipients are nominated by their principals with additional recommendations encouraged from fellow teachers, parents and students.
The awards come with a cash stipend with $6,000 for first place, $5,000 for second place and $4,000 for third place.
Morey, the first place winner, has been a fifth grade teacher for two years at at White Creek Lutheran School. Second place award winner, Sanford has been with St. Peter’s Lutheran School for seven years and Brumberg has been with ABC-Stewart Montessori School for five years.
The awards, administered by Heritage Fund, were established in 2007 by former Bartholomew County residents Fred and Karen Reams.
More about the teachers:
Morey was nominated for the engaging and meaningful education in her classroom that helps her students connect with content. Morey
was praised as a school leader who incorporates group-building lessons into her weekly routines that help her students become effective problem-solvers and
communicators. She also was complimented for her willingness to help instruct students from other classrooms and grades to nurture their learning as well.
Sanford was nominated for being a dedicated, creative and effective educator. Sanford was praised for getting to know her students on a personal level and taking time to understand each child’s individual learning style, needs and interests. She also is a leader in the school community, playing key roles in accreditation and implementing new technologies and educational
strategies.
Brumberg is praised for her patience and understanding of the Montessori philosophy to teach the whole child as an individual. Beginning with toddler
classrooms, Brumberg now instructs the school’s second- through- six-grader in social studies, geography and history, as well as devotes time to the wider
school community as Spell Bowl coach and with culture fair planning. She demonstrates an innate love for teaching young minds through the Montessori
philosophy and works hard to educate children at their individual level.
