An organization of rural central and eastern Indiana communities along Interstate 74 are seeking a $50 million grant from the state to leverage $866 million in projects and programs.

Accelerate Rural Indiana includes Greensburg, Shelbyville, Batesville and Rushville as well as Decatur, Rush and Shelby counties. The coalition applied for the READI grant last week, outlining 40 initiatives.

The state’s READI grant program, or Regional Economic Acceleration Development Initiative, was first announced in May. The program requires all READI funds be matched on a dollar for dollar basis by local governments or other public sources. The program established 18 regions, with the possibility of up to $50 million in grants for each and the hopes of attracting $2 billion in private and public investment.

The Indiana Department of Health COVID-19 team will be offering vaccines today through Friday in North Vernon.

The clinic will be from 12 to 8 p.m each day in the parking lot at Jennings St. Vincent Hospital. That is at 301 Henry Street in North Vernon.

The Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are available.

A Columbus man was arrested Saturday after allegedly stabbing himself to prevent going back to jail.

According to Jennings County Sheriff’s Department reports, deputies were called to a home on Almond Drive in Country Squire Lakes at about 11:24 p.m. Saturday night about a man violating a protective order.

Deputies were told that the man, 45-year-old Jason Hartman of Columbus was barricaded in the back part of the house, holding a knife to his own neck. Deputies cleared the home and tried to talk to Hartman, who allegedly said he would kill himself and that he was not going back to jail.

Deputies say that Hartman then stabbed himself in the abdomen, jumped from a window and tried to run from the scene. A deputy used a Taser to try to subdue Hartman, but he continued to brandish the knife at police. He was hit by a second Taser, dropped the knife and after a struggle he was taken into custody.

Hartman was taken to a hospital for treatment and then arrested on charges of resisting law enforcement causing injury, intimidation with a deadly weapon, battery on law enforcement, criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, residential entry, invasion of privacy and a warrant from Jennings County Superior Court for Domestic Battery

They’re hiring at Camp Atterbury, and you could make up to $3,500 a week.

The camp’s food service provider, AIM World Services, says they need janitors, cooks, food service workers, and dishwashers. Some of the money made from those roles could be overtime. There’s a hiring event from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, tomorrow, and Friday at the Hilton Garden Inn in Edinburgh.

You will need two forms of government ID and will need to be fully vaccinated in order to apply for any of the jobs. You’ll also have to pass a background check and drug screen.

Network Indiana and TTWN Media Networks Inc. provided the information for this story.

The Columbus Parks and Recreation department is looking for local businesses to take part in the second annual Halloween Fall Fest on the trails of Donner Park.

According to the city, the event will be from 4 to 7 on Saturday, Oct. 23rd. Businesses can decorate a booth and hand out prepackaged candy as well as promotional materials.

There is no fee to participate but each business is asked to provide enough candy for up to 750 children.

The parks department is also looking for businesses interested in donating gift cards as prizes for various age groups of children.

If you are interested, you can contact Jacob Hendricks at the parks department by email at  [email protected] to reserve a spot.

A reminder, that Columbus police have joined in efforts to aid Afghan refugees at Camp Atterbury. The police department is organizing a Pack-a-Patrol-Car donation drive through Friday.

The police department is accepting new and gently used fall and winter clothing including coats and jackets, as well as new and unopened healthcare and hygiene products. You can drop the items off at a police patrol vehicle parked in front of the department between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.  through Friday.

Bartholomew County’s Youth Camp Road will be closed to all traffic from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. today for a pipe replacement, according to the county highway department.

That will be between Evergreen Drive and County Road 750W. You should avoid the area if you can.

Several local communities are announcing their trick-or-treating hours for Halloween.

In Columbus, trick or treat hours will be from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Sunday, October 31.

In Seymour, trick or treating will be from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30th. That’s due to a 1991 declaration from the city’s Board of Public Works and Safety that moves the trick or treating hours to the Saturday prior to Halloween if the holiday falls on a Sunday.

Edinburgh trick or treating will be from 5 to 7 p.m. on October 31st and Prince’s Lake will be from 5 to 8 p.m. The rest of Johnson County and its cities and towns will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

North Vernon’s Sweet Street at Stellar Plaza and Madison Ave and city trick-or-treating will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 31st.

If you want to share treats with trick-or-treaters you should leave your outside lights on.

Operation Allies Welcome announced yesterday that it has finished vaccinating more than 6,100 Afghan refugees at Camp Atterbury against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox.

According to authorities, the vaccination campaign began Sept. 6 and wrapped up on Sept. 17th. Arriving Afghans are required to receive vaccinations for measles, COVID-19, and other diseases as a condition of their humanitarian parole. A medical provider can determine, on a case-by-case basis, that a vaccine is not medically appropriate.

The Department of Defense is temporarily providing medical screening, transportation, lodging and general support at eight installations for Afghan special immigrant visa applicants, their families, and other Afghan personnel.

Ivy Tech Columbus is announcing that two of its engineering technology programs have earned accreditation.

The associate degree programs in Engineering Technology and in Mechanical Engineering Technology have been accredited by the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission of ABET. That’s the global accreditor of college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology.

ABET accreditation assures that programs meet standards to produce graduates ready to enter critical technical fields.