Ivy Tech Community College Columbus biology professors will be leading a nature hike at the Touch the Earth Natural Area on Saturday.

The hike will focus on exploring the network of trails within the Sycamore Land Trust property. All trails on the property are listed as “easy.”

The Touch the Earth Natural Area is west of Columbus on North Country Club Road just south of State Road 46.

Hikers will meet at 10 a.m. in the morning.

The hike is open to the public, and you are invited to attend. You should dress appropriately for the outdoors and the weather.

Graphics courtesy of Sycamore Land Trust

The deadline is coming up tomorrow if you need to sign up your children for I-Care child care through Bartholomew COnoslidated Schools for the week of spring break.

According to the school district, the care will be available at CSA Fodrea Elementary from 6:30 in the morning to 6 p.m. in the evening March 11th through the 15th. The i-CARE program provides hands-on, STEM enrichment activities as well as healthy snacks, physical activity and homework help.

The program costs $125 a week for full time or $30 a day for drop in care. i-CARE offers a discounted sibling rate of $5 extra per day for each additional child. The deadline to sign up is Friday, but families will still be responsible for the full payment for students withdrawn after March 1st.

You can find a link to sign up here: https://www.ezchildtrack.com/parentportala/

For more information, visit www.bcscschools.org or call the i-CARE office at (812) 418-0924.

State Road 258 will be closing for three months near Freetown while crews replace a bridge superstructure.

According to INDOT, the work is expected to start on Monday. Contractor crews will be working at the intersection of State Road 258 and Jackson County Road 300W, just over two miles east of Freetown.

The official detour takes State Road 11 to U.S. 50 to State Road 135 before going back to State Road 258.

INDOT says the project is part of a $4.5 million contract awarded to Force Construction that includes three bridge rehabilitation projects.

The work is expected to take up to 90 days. The work schedule is dependent on the weather.

INDOT asks that you slow down, drive without distractions and use extra caution when driving in work zones.

With the severe weather in our area overnight and the start of tornado season coming soon, state emergency officials are offering safety tips.

The Indiana Department of Homeland Security says that if you have to take shelter during a severe weather threat, you should move to the lowest floor of a sturdy building such as a basement, safe room or storm shelter. If you don’t have such shelter, you should use an interior room or a hallway that has no windows. Blankets, pillows and furniture can provide additional protection.

If you are in a vehicle when severe weather hits, officials say your best choice is to get out and take shelter in a strong building. If you have to stay in the car, keep your seatbelt on, lower your head below the window and cover your head and neck with your arms and a blanket.

They also say not to try to shelter underneath of a bridge or overpass. Strong winds could cause the structure to collapse. You are also not protected from flying debris under a bridge. And if your vehicle is stopped there, you can block the roadway, preventing emergency crews from passing through or impeding others who are trying to reach better shelter.

The department also suggests that you have several ways of getting accurate and updated weather reports including radios and smartphone apps.

According to weather statistics, April, May and June are the months where tornadoes are most likely in Indiana.

A proposal for a Black heritage trail in downtown Columbus will be unveiled this evening.

Paulette Roberts, Tami Iorio, and Jim Nickoll will be presenting their research on Columbus Black heritage sites in a discussion from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Helen Haddad Hall at the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic offices at Franklin Street.

Local historians and architectural experts are working on a project to celebrate important sites in Columbus and Bartholomew County Black History. Roberts has been organizing a Black Heritage Trail of downtown sites and leading tours during Black History Month. The trail highlights what Columbus was like for Black residents from 1870 to 1940.

10 sites are being proposed for the trail and are being documented as significant places of Black heritage. A mockup design of the history trail markers and a proposed project budget will also be presented.

Tonight’s event is being organized by Roberts, Bartholomew County Historical Society, Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives, and Landmark Columbus Foundation.

You can find out more about all of the community’s Black History Month activities at https://www.blackhistorycolumbus.com

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