Heritage Fund: The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County is announcing that Elaina Robinson has been chosen as the winner of this year’s Bill and Sally Hanley Excellence in Teaching Award.

Robinson is a special education teacher at CSA Lincoln Elementary School.

Recipients are nominated by their principals and must demonstrate dedication to their job, exemplary initiative, and contributions to improve the school and its environment

The award was established in 2000 and administered by Heritage Fund. It comes with a $1,000 stipend.

You will see streets and lanes in downtown Columbus blocked off Saturday night as local high schoolers from Columbus North, Columbus East and CSA New Tech High Schools take part in their prom at The Commons and the traditional prom parade to make their grand entrance.

According to the Columbus City Engineer’s office, participants will be entering the parade route in the far right lane of Third Street between Lafayette and Franklin. The parking lot across from the Bartholomew County Jail will be used for staging parade entrants that are not street legal.

The parade will turn north on Washington Street past The Commons then up to Seventh Street, where entrants will turn left before heading ack down Jackson Street. The non street legal rides will head to a de-staging lot beside Hotel Indigo. Other entrants will leave the parade route via Third Street.

Drivers who want to parade through more than once are welcome to do so, but organizers ask everyone to be respectful to other drivers.

The festivities are set from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday night. Others driving in downtown will still be able to use the left two lanes of Third Street while the parade is going on.

Columbus Police and volunteers will be providing safety along the route.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the Bartholomew County community’s Mental Health Matters coalition is organizing a full slate of activities,

This afternoon, Friday May 2nd, there will be a Pathways to Wellness seminar from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Recovery Cafe on Sycamore Street in Columbus. The free event is a chance to talk about mental health and substance abuse. It is being led by Janae Garner-Kelley and Vachel Hudson and is meant to offer connection, understanding, and support for individuals and families.

You can find a full schedule at the Bartholomew County Mental Health Matters website here: https://www.mhmbc.org/mentalhealthmonth

Area Republican Congressman Jefferson Shreve say that farmers are used to dealing with economic uncertainty but the current state of flux in international trade needs to be nailed down.

Shreve, just over four months into his first term, spoke recently about the challenges farmers in Indiana’s Sixth Congressional District face.

Shreve said his role is to listen to his constituents and take their concerns to the national level.

Shreve said he holds an agri-business degrees from Purdue University and is former farm owner himself. And that uncertainty is why he is no longer a farmer.

You can hear more from our interview with the congressman and his thoughts on farming here:

The city of Columbus says the first phase of major sewer line work on Deaver Road has begun.

The project will install sanitary sewer that will run along Deaver Road providing services to the new Toyota Material Handling plant being built near I-65 and Deaver Road, across from the existing Toyota plant.

The total sewer line work is between County Roads 225W and 150W adn will involve laying more than 3/4 of a mile of sanitary sewers and supporting structures between four feet and 12 feet beneath the surface of Deaver Road. After the sewer is laid, Deaver Road will have to be reconstructed with patching and a complte milling and new overlay.

Work began this week closing Deaver Road between County Road 175W and 150W.

The sewer work is expected to be completed by the end of July, and the road repaired and reopened by mid August.

If you have to drive in the area, you should use extra caution to worker safety and officials advise you to find alternative routes during the closure.

Low-income area residents will have a chance for free legal advice next week.

River Valley Legal Aid and Pro Bono Indiana will be offering a walk-in legal clinic on Tuesday in Brown County. If you take part you will have a brief consultation with a volunteer attorney to answer general questions, to offer legal information or to receive other advice.

The session will focus on general legal advice on civil matters such as family law, guardianship powers of attorney, protective orders, simple wills and small estates.

The walk-in clinic will be from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Brown County Public Library on Locust Lane.

River Valley Legal Aid offers the clinics for low-income residents of its eight-county district to receive legal advice and assistance. Residents of all area counties are invited to attend.

INDOT says that road projects in Shelby County will close two major state highways, one for a few weeks and one through October.

Starting yesterday, U.S. 52 is closing over Brandywine Creek in Shelby County for a bridge replacement project. The bridge is located just east of State Road 9 near Fountaintown.

U.S. 52 will be open to local traffic only, west of State Road 3 in Rushville. The official detour will follow State Road 9, U.S. 40 and State Road 3.

State Road 52 is expected to reopen in mid-October, weather permitting.

On Monday, May 12th, State Road 9 will close between Shelby County Road 850N and 750N for a structure replacement project in Shelby County. The structure is located approximately 6.8 miles north of I-74 in Shelbyville

The official detour will follow I-74, I-465, and U.S. 52.

State Road 9 is anticipated to reopen in early June.

The work schedules are dependent on the weather.

INDOT reminds you to slow down, to drive without distractions and to use extra caution in all work zones.

The next Columbus community survey is going live as planners continue working on the Downtown Columbus 2030 project.

The Downtown Columbus 2030 plan is meant to guide the city planners and developers in several specific areas. The plan will expand on previous efforts such as Envision Columbus, which was completed in 2018.

The efforts kicked off in November and the city has contracted with the Sasaki engineering firm from Boston and a financial firm from Chicago to take a fresh look at the city efforts to revitalize the area.

Several community workshops have been held and a previous survey was available.

Among the topics in this new survey, it offers questions on where in the downtown community members would like to see growth in housing, in office space, and hotel and hospitality development. It also is looking for your interest in increased retail, dining and entertainment in specific parts of downtown.

The survey will be available to the public through May 21st. You can find a link on the web at downtowncolumbus2030.com

The Seymour mayor’s office is looking for high school students to be members of the Mayor’s Youth Council.

The youth council operates as an advisory board to the mayor on issues affecting youth in the community. Council members take part in city meetings, tour city facilities, hear from guest speakers and participate in other leadership activities. Participants will need to agree to take part in youth council meetings up to twice a month through the school year.

Applications are open to students who will be 9th through 12th graders starting this fall at Seymour High School or at home schools. You can find a link for more information or an application here or email mayor@Seymourin.org

May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the Bartholomew County community’s Mental Health Matters coalition is planning a full slate of activities to help reduce the stigma against mental health and to get people the help they need.

Organizers say that there are a wide range of free and low cost events schedule, ranging from support groups and wellness workshops to yoga sessions and a neighborhood block party.

There will be two pop-up events today, with one starting at The Commons at 3:30 p.m. and one at The Forge on 4th at 5:30 p.m. Vachel Hudson with the Mental Health Matters coalition will be on hand to answer questions and to share resources.

You can find a full schedule at the Bartholomew County Mental Health Matters website here: https://www.mhmbc.org/mentalhealthmonth