An Indiana State Police major and Bartholomew County resident is retiring after almost 30 years on the force.

The state police announced today that Maj. Larry D. Jenkins is retiring. He most recently served as the assistant chief of staff for communications and information systems.

Originally from Mitchell, he graduated from the Indiana State Police Recruit Academy in 1991. He patrolled Marion and Johnson counties until 1999, when he was assigned to the Seymour post, patrolling Bartholomew County. In 2004, he was promoted to sergeant and served with the Information Technology Section of the Criminal Justice Data Division. He later served as commander for the Information Technology Section and Commander of the Crminal Justice Data Division.

He and his wife have three children and are Bartholomew County residents.

Three Trafalgar girls were seriously injured in a crash on Interstate 65 in Indianapolis Tuesday morning.

According to Indiana State Police reports, a pickup rolled off of the Interstate 65 bridge at Raymond Street, falling to the street below at about 7:37 this morning, ejecting two 17-year-old girls, Kya Lasley and Megan Murray, and trapping a 10-year-old, Keilyn Stauffer, in the wreckage.

Based on their investigation, State Police say that Lasley was driving the dually pickup northbound on Interstate 65, when she changed lanes and sideswiped another northbound pickup. Her truck then hit a guardrail and concrete barrier before flipping over the barrier and falling. Both of the teens were ejected and neither were wearing a seatbelt, according to police reports. They were treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

Stauffer had to be cut from the wrecked vehicle before she could be transported to the hospital.

The driver of the second pickup was uninjured. The crash remains under investigation.

The right two lanes of the interstate were closed for about six hours.

Edinburgh will be holding its National Night Out from 5 to 7 p.m. tonight at the Parks & Rec Sports Complex on Eisenhower Drive.

There will be a free meal and family fun activities. You can stop by to talk with local police, firefighters, paramedics and town employees, as well as your neighbors.

The event is sponsored by the Edinburgh Ministerial Association.

A Seymour police officer and a civilian driver were injured after the police car crashed into the back of another vehicle Saturday.

According to police reports, Officer Gilbert Carpenter was responding to a fire call at Best Way Transfer Station at about 3:14 p.m. Saturday afternoon. Carpenter was driving with his lights and siren activated on U.S. 50 when he came upon backed up traffic. Trying to avoid the traffic, he entered a turn lane, which was also congested and hit the civilian vehicle.

Both the officer and the driver of the second vehicle were taken to Schneck Medical Center for treatment of their injuries and have since been released.

More Hoosier counties now fall under the CDC guidelines to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. New data from the CDC shows 81 of Indiana’s 92 counties in the high or substantial risk categories for COVID-19 transmission. Last week, there were 65 counties in those categories.

Bartholomew, Decatur, Jennings, Jackson, Johnson and Shelby counties all show substantial spread of the disease according to the CDC. Brown County shows a moderate spread.

High transmission means there are over 100 cases per 100-thousand people over a 7-day period, while substantial is 50 to 100 cases per 100-thousand.

Bartholomew County’s COVID-19 Task Force is scheduled to meet tomorrow to consider any changes to local rules, according to hospital officials.

Our news-gathering partners at TTWN Media Networks Inc.  contributed to this report

A Seymour steel tube manufacturer is planning a move to Columbus, bringing up to 28 jobs to Bartholomew County within the next two years and a $1.1 million dollar investment.

In paperwork filed with the city of Columbus, Thormax Enterprises LLC outlined its plans to lease 83,000 square feet of space in the former CCG building on 15th Street in Columbus. The company is seeking a tax break on $668,000 in new equipment and $520,000 in improvements it plans to make to the property.

The company says it is relocating four jobs and plans to add up to 24 jobs, with an expected average wage of more than $21 an hour.

The company would be making its first investment in Bartholomew County. The company manufactures galvanized steel tube used in agriculture, temporary buildings, satellite installations and continuous fence, according to the application with the city.

The company is requesting a tax abatement, which would allow it to phase in property taxes on the new equipment over a 10-year period.

City Council is scheduled to consider the request when it meets tonight at 6 p.m. at Columbus City Hall.

A Seymour man is under arrest for murder, accused of shooting a North Vernon man to death last week.

22-year-old Lelan-Eric W. Sharp of North Vernon died Thursday afternoon at IU Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department is reporting that Sharp was shot in the abdomen at a home in the 8000 block of North County Road 925E in Seymour Thursday morning. A driver took Sharp in a vehicle to get help, stopping in the 7700 block of County Road 875E at about 4:41 in the morning and asked another driver to call 911 because the passenger had been shot.

Medics and law enforcement arrived on the scene. Sharp was first taken to Schneck Medical Center by ambulance and then to the Indianapolis hospital, where he died.

After officers determined the location where the shooting happened, a search warrant was issued for the home and police arrested 32-year-old Jeremiah Christopher Oliger on a charge of murder. He was taken to the Jackson County Jail.

A Commiskey man is being accused of illegally purchasing fish for his pay lake.

Conservation officers with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said 80-year-old Billy G. Campbell is facing felony charges for the illegal sale or shipment of wildlife that are protected by law but have a market value of at least $500 but less than $5,000.

According to investigators, Campbell purchased sport-caught catfish to place them into Kimberly Pay Lake in Commiskey, which he owns. Conservation officers say you can not sell, barter, or exchange fish protected by law in Indiana.

The investigation into Campbell began in 2019.

Republican State Reps. Ryan Lauer of Columbus and Jim Lucas of Seymour are inviting their constituents to weigh in on Indiana’s redistricting process.

The redistricting process happens every 10 years after the completion of the U.S. Census and affects the maps for the U.S. House, Indiana House and Indiana Senate. Legislators will be holding a series of meetings at Ivy Tech campuses around the state starting this week to discuss their plans for redrawing those district maps.

Lauer said the meetings will let legislators hear directly from the public and will help Hoosiers learn more about the process.

There will be meetings in each of the state’s nine congressional districts, with one set for the Ivy Tech Community College Campus in Columbus from 4 to 6 p.m. on Friday. It will be led by State Sen. Jon Ford, a Terre Haute Republican.

Legislators are expected to return to the Statehouse in mid-to-late September to redraw the district boundaries.

Ivy Tech Community College and Franklin College are partnering to offer students an accelerated path to earn an associate’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in just three years.

The schools announced the partnership on Friday, saying that Ivy Tech students who have earned an associate degree in liberal arts through the college’s Associate Accelerated Program will be able to transfer their credits to Franklin College and complete one of 17 liberal arts bachelor’s degree in two years.

Students in the accelerated program are guaranteed admission to Franklin College, with certain provisions.

The accelerated program is meant for traditional age college students. Students are in class from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday for five eight-week terms, earning an associate’s degree in 11 months.

The new program is in effect this fall.