The Columbus City Council heard a request during its meeting Tuesday night to approve a resolution to amend the contract with the engineering and consulting firm working with the city on the State Street Revitalization Project. Heather Pope, the city’s redevelopment director, talks about these changes…

Pope talks about changes to the pedestrian trail, which was originally slated to run along State Street. She says that traffic, and other safety issues, prompted officials to look for a better way to connect the downtown with the east side…

Pope explained her request…

The council voted 6-1 to approve the request. Frank Miller was the lone “no” vote.

While Edinburgh schools began their fall semester on Monday, the majority of students in Bartholomew County return to class on Wednesday morning. Both BCSC and Flat Rock-Hawcreek will be welcoming children back.

Sheriff Matt Myers says that, whether you have children or not, you have a responsibility to be aware of the law and do your part to ensure students make it to school safely…

In an effort to improve safety for students in Columbus, a number of traffic controls and safety measures have been implemented. Dave Hayward, the city engineer, adds his voice to the chorus of local officials urging you to take extra time and precautions…

Hayward says that these improvements include new cross-walks. He talks about a few of the new traffic controls and safety measures…

Hayward adds that the new crosswalks have been installed, but the flashing signals are not yet operational. He says that he expects them to be ready later this week.

Law enforcement, as well as other officials, are urging you to take your time and to keep an eye out for children. Specific areas you should watch for include bus-stops and school campuses. Drivers should also be aware that school-bus drivers have been trained to identify, and report, dangerous vehicles on the spot.

For more on safety measures for drivers, as well as students, visit www.in.gov/isp/2887.htm.

Drivers utilizing State Road 7 in Jennings County need to be aware of some upcoming road work. The Indiana Department of Transportation says that its contractor for Phase I construction of the U.S. 50 Bypass project at North Vernon will perform remedial work later this week on State Road 7. Specifically, at the road’s intersection with State Road 750, says Harry Maginity, INDOT spokesman.

INDOT says that Dave O’Mara, the contractor responsible building 4.5 miles of the bypass between County Road 400 West and State Road 3, will return Thursday to mill surface pavement, and again on Friday to repave approaches on State Road 7. Maginity notes that the State Road 7 approaches extend nearly one-half mile in either direction from State Road 750.

INDOT says that drivers may experience “brief” delays as flaggers route traffic around moving work sites. INDOT officials say that they expect new pavement markings will be placed next week.

Cummins on Tuesday reported results for the second quarter of 2016.

A report from the company says that second quarter revenues of $4.5 billion decreased 10 percent from the same quarter in 2015. The decrease was blamed largely on lower truck production in North America and weak global demand for off-highway and power generation equipment. Company officials say that currency negatively impacted revenues by about one-percent compared to last year, primarily due to a stronger U.S. dollar.

The report goes on to say that revenues in North America were down 13 percent while international sales dropped by four percent. Within international markets, revenues in the Middle East, Mexico and Brazil declined the most, say Cummins officials.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in the second quarter were $591 million, or 13.1 percent of sales, down from $721 million or 14.4 percent of sales a year ago, says the report.

Net income attributable to Cummins was $406 million, ($2.40 per diluted share), compared to $471 million ($2.62 per diluted share) in the second quarter of 2015. The report goes on to say that the company’s tax rate in the second quarter of 2016 was 25.7 percent.

“We made strong progress in our cost reduction initiatives in the second quarter, while continuing to invest in and launch new products that will drive profitable growth in the future,” said Tom Linebarger, Cummins Chairman and CEO. “Benefits from restructuring actions, material cost reduction initiatives, and improvements in product quality helped to mitigate the impact of weak demand in a number of our largest markets and will position the Company for stronger performance when markets improve. We have returned more than $1 billion to shareholders so far this year, through a combination of dividends and share repurchases. Our Board of Directors recently approved an increase in our quarterly dividend of 5.1 percent, consistent with our plans to return 75 percent of operating cash flow to shareholders in 2016,” concluded Linebarger.

Based on the current forecast, Cummins officials say that they expect full-year 2016 revenues to be down eight to 10 percent. They note that this figure is lower than the company’s previous guidance of a five-to-nine percent drop. The company says this is primarily due to a lower outlook for North America truck production and weaker demand in global off-highway markets.

Overall, Cummins announced decreases in the second quarter, compared to the second quarter of 2015 in it’s Engine Segment, Components Segment and Power Systems Segment. The company reported that its Distribution Segment sales were up by three percent, to $1.5 billion.

Other recent second quarter news reported by Cummins includes:

• Cummins won the 2016 Award of Excellence in Energy Management from the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM), a high-level global forum that promotes policies and programs to advance clean energy
• The Board of Directors approved an increase in the Company’s quarterly cash dividend from 97.5 cents per share to $1.025 per share
• Cummins was recently named as one of the Top 50 Companies for Diversity by DiversityInc for the tenth consecutive year
• The Company repurchased 1.8 million shares in the second quarter

Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop has been appointed to the Indiana Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. The appointment by Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma, makes Mayor Lienhoop one of

only three mayors serving on the commission as a representative for Municipal, Township and County Government.

The Indiana Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations is made up of members of the Indiana General Assembly, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, leaders at the municipal, township and county levels, as well as a few residents of the state. The IACIR says that its mission is to create effective communication, cooperation and partnerships between the federal, state and local units of government to improve the delivery of services to the citizens of Indiana.

Additional information about the IACIR may be found at www.iacir.spea.iupui.edu.

The reopening of the State Road 46 bridge spanning Fishers Fork Creek in Bartholomew County has been delayed until Wednesday afternoon.

The Indiana Department of Transportation has announced plans to reopen the bridge, weather permitting, two-and-a-half-weeks ahead of schedule. Contractors worked to remove and replacing the three-span structure located two miles west of State Road 9, just southeast of Columbus.

This nearly $1.4 million-dollar project was scheduled to have the bridge closed for five-months. INDOT had hoped to open the bridge on Tuesday afternoon, but undisclosed circumstances caused officials to delay the reopening by one day.

Columbus firefighters battled a blaze this morning in a wooden storage lean-to, getting the fire under control before it could destroy a neighboring home.

Capt. Mike Wilson, spokesman for the fire department, said firefighters were called to the scene in the 1700 block of McCullough Lane at about 5:45 a.m. Tuesday. A relative, who also lives in the neighborhood, noticed the smoke and woke residents of the home.

The fire was hot enough to melt the vinyl siding on the home. The fire also destroyed part of a wooden fence, but aside from the melted siding the home was left intact, Wilson said.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, Wilson said.

Bartholomew County officials are still waiting to close a land swap deal with Columbus Regional Hospital that would give the hospital the former county annex property on State Street.

But the deal is still likely to move forward, even though the hospital has changed its plans for the Volunteers in Medicine clinic.

The hospital had planned to locate the clinic on the former State Street school property along with a new county annex building. But the plans for the annex fell apart last year over funding concerns. in county government. Since then, the hospital has decided to move the clinic into the old emergency room space at the hospital on 17th Street.

But County Commissioners President Rick Flohr said the land swap is still moving ahead. The county will swap the vacant State Street property for the hospital-owned doctor’s offices off of Foxpointe Drive that now house the county health department.

“That is still going to happen,” Flohr said.  “We keep saying ‘within the month’ and it is just a matter of when they have the documents ready to sign, I am sure we will do it,” Flohr said.

After the annex plan fell apart, County Commissioners had to scramble to find office space for the county functions that used to operate in the annex building.  The county is also moving ahead with plans to find a permanent home for the Purdue Extension Office, by purchasing a property on South Marr Road that has been used by Premier Ag as its headquarters.

The county has a purchase agreement in place to buy two buildings on South Marr Road at a cost of about $700,000. But that is dependent on appraisals coming back showing it is a good deal. Under state law, the county can pay no more than the average price suggested by the two appraisals.

Flohr said that county has contracted with two companies to get the appraisals done but that could take up to 45 days to complete.

Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers would see an annual pay bump of just over $3,000 based on a legal opinion given to the County Council last night.

Council attorney Chris Monroe said that despite having a four-year contract, the sheriff’s pay level is mandated by the state and is based on receiving 80 percent of the pay of the county prosecutor. The prosecutor’s pay is, in turn, based on the pay of the Circuit Court judges. Because the Circuit Court judges received a pay bump to $141,000 as of July 1st, that means higher pay for the sheriff, also, Monroe said.

Monroe advised the council members that based on his reading of the state statute, the council had no option but to increase Myers pay from the contracted $110,000 a year to $113,049. The pay should be adjusted effective back to the first of July, he suggested.

The issue was brought to light by sheriff’s department attorney Jeffrey L. Beck, who sent a letter to the county attorney requesting the pay increase.

Council members agreed that they had little choice but to give the pay raise. The information was presented at last night’s Council work session, where no votes are taken. The Council has a regular meeting next Tuesday and is expected to have the pay increase on the agenda.

Camp Atterbury is warning that you might hear a lot of noise and encounter  more air and ground traffic into the base over the next few weeks.

Soldiers will be taking part in the eXportable Combat Training Capability program which will mean more explosions and small arms fire through Aug. 20th. That will include operations in the evenings and early in the morning.

And many of the base’s gates will be open for traffic including military convoys.

If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about the activities, you can call 812-526-1499 and use extension 61386.