Two people were killed in a crash Tuesday morning on I-65 in Jackson County. Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, spokesman for the Indiana State Police, says events unfolded around 7 a.m. after a crash in the southbound lanes near mile marker 47 involving two tractor trailers. Moments later, a second crash near mile marker 48 occurred when a passenger vehicle ran into the back of of a stopped semi. Wheeles says that two people in that vehicle were killed. Their identities have not been released. We will have more details as they are made available.

A Columbus man was arrested last week as part of a months-long investigation into heroin dealing and drug overdoses in Bartholomew County.

The Bartholomew County Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team is reporting that hey arrested 31-year-old Joseph L. Leszcynski,  after seeing him in a vehicle on Central Avenue near 10th Street last Tuesday. Leszcynski was wanted on a warrant on two charges of dealing narcotics and possessing heroin. When police searched him they found heroin in his clothing, says Lt Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus police.

Harris says the investigation is tied to a particularly powerful batch of heroin that led to overdose deaths last fall, and also to an investigation into a teen girls’ overdose last week in the Walmart parking lot on State Road 46.

The Bartholomew County Joint Narcotics Enforcement team is an effort by the Columbus police, county deputies and the county prosecutor’s office to target the manufacturing and abuse of dangerous drugs in Columbus and Bartholomew County

Two people were arrested at a Columbus home last week after a months long investigation by the Bartholomew County Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team into heroin dealing and recent overdoses .

Detectives say they were able to link 19-year-old Cyrus P. Nida of Columbus with suspects arrested in September after a surge in drug overdoses caused by heroin laced with elephant tranquilizers. Police say that they believe Nida was also involved with drugs being brought into the county that led to more overdoses recently, including a teen girl who overdosed in the Walmart parking lot on State Road 46 last week.

Detectives say they received a search warrant and allegedly saw Nida deal drugs from the driveway of his Forest Drive home, says Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus police. After a search of the home, Nida and a 17-year-old were arrested last Wednesday.

During the search, police recovered four grams of heroin, a hand gun, shotgun, a large amount of ammunition and drug paraphernalia.
He is facing preliminary charges of dealing heroin, possession of heroin, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The 17-year-old was taken to the Bartholomew County Youth Services Center on preliminary charges of possession of heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team is a combined unit of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office, the Columbus Police Department and the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office.

INDOT is closing State Road 58 at County Road 1000 South in Bartholomew County today for bridge work.

The road is anticipated to be closed for about 45 days .That is about 9 and a half miles west of Interstate 65 on the bridge over White Creek’s south fork.

This is the first part of a $1.1 million project this construction season on State Road 58 bridges in Bartholomew and Jackson counties. The state will be removing and replacing bridges over White Creek starting in May and over Buck Creek in Jackson County in July.

Milestone is the contractor for the project.

A proposal to purchase body cameras for Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Deputies is on hold…possibly for some time.

Sheriff Matt Myers and Capt. Brandon Slate made a presentation during Monday night’s work session of the Bartholomew County Council. Capt. Slate went through a PowerPoint presentation which highlighted a pair of options aimed at getting all active county law-enforcement officials, as well as reserve deputies, outfitted with the cameras. The most attractive option, explained Slate, was the purchase of 35 cameras and accessories, along with software that would automatically activate the cameras when a deputy reaches for his or her Taser. Total cost was estimated at approximately $248,000.

Council members indicated that the money for the cameras simply isn’t there. Mark Gorbett, former Bartholomew County Sheriff, said that he would definitely love for the department to have the cameras, but there are other obligations that the county needs to tend to. Laura DeDomenic, council president, echoed Gorbett’s sentiment. That’s where the agreement stopped. For the past two-years, Gorbett has called for the council to take steps to increase revenue to the county. In the past, he has suggested a wheel-tax and public safety tax as a possible way to keep the county from scrambling for funds at budget time. Gorbett’s calls for increased taxes and/or user fees has consistently been rebuffed by a majority of council members. Nothing changed Monday night. Councilman Jorge Morales says that there shouldn’t be a tax-increase unless the county knows how much revenue will come in. DeDomenic argues that she isn’t comfortable taking on additional expenses, including staffing, until a consultant’s report on county finances is complete. She says that is expected in the coming months.

Some area residents were caught up in a statewide fraud investigation. The Indiana Department of Workforce Development announced on Monday that the agency’s unemployment insurance fraud investigation task force examines claims of individuals who intentionally provide false, misreported or unreported information in order to fraudulently claim benefits. As a result of the task force’s investigations, local courts have found 37 people from across the state guilty of Unemployment Insurance Fraud

Four area residents were among those convicted. They are:

• Ty L. Bush, of Greenwood, was sentenced to three-years of probation and ordered to repay $16,679 for benefits fraudulently collected.

• Ricky L. Frye, Jr., of Bloomington, was sentenced to one-year of probation and ordered to repay $8,000 for benefits fraudulently collected.

• Michael A. Peclet, of Flat Rock, was sentenced to four-years in jail, three-years of probation and ordered to repay $31,849.50 for benefits fraudulently collected.

• Clay D. Snyder, of Shelbyville, was sentenced to one-year in jail, three-years of home detention, three-years of probation and ordered to repay $42,719.33 for benefits fraudulently collected.

The Columbus Human Rights Commission has announced that its annual meeting has been scheduled for May 11th at the Commons. The HRC says that the 2017 William R. Laws Human Rights Award recipient, Larry Perkinson, will be honored at the dinner. The Commission selected Perkinson, Student Services Director for the Bartholomew County Consolidated School Corporation, at its meeting on March 29. Commissioners say they selected Perkinson for “his commitment to the community and his advocacy of all students.” This marks another recent accolade for Perkinson, who was inducted into the BCSC Education Hall of Fame last year.

Sheila Suess Kennedy, a professor of law and public policy at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, will address the gathering. The HRC says that Kennedy’s academic fields of expertise include constitutional culture, charitable choice, civil liberties and civil rights, religion and public policy, nonprofit organizations, and media and public policy. She is a former Republican candidate for the 11th Congressional District, former executive director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, faculty fellow with both the Center for Religion and American Culture and the Tobias Center for Leadership Excellence, and the founder of the Center for Civic Literacy at IUPUI. Kennedy is slated to talk about civic literacy.

The HRC says that the winners of the 2017 Benjamin M. King Essay and the J. Irwin Miller Art Contests will also be honored at the dinner. The theme for this year’s art and essay contests is “Advocating for Others.” Those winners are expected to be announced soon.

The Human Rights Commission says that tickets for the dinner are $30 and must be purchased in advance. Ticket sales will begin on Wednesday, April 12 and can be purchased at the Human Rights Commission office inside of City Hall. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.columbus.in.gov/human-rights/. The deadline for purchasing tickets is 5 p.m. on May 5.

A North Vernon man has died after being hit by a vehicle while biking Saturday.

50-year-old Robert A. King died when he lost control of his bicycle and fell into the path of an SUV being drive by 31-year-old Timothy M. Small of North Vernon just before 9 p.m. Saturday night on Country Squire Lakes Boulevard at Dorchester Place. Sgt. Stephen Wheeles with the state police says that its not known why King lost control of the bike .

King was pronounced dead at the scene. The accident remains under investigation.

A Hope man is under arrest after allegedly falling asleep in a stolen truck.

Columbus police were called to a store on Whitfield Drive at about 9:35 Sunday morning about a suspicious person in a vehicle in the parking lot. They discovered 32-year-old Brian Sosbe slumped over in the driver’s seat and found that the pickup he was sleeping in had been reported stolen from Shelby County, says Lt Matt Harris, spokesman for the police department.

As Sosbe was being searched before being taken to jail, officers allegedly discovered he had a syringe on him. He is facing preliminary charges of auto theft and possession of a legend drug injection device.

A local man was arrested early this morning after allegedly fleeing from Columbus police at speeds of 70 mph through the city, police report.

An officer saw a car run through a red traffic light at about ten til 1 this morning at National Road and Central Avenue. When police tried to pull the car over, the driver instead decided to flee, says Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus police.

26-year-old Mitchel R. Wood was arrested after pulling into a parking lot on Nicholas Lane near Candlelight Drive. He is facing preliminary charges of resisting law enforcement and traffic citations for disregarding an automatic traffic signal, failing to yield to an emergency vehicle and exceeding a posted urban speed limit.