A $25,000 grant will allow the Columbus Area Arts Council to operate a new gallery and cultural space on Sixth Street downtown.

The grant was awarded by the Efroymson Family Fund, a fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, and it will allow for a two-year pilot program for the new center, according to an announcement by the Arts Council.

The space will feature programs such as exhibitions, projects and ties to community events that are happening in the downtown Arts & Entertainment District. There will also be internships available for both high school and college students.

The first event will feature local artists and will premiere on Friday, Sept. 7th. The new center is going to be at 411 Sixth Street, beside the Arts Council’s offices. For more information you can go to artsincolumbus.org

Indiana State Police are investigating the death of an inmate Thursday at the Bartholomew County Jail.

61-year-old Cathy A. Hull of Columbus died at the jail yesterday afternoon, according to troopers.  Jail staff found Hull unconscious in a cell at the jail at about 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon and called paramedics. She was pronounced dead at the jail.

Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, spokesman for the Indiana State Police, says that no foul play is suspected and toxicology results are pending.

Hull was being held after being arrested Wednesday by Columbus Police on a warrant for a probation violation.

Bartholomew County deputies report that they made an arrest in a battery investigation that started last weekend in Hartsville.

Deputies were called to the community at about 3:40 p.m. Sunday afternoon on a reported battery. On Wednesday, a warrant was issued and deputies arrested 37-year-old Kyle Keller of Hartsville on a preliminary charge of battery with serious bodily injury.

He was being held on $150,000 bond as of this morning, according to the sheriff’s department.

It’s been an uneventful start to the new school year. That’s the message from BCSC Superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts.

Roberts noted that along with new students entering the district, there are new teachers as well.

To aid in their success, Roberts says that BCSC has a teacher academy to help these new teachers develop within the vision of the school corporation. In addition, new teachers have been assigned a mentor that will meet with them throughout the year to make sure that there is constant feedback to help them succeed.

WiLLow LeaVes of Hope will be hosting performance of the play, “The Miracle Worker” this weekend.

The play is the story of Helen Keller, a blind-deaf and mute girl who learns to communicate through her tutor Anne Sullivan.

The shows will be at 6 p.m. on Friday and Saturday evenings and 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon at the store and dinner-theater on the north side of the Hope Town Square. Tickets are $25 for dinner and the show. You can call for reservations at 812-546-0640.

WiLLow LeaVes Facebook page

All Columbus city offices will be returning to their normal schedules on Monday.

Many city offices have been observing summer hours, which has employees coming in an hour early and leaving during the hottest part of the day as a way to conserve energy.

The normal hours for most city offices are 8 .m. through 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. City officials do encourage you, if you are planning to visit a city office, to call ahead or to check the office hours online at columbus.in.gov.

The city of Columbus has called off a informational meeting on a proposed development on the west side of the city, originally set for tonight.

The city had scheduled the meeting at Fire Station 5 tonight to talk about the Spring Hills Lake proposal. However, the rezoning of that property was shot down by Columbus City Council at its meeting on Tuesday. More than 100 people turned out to the council meeting, most to protest the proposal citing concerns such as traffic, declining property values and what they said was a lack of communication with developers.

The plan would have brought 40 duplexes to a 10-acre property near Goeller Road, west of Tipton Lakes.

City officials say that tonight’s meeting will not be rescheduled. The proposal is essentially dead for an entire year unless developers make substantial changes.

The Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation is set to receive additional money from the city of Columbus to help students prepare for life after the classroom.

The Columbus City Council approved a resolution Tuesday night authorizing the city’s redevelopment commission to grant $750,000 to BCSC. The redevelopment commission approved the measure in mid-July. Along with iGrad and transition planning, the funding will benefit the school corporation’s science, technology, engineering and math programs.

BCSC Superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts says that this funding will help with training and learning opportunities to help special-needs students transfer to the workforce. This $750,000 will come out of the city’s central tax-increment financing allocation area. This marks the third consecutive year that the city has provided such a grant.

The city council voted unanimously to approve the request.

A Hope man facing child molestation charges was appointed a public defender on Wednesday. Our news-gathering partners at “The Republic” are reporting that Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge James Worton entered a “not guilty” plea for 72-year-old Larry L. Scott during an initial hearing.

Worton appointed public defender Benjamin Loheide to represent Scott. However, the newspaper says that Scott intends to eventually hire his own attorney.

Scott was arrested by Indiana State Police on July 22 after investigating a child molesting complaint against him at Ceraland.

For more on this story, visit therepublic.com.

The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department is looking at bids of about $1.2 million to replace the security system in the jail.

At a County Council work session this week, County IT director Scott Mayes said the bids are being reviewed now and he expects to have firm numbers to present to the council in a couple of weeks. The bids include several options including renting the system from a vendor, rather than purchasing it outright, and various maintenance plans. The specs sent out for bid also included building expandability into the system, so more cameras could be added in the future or more storage space for video.

Replacing the system will take six to eight months and it is a first step to allowing the jail to address overcrowding concerns. The new system would allow oversight of the old portion of the jail that is currently unused.

Sheriff Matt Myers and his staff said the jail has about 240 inmates on a daily basis, with more than 255 on Monday. In essence, he said the jail is now a small prison.

County Council members said they would like to pay for half of the upgrade from revenues that are coming in from last year’s income tax hike aimed at public safety projects and the rest from economic development income tax revenue controlled by the Bartholomew County Commissioners.