A Colorado man was arrested by North Vernon officers after marijuana, marijuana edibles and a prescription pill were found in his vehicle.

37-year-old James M. Turner was booked into the Jennings County Jail at about 12:40 Friday morning after a traffic stop on U.S. 50 for having an obstructed license plate. A North Vernon police dog alerted to the odor of drugs inside the vehicle according to police.

Officers allegedly found about two grams of marijuana, the edibles, a pill with no prescription bottle, digital scales and about $600 in cash.

Turner is facing preliminary charges of violating the legend drug act and possession of marijuana.

There will be a lot of holiday cooking over the next few days and a lot of food carried to others’ homes.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering some tips on how to keep your family safe and healthy during the holiday season. Nirav Shah is a food safety expert for the agency. He says the four steps to food safety are Cleaning, Separating, Cooking and Chilling.

For the Cooking step, Shah says you should cook your turkey until it has an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

And don’t leave food out for more than two hours.

If you are taking prepared foods on the road, the key is to get the food where it is going within two hours.

The goal is to keep the hot foods hot and the cold foods cold. And to get all the leftovers put away within two hours of it being placed out for eating.

As far as leftovers, he said if you are planning to eat it by Monday, then it can go in the refrigerator. Otherwise, freeze it for safety. The longest leftovers should be kept in the fridge is three to four days, he said.

If you have any questions, the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline is available by calling  1-888-674-6854. The hotline will be open on Thanksgiving Day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.  According to the agency, the hotline has been in operation for 33 years and USDA staff have answered more than  3 million consumer questions.

You can also get your questions answered by visiting Ask Karen on the web.

Updated: 12:45 p.m.

Two people are dead after a train collided with a car on U.S. 31 at County Road 550N last night in Bartholomew County.

The driver, 18-year-old Matthew K. D. Newland of Columbus, was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital and pronounced dead at 11:24 p.m. Friday. County Coroner Clayton Nolting says that Newland died of massive blunt force trauma.

A passenger, 17-year-old Carmyn Elkins of Columbus, was taken to IU Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis and also died according to deputies.

The crash happened at about 10:17 p.m. last night, when a car turned off of U.S. 31 on to the county road, into the path of the train, a witness told Bartholomew County deputies. The car was knocked into a field southeast of the intersection by the collision and the driver and a passenger were trapped in the wreckage.

Columbus firefighters rescued the victims from the wreckage where they were treated by Columbus Regional Hospital paramedics.

The witness said that the railroad crossing equipment at the intersection was working properly and the train engineer sounded the horn several times before the crash. Investigators will be reviewing camera footage from the train.

The conductor and engineer of the Louisville & Indiana Railroad train were uninjured.

The accident remains under investigation by the railroad, the sheriff’s department and the Bartholomew County Coroner’s office.

Bartholomew County Sheriff Matt Myers is asking local children to join him in the fight against bullying.

“If parents, school staff and other adults in our community talk to kids about bullying, bullying behavior can be stopped over time,” said Sheriff Myers. “Kids need safe environments and we need to create a county-wide bullying prevention strategy.”

Sheriff Myers is asking kids in Bartholomew County to “speak up” …” reach out” …and “be a friend” by signing an “Anti-Bullying Contract” and returning a copy to him.

These contracts will soon be available for downloading from the Sheriff’s Department website. Deputies will also be carrying contracts in their patrol cars.

Crews will be paving three Bartholomew County roads over the next few days. They are:

– Talley Road (350 North to 450 North) on Saturday, November 17th;
– 650 East (50 North to Base Road) on Monday, November 19th;
– 100 South (900 East to State Road 46) on Monday, November 19th and finishing Tuesday, November 20th

The County Highway Department asks that you avoid these areas on these days.

If you have some hard-to-dispose of items around the house, the Bartholomew County Solid Waste Management District wants to help.

The organization will be holding a fall Amnesty Day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the recycling center at 720 S. Mapleton Street in Columbus.

Bartholomew County residents can bring in four tires from a pickup truck or smaller, with the rims removed, two appliances containing CFC or refrigerant and up to two propane gas tanks. Those will all be taken at no cost.

Fall Amnesty Day is being held in celebration of America Recycles Day.

For more information, click here.

Power remains out for many area homes and businesses.

That comes after the ice storm yesterday knocked down trees, branches and power lines throughout the state.

Duke Energy is reporting more than 1,400 Bartholomew County customers still without power as of 8:30 a.m. Friday. Most of those, more than 1,000, are in the areas south of State Road 46 and west of Interstate 65, such as the Tipton Lakes area.

In Jennings County, Duke Energy is reporting about 800 customers still without power and another 450 in Jackson County.

Chip Orben with Duke Energy says that at the height of the outages, more than 100,000 Indiana customers were without power. As of last night, about 24 thousand remained powerless.

Orben says crews are working as quickly and safely as they can to restore power. He says restoring power can be challenging because of the poor travel conditions.

Before power can be restored, crews first assess damage and determine which crews, equipment and supplies will be needed to make repairs, Orben says. Crews prioritize work to ensure the largest number of customers are restored as quickly as possible. Essential services, such as hospitals and emergency response facilities, are the first priority.

To help in the power restoration efforts, he suggests that if you are without power you turn off as many appliances and electronics as possible. That will help reduce the immediate load on the power lines when power comes back. You should then wait a few minutes after power comes back on to turn everything back on.

As of 7 p.m. about 4,400 local Duke Energy customers are still without power.

Current Customers out by county:
Bartholomew: 2406
Brown: 77
Decatur: 176
Jackson: 801
Jennings: 976

Duke Energy says that it still cannot set estimated repair times for those remaining in the dark. However, officials stress that they have brought in additional crews and contractors to assist with restoration efforts.

Customers can report an outage or view current outages online at duke-energy.com/outages.

Correction: Due to a source error, a previous version of the story was incorrect on the location of a salamander habitat project. It is in Harrison and Crawford counties.

The Duke Energy Foundation is announcing $154,577 in grants to 10 conservation organizations to enhance and improve Indiana’s environment.

“We understand the importance of maintaining a commitment to environmental responsibility in our communities,” said Melody Birmingham-Byrd, Duke Energy Indiana state president. “That’s why we work with a number of stakeholders to develop initiatives that lessen the impact of energy production on surrounding habitats.”

Area nonprofits receiving grants include:

• Sycamore Land Trust Beanblossom Bottoms nature preserve trail project in Monroe County; $27,500 to make the trail more accessible to visitors with disabilities.
• The Indiana Forest Alliance will receive $15,000 to enhance an aquatic salamander habitat in Indian Creek and the Blue River.
• Blue River Community Foundation in Shelby County; $11,000 to help build two canoe access ramps to the river.

A home on Wallace Street was damaged in a Thursday morning fire. Columbus Firefighters were called to 2263 Wallace Ave, at approximately 7:40 a.m. Firefighters from nearby Station 3 arrived on the scene and reported light smoke coming from the home’s eaves and attic vents.

The homeowner said she was alerted to the fire by her neighbor who told her that smoke was coming from her roof. The resident stated that at that time there was no smoke in the interior of her home, and that none of her three smoke alarms had sounded.

The neighbor reportedly told authorities that he saw the smoke while he was assessing a power disturbance at his residence. He told investigators that he heard what he believed was a large tree limb crash onto the roof of his home. This was followed by lights flickering. The neighbor told investigators that he saw several large tree limbs lying on his home and lawn. One tree limb had fallen on an electric utility line connected to a utility pole at the rear of his property. He reported that the utility pole transformer appeared to be sparking, as was the electric meter attached to his home. That’s when he saw smoke at his neighbors’ home and informed the residents.

While the official cause of the fire is undetermined, investigators believe electrical factors contributed to the fire. Fire Department investigators discovered melted electrical wiring within a wall space believed to be the origin of the fire.

Damages to the home, are estimated at $15,000. No one was hurt.