Local innovators and would-be entrepreneurs will be honing their idea-pitching skills at an event Friday being organized by the Columbus Area Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Ignite Columbus competition will feature 10 participants and prizes will be awarded for the best pitches says Cindy Frey, president of the Chamber.

There will be $2,500 in prizes awarded thanks to sponsorships by Heritage Fund and German American Bank.

Frey says that the description for Ignite Columbus is to “Enlighten Us, but make it quick!”

Frey says being able to make a pitch to investors is a critical skill for modern entrepreneurs. Participants will have to give their 5-minute pitches with a series of slides that will advance relentlessly every 15 seconds.

Ignite Columbus will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at IU’s J. Irwin Miller Architecture building at 333 Second Street in downtown Columbus. You can get more information and sign up to attend at  columbusfishtank.com

Bartholomew Consolidated School officials are continuing their consideration of block scheduling high school classes, a change which would reduce the number of classes each day but make each class almost twice as long.

Under the proposal, instead of the current daily schedule, where students have 45 minute class periods with the same classes each day, the switch would be to 85 minute long classes, but each subject would only have class every other day.

Superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts explains that the proposal could come up for a vote as early as two weeks.

Roberts explains that the main benefit would be teachers getting to know their students better.

However, there would also be possible side benefits, Roberts explains.

Although Roberts said he is not pushing the plan, he does have experience in moving to such a schedule when he was superintendent in Batesville. Other committee members that are looking into the proposal, also have experience with block scheduling, he said.

School board members questions at their meeting Monday night centered around how the change would complicate the schedules, and how students could be expected to pay attention for an entire 85 minute long class session. One audience member who spoke against the proposal, said she was especially concerned about the effect on students with special needs.

Roberts said that there has been little public feedback on the proposal, at least to his office.

The proposal could come up for a vote at the school board meeting in two weeks on April 22nd.

The Bartholomew County Council has given its approval to help fund a body scanner for the jail. Sheriff Matt Myers says he expects it will cost approximately $180,000 to have a body scanner installed at the jail. Council voted unanimously to fund $130,000 out of the correctional facilities LIT funds. Myers explained during last week’s council work session that the balance could be paid for out of the jail’s commissary budget.

Chief Deputy Chris Lane explains why the body scanner is needed.

Jail staff have seen several attempts at bringing narcotics and other contraband into the jail, including three recent cases where inmates allegedly attempted to hide contraband in a body cavity. As it stands now, an inmate must be taken to a hospital to be checked when jail staff or a deputy believe they are hiding materials. Local inmates have also been driven to Johnson County to be put through the scanner at the jail there.

Chief Deputy Lane says a body scanner will serve as an important tool in the community’s fight against addiction.

Sheriff Myers says he hopes to have a scanner installed, with staff trained on how to use it, by this July. That is when an old section of the jail is set to be reopened in connection with the upcoming drug court.

Sheriff Myers and his staff must now take their proposal to county commissioners to put out for bids.

The Office of Student Research at IUPUC is holding its ninth annual Student Research Exhibition on April 16 from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Columbus Learning Center. The exhibition brings together the work of 24 students and 13 faculty mentors to showcase 12 research projects selected for the academic year.

Each student-faculty team received a $1,000 grant from the Office of Student Research to fund their project. To earn a grant, students submitted detailed project proposals, passed a vetting process by a review committee, and then completed their projects with direction and guidance from a faculty mentor.

“These innovative research projects have important impacts on various target populations and communities. Completing the work has been an excellent opportunity for students to integrate their academic knowledge with professional research,” explained Dr. Julie Goodspeed-Chadwick, who is a professor of English at IUPUC. “Intensive research adds to the overall academic experience for our students and elevates the quality of learning throughout the region.”

The exhibition is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Descriptions of the funded projects, along with the names of the student researchers, their majors, and their hometowns follow.

1. Jane Austen’s Persuasion and Influence in the Modern World. After attending the Jane Austen Society of North America’s 10th annual festival, the student researchers identified the value this beloved author holds with her devoted fanbase and explored why she is still widely celebrated.
— Abigail Alderdice | English (Nashville, IN)
— Eden Alderdice | Communications (Nashville, IN)

2. The Role of Movement in Social Perception. This study focuses on how effectively people can rate extraversion, valance, dominance, and arousal by viewing biological movement data presented in the form of point light display videos.
— Isaac Mauricio Garcia Rojas Aguilar | Mechanical Engineering and Psychology (Columbus, IN)

3. Makeup Use and Self-Esteem in Women. This study examined the correlation between makeup use and self-esteem.
— Hannah Ballard | Psychology (Greenwood, IN)

4. Unforgetting Poland’s Forgotten Victims: Critical Reflection on Survivor Narratives. This project is a collection of first-person narratives in a web-folio format that captures previously unrecorded stories of Polish Holocaust survivors.
— Elzbieta Antonina Bidwell | General Studies/Arts & Humanities (Columbus, IN)

5. Synthesizing Crystals to Model Crystalline Structures in Introductory Chemistry Classes. This research project synthesizes crystals in the chemistry lab to demonstrate the real-world examples of crystalline and lattice structures.
— Nicole Bodi | Biology (Elizabethtown, IN)
— Adrienne Shea | Mechanical Engineering (Columbus, IN)

6. ASIST for Jackson County. This student project will partially fund the Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) training program for police officers and other first responders in Jackson County.
— Anthony Cox | Nursing (Columbus, IN)
— Brooke Ebbing | Nursing (Brownstown, IN)
— Kylee Hollenbeck | Nursing (Columbus, IN)
— Danielle Shelley | Nursing (Seymour, IN)
— Jerrica Wischmeier | Nursing (Brownstown, IN)

7. Pressure Ulcer Prevention Among Residents at a Long-Term Care Facility in South Central Indiana. The purpose of this research project is to provide education to staff members at a long-term care facility in South Central Indiana to enhance their knowledge on the use of Mepilex dressing for pressure ulcer prevention and how to correctly use the Braden score.
— Alex Day | Nursing (Scipio, IN)
— Michelle Fitzsimmons | Nursing (Columbus, IN)
— Elizabeth Leech | Nursing (Columbus, IN)
— Kailee Lynn | Nursing (Indianapolis, IN)
— Lauryn Stephens | Nursing (Columbus, IN)

8. How Well Can Toddlers Self-Regulate? Comparing Temperamental, Attentional, and Behavioral Predictors of Self-Regulation. In this research project, the researchers are measuring the ability of toddlers to postpone gratification.
— Asher Denny | Psychology (Columbus, IN)

9. How Paper and Digital Children’s Books Support Student Understanding. The purpose of this research project is to explore the impact of paper and digital children’s books on civic science conceptual learning for early readers.
— Payten Ewing | Elementary Education (Greensburg, IN)
— Kayla Pride | Elementary Education (Brownstown, IN)
— Maycie Asher | Elementary Education (Hope, IN)

10. Ergo-Can: A Better Way to Take Out Your Trash. The objective of this project was to design a trash can to make this household chore easier, specifically for those with back problems.
— Maya Garcia | Mechanical Engineering (Shelbyville, IN)
— Elizabeth Lynch | Mechanical Engineering (North Vernon, IN)

11. Characterization of a Key Acinetobacter baumannii Iron Scavenging Protein. The purpose of this Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) approved project is to characterize the EntA protein from A. baumannii.
— Ciara Phares | Biology (Columbus, IN)

12. Small Scale Weather and Climate Change Study in Columbus, Indiana. This study involved observing the effects of varying amounts of precipitation, sunlight, and temperature on grassy soil located in the recently built Student Experiment & Research Enclosure.
— Ciara Phares | Biology (Columbus, IN)

Gov. Eric Holcomb has proclaimed this week, April 7-13, as Invasive Species Awareness Week in Indiana.

“There are several invasive species causing significant damage to Indiana’s natural resources at this time” said State Entomologist Megan Abraham, director of the DNR Division of Entomology & Plant Pathology. “Emerald ash borer, Callery pear, gypsy moth, kudzu, hydrilla, and purple loosestrife, to name a few.”

Abraham says several more invasive species are close enough to Indiana’s borders to concern Hoosiers. One is Asian long-horned beetle, which has been found as close as Cincinnati.

DNR officials say these beetles attack hardwood tree species. It has the potential to cause significant economic and environmental impacts if allowed to establish and spread throughout the United States. Signs of these pests start to show about three to four years after infestation. Tree death occurs in 10 to 15 years.

The DNR says adult beetles are 1 to 1.5 inches in length with long antennae. Their bodies are black with small white spots, and their antennae are banded in black and white. Adults can be seen from April to December.

“It’s the species that we have not spotted in Indiana that we need help from the public to keep an eye out for,” Abraham said. “Watch local forests and natural resources for signs and symptoms of trees or vegetation dying off for seemingly no reason.”

The State Entomologist said the DNR would rather answer a call, inspect an area and find nothing to worry about than find out after the fact that someone had spotted a problem and failed to report it.

If you see see these beetles or signs of them, you are asked to call the DNR at (866) NO EXOTIC (866-663-9684) with the date and location. If you can capture the beetle, officials say you should put in a plastic jar and place it in a freezer to kill it.

You can get more information online at dnr.IN.gov/entomolo/4527.htm.

A Greenwood woman is facing charges after allegedly firing a gun at her husband on Monday. Johnson County Sheriff Duane Burgess says that deputies responded to 1263 North Peterman Road on the report of shots fired.

The complainant told dispatchers that his wife, Kelly Lynn Elizabeth Bryan, had fired a gun at him. She had since drove away from the home.

The husband told the deputies that he was laying in bed when Bryan reached under some blankets and pulled out a gun and fired one shot at him. That shot missed. Police say the bullet carried through the wall into the next room’s door and then through a window.

The husband went on to tell investigators that Bryan then yelled at him to leave again before going downstairs. While he was upstairs the husband started to call 911 when he heard a second shot. After reaching dispatchers, Bryan allegedly went back upstairs and told her husband that she was going to kill herself. She left the scene moments later.

Johnson County Sheriff detectives and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department responded to an address in the 500 block of North Tacoma Avenue in Indianapolis. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police SWAT entered the home after obtaining a search warrant. There, they found Bryan hiding in the attic.

Sheriff Burgess says Bryan was returned to Johnson County and is facing preliminary charges of Criminal Recklessness with a Deadly Weapon, a Level 6 Felony. Her bond has been set at $1,000.

Jackson County deputies along with Indiana Department of Natural Resources conservation officers rescued a woman who was lost along the river over the weekend. Sheriff Rick Meyer says that the woman was found in the 10,000 block of East County Road 100S.

The woman called 911 Saturday night, telling dispatchers that she had fallen in the river, but was able to get out on her own. But she said that she was lost. Officers were able to get a general location from her cell phone signal.

Deputies Mitch Ray and J.L. McElfresh along with Conservation Officer Nate Berry found the woman on top of a log jam in the river. She was lost for at least 2.5 hours before being found.

Jennings County deputies along with the department’s police dog Vampir helped Seymour officers arrest a man who had fled into the neighboring county overnight.

The sheriff’s department reports that the Seymour police pursued a vehicle into Jennings County where it crashed and the suspect fled into the woods. Sgt. Allen Ritchie and Vampir pursued the man and Vampir immobilized him.

He was first taken to Schneck Medical Center to be treated for injuries and then to the Jackson County Jail, where he was booked in at 7:42 a.m. this morning.

According to jail reports, the suspect, 45-year-old Boyd Barrett of Deputy, had outstanding Jennings County felony warrants for resisting law enforcement. He is facing new charges of resisting law enforcement, resisting law enforcement with a vehicle, criminal recklessness with a vehicle, reckless driving, driving while suspended and possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.

Update: The Silver Alert has been canceled.

Earlier story:

A Silver Alert has been declared for a missing Indianapolis boy. Indianapolis police are investigating the disappearance of 19-month-old Kristian Juarez. He is black, two feet tall and 25 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a white onesie and black and white camo pants.

He is believed to be in extreme danger and may require medical assistance.

Kristian may be in the company of Tishawn Blackwell, a 48 year old black woman, who is 5 feet 3 inches tall and 219 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing gray sweatpants, a grey shirt, sandals, and driving a beige/tan 2005 Buick Rendezvous with a hole in the right tail light, tinted windows. The vehicle may have a sticker on back that says “Courage” and Indiana plate 284 TES.

If you have any information on Kristian Juarez, contact the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department at 317-327-6540 or call 911.

The Columbus Police Department says there are still openings for its Women’s Self Defense Course, which kicks off this week.

Lt. Matt Harris, department spokesman, says this course will run for three consecutive weeks at the CPD Range Training Facility Located on Grissom Street, east of Middle Road, near the Columbus Municipal Airport. The dates are: April 10th, 17th and 24th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The session will start with a basic self defense and awareness PowerPoint followed by self-defense basics. Organizers say that each week, students will progress through striking, kicking, basic escapes and human targeting. Women who take part in these courses should dress in gym style clothing and wear no jewelry.

CPD will offer another set of these courses in September.

You can sign up online at columbus.in.gov/police.