The Yellow Trail Museum in Hope will give you a chance to break some stuff tomorrow. They are hosting a demolition party in the building they recently acquired next door, starting at 9 a.m. Saturday morning.

The building will eventually be the home for artifacts from the town’s days as one of the first communities to have rural mail carrier routes. The Rural Mail Carrier’s Museum used to be on the Hope Town Square but was torn down about five years ago.

The museum announced that it had purchased the next door building earlier this summer. The first steps toward a remodel is the demolition of the existing interior, and they are looking for your help tearing things down.

The Yellow Trail Museum is on the northwest corner of the HOpe Town Square.

Bartholomew, Jennings and Shelby counties are among among those sharing in $22.1 million in funding to improve internet access.

Governor Eric Holcomb announced the funding for 11 broadband expansion infrastructure projects across the state. All as part of the initial round of the Next Level Broadband program.

“Hoosiers need affordable, quality internet regardless of where they live, work or go to school,” Gov. Holcomb said. “Access to broadband brings countless opportunities and that’s why I’m excited to see these key infrastructure projects positively impact economic development, health, agriculture and quality of life.”

This funding will provide broadband infrastructure to more than 4,800 homes and commercial locations in 12 counties.

The $100 million Next Level Broadband program is the largest single state investment in broadband. For the initial round of funding, service providers could apply for up to $5 million per project to expand service to unserved areas if they provided at least a 20 percent match.

In addition to the $22.1 million awarded through Next Level Broadband, state officials say the seven telecommunications providers and utility cooperatives contributed $14 million in matching funds, resulting in $36.1 million total investment for broadband.

Miles Communication Corporation will serve approximately 366 unserved households and 135 unserved businesses, in primarily rural portions of Bartholomew, Jennings and Shelby counties. State officials say that applicants will be provide unserved areas levels of up to one-gigabyte download and upload service, the highest speed available on the market.

The requested grant amount is $2.8 million. A local match of $2.9 million brings the total project cost to more than $5.7 million.

A local man was arrested after he reportedly caused a disturbance at a Columbus restaurant. At approximately 1:30 a.m. Thursday, Columbus Police were called to the drive-thru at Taco Bell on 25th Street. Officers stopped a vehicle leaving the restaurant parking lot after employees told them that the driver, 31-year-old Michael P. McGinity, of Columbus, was upset over a food order. He allegedly began punching the drive-thru window and demanding free food.

While speaking to McGinity, the officers detected the strong odor of alcohol on his breath and noted that his speech was slurred. Police say McGinity was uncooperative and ultimately taken into custody after he refused to submit to certified chemical test for intoxication. Officers got a search warrant for a blood draw at Columbus Regional Hospital, leading to his arrest on preliminary charges of Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated, Failure to Identify and Obstruction of Justice.

Local breastfeeding advocates will be having a festival in downtown Columbus Saturday to promote August as Worldwide Breastfeeding Month. Natasha Brockhaus with La Leche League explains

Food is being provided by Texas Roadhouse.

There will also be live music, activities for kids and door prizes according to Amanda Virostko with Healthy Communities at Columbus Regional Health.

The Live, Love Latch festival is from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday on Fourth Street in downtown Columbus. The event is sponsored by Healthy Communities Breastfeeding Coalition and La Leche League.

You can get more information on the Healthy Communities Breastfeeding Coalition, including upcoming classes, here.

The Bartholomew County Substance Abuse Council wants your thoughts on which drugs community prevention efforts should be focused on. Rachel Flohr-David with the council, explains a survey is available through their Facebook page and website.

The results of this survey will be compared with survey results of local students done through the school system :

The goal is how to find out how to best direct federal grant money to address those issues identified among area youth.

She says that grant money has allowed the group to do public service announcements and to help with drug prevention in the community.

Flohr-David estimated that the survey will take about five to 10 minutes to fill out.

The Bartholomew County Substance Abuse Council is a coalition of agencies, residents and businesses working to fight drug abuse among local youth.

You can get more information at bcsac.org

You can take the survey here.

A Hope man was arrested yesterday, accused of fleeing from police after a disturbance.

Bartholomew County deputies were called to the 20000 block of east State Road 46 at about 1:12 p.m. in the afternoon after a man refused to leave a business and allegedly threatened an employee. Deputies found 33-year-old Paul Foley arguing with a woman in the parking lot. He then left the lot in his vehicle despite a deputy pulling in front of him.

Eventually, Foley crashed into a trailer, pushing it into another vehicle on South West Street. He then tried to run from the scene but was found shortly afterwards in a nearby field.

He is facing preliminary charges of resisting law enforcement, leaving the scene of an accident and reckless driving.

A driver escaped uninjured after his pickup was hit by a CSX train on the north side of Columbus Wednesday morning.

Columbus police are reporting that the incident with the train happened at about 5:12 a.m. at U.S. 31 and Bartholomew County Road 400N.

The pickup driver, 24-year-old Nicholas B. Hunt, said he heard the train’s horn as he approached the intersection, but he did not see the train. Thinking it was clear, he crossed into to the path of the southbound train, which did significant damage to his truck, police say.

North Vernon Police have arrested a grandmother after she allegedly left an infant in a hot vehicle.

Officers report that they were called to a business parking lot on State Road 3 at about 2:39 p.m. yesterday afternoon. Passerby were holding a 1-year-old infant that they said had been crying inside a locked vehicle. The child had been freed from the vehicle before police arrived and officers say the windows were only partly down and the vehicle was not running.

The baby’s grandmother, 62-year-old Mary S. Andres of Dupont was found inside of the store with her other grandson. She allegedly told police that the infant had been sleeping when she pulled into the parking lot and that she did not plan to be in the store for long.

She was arrested on a preliminary felony charge of neglect of a dependent. Child Protective Services were also contacted and assisted at the scene.

A one-million dollar investment in new equipment is expected to create seven new jobs at Rightway Fasteners.

Company representatives approached the Columbus City Council this week to request a tax abatement on the costs of a new cold-forging machine, four sorting machines and two shot blast machines. Rightway says the equipment is needed to meet the needs of increased production demand.

Council approved the 10-year personal property abatement.

The Columbus Fire Department has two new firefighters. They were sworn in by Mayor Jim Lienhoop during Tuesday’s Board of Public Works and Safety meeting.

Jared Lucas is a 30 year old resident of Morgantown and a 2007 graduate of Brown County High School. He is a volunteer Firefighter with the Morgantown Volunteer Fire Department and is employed as an Emergency Medical Technician with Columbus Regional Health Emergency Medical Services. In addition to the Emergency Medical Technician certification, Lucas holds an Indiana Firefighter I and II certification.

Thomas Nienaber is a 28 year old resident of Columbus and a 2010 Graduate of Columbus East High School. Nienaber is a volunteer with the Elizabethtown Volunteer Fire Department and was previously employed by the North Vernon Fire Department. Nienaber is certified as an Indiana Emergency Medical Technician, Rope Rescue Technician and Confined Space Rescue Technician. Nienaber also holds state certifications including Firefighter I and II, Hazardous Materials Operations, and Technical Rescue Awareness.

Lucas and Nienaber will under-go a department familiarization program as part of their on the job training. After completing this training program, both will receive shift and station assignments.