Bartholomew County’s newest Deputy Sheriff, Dustin Allman, took his Oath of Office Tuesday from Sheriff Matt Myers.

Deputy Allman is a 39-year-old graduate of Columbus North High School and Thomas Edison University. He retired from the United States Coast Guard in 2018.

“Dustin is well-qualified and will serve our agency well,” said Sheriff Myers.

Also sworn-in was Karen Hargett as BCSO’s newest chaplain.

BCSO Chaplains offer guidance and assistance to members of the department during crisis situations and can be called upon to provide comfort and counseling during difficult times.

Chaplain Hargett joins Chaplain Robert Vestor, Chaplain David C. Bosley, Chaplain Keith Maddox and Chaplain Dave Burnett.

An artist with a history of visiting Columbus is coming back this week. Caitlyn Smith, with the Columbus Area Arts Council, explains that Buddy Wakefield, a three-time international champion of slam poetry, and a spoken-word artist, will be performing Thursday evening at Yes Cinema.

Tickets for Wakefield’s Thursday night performance are $10.

Wakefield’s workshop will be Friday evening from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at 411 Sixth Street. Tickets for the workshop are $40.

Tickets for both events are available online at artsincolumbus.org.

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools will be closed on Nov. 19th.

BCSC Superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts made the announcement on Tuesday. He says that a number of staff members have requested personal time off to participate in “Red For Ed Action Day” in Indianapolis. The Indiana State Teachers Association says the goal of the event is to let state legislators know about the importance of adequately funding public education.

Roberts says that school will now be in session on Tuesday, Mar. 10 to make up for this missed day. Monday, Mar. 9 will be used to make up for school having to be closed on Nov. 12.

BCSC will not have an e-learning day on Nov. 19 due to an expected lack of educators who will be in Indianapolis.

Ivy Tech Community College in Columbus is hosting a College 101 event on Thursday so high school students and their parents can learn about the college.

School officials will be on hand offering information about academic programs, including Aviation, Business,Criminal Justice, Cyber Security, Visual Communications and Welding. Tours of the campus will also be available.

College 101 at Ivy Tech Columbus will be at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 14th at the College’s Poling Hall, 4475 Central Ave. You can RSVP at IvyTech.edu/College101. For more information call 812-374-5129.

Columbus police say they found a suspect hiding behind a couch in the business he is accused of burglarizing.

According to police reports, officers were called to an auto repair business on 25th Street at about 8:15 a.m. Monday morning after an employee found broken windows at the shop, along with items out of place in the office. And then noticed the man hiding behind the couch.

Columbus police took 29-year-old Tyler A. Small into custody without incident on a preliminary charge of burglary.

Experts will be giving their insight into the national, state and local economy tomorrow morning at the Indiana Business Outlook Panel being held at The Commons.

The panel discussion is aimed at business professionals trying to make educated decisions on what the future will hold, says Dr. Ryan Brewer. He will be a panelist and is associate professor of finance at IUPUC.

Steven Mohler concurred with Brewer’s spaghetti metaphor. Mohler will  also be a panelist and is a visiting assistant professor of business at IUPUC

Brewer and Mohler said that the local labor market will be a topic for tomorrow’s discussion.

Tomorrow’s panel will feature professors and analysts from IU and IUPUC including Brewer, Mohler, Sun Yoon and Ellie Mafi-Kreft .

The event is cosponsored by IUPUC’s business division and the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce. It will start at 7:30 a.m. with breakfast and the panel discussion starting at 8 a.m. upstairs at The Commons in downtown Columbus.

Tickets are $25 and are still available at columbusareachamber.com

The Bartholomew County Emergency Management Agency has issued a travel advisory for local roads and streets. Shannon Hinton, director of the agency, says that the county’s travel status has been upgraded due to the reports of some poor road conditions throughout the county.

A travel advisory is the lowest level of local travel condition, and means that routine travel or activities may be restricted in areas because of a hazardous situation, and individuals should use caution or avoid those areas.

Hinton recommends that you slow down and use caution when traveling. You should also allow extra time for travel this morning and make sure there is extra distance between you and the vehicle in front of you.

Brown County is also under a travel advisory.

The National Weather Service in Indianapolis is reporting a low temperature this morning of 9 degrees. They say that is the earliest single digit temperature in Indiana history.

Yesterday brought a little more than two inches of snow to central Indiana, a new record for the day. The last record  for Indianapolis was 1.2 inches set in 1932 and 1995.

A full call out of snowplow trucks is underway across the Indiana Department of Transportation’s Southeast District in anticipation of accumulating snow.

INDOT says that plow drivers will work in 12-hour shifts until snow subsides and road conditions improve. Below is the call out schedule by subdistrict:

– Columbus: 31 plow trucks beginning at 3 p.m.
– Bloomington: 29 plow trucks beginning at 3 p.m.
– Madison: 30 plow trucks beginning at 4 p.m.

Tips for drivers:

– Reduce speeds: Allow extra time to reach your destination, be patient as snowplows travel below posted speed limits.
– Safe distance: Do not tailgate and give snowplows plenty of room to work, allow plenty of time to slow down.
– Pay attention: Drive distraction-free, focus on safe driving, be aware of surroundings and changing road conditions
– Know before you go: Check road and traffic conditions at indot.carsprogram.org or the INDOT mobile app.

Republican incumbent Columbus City Councilman Dascal Bunch will file for a recount after losing the District 1 race by a single vote. Our news-gathering partners at “The Republic” are reporting that Bunch met with attorney Scott Andrews on Monday to discuss his options. Bunch told the newspaper that he will officially request a recount by the end of this week.

Democratic challenger Jerone Wood defeated Bunch, 260 to 259. Wood was one of four Democrats who won city council seats last week, giving the Democrats their first majority on the council since the 1980s. A recount has the potential keep the council in Republican hands.

For more on this story, visit therepublic.com.

A driver with a blood alcohol level of more than three times the legal limit was arrested by Columbus police Saturday morning.

According to police reports, officers stopped a vehicle after noticing it swerving across the road at 18th and Sycamore streets at about 3:15 Saturday morning.

The driver, 25-year-old Cody L. Wooten, had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and failed several field sobriety tests. A portable breath test revealed a blood alcohol level of .284 percent.

Wooten was taken to Columbus Regional Hospital for a blood test and then arrested on a preliminary charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, with a prior conviction.