CANstruction will return to Fair Oaks Mall in Columbus starting this Saturday, as teams build elaborate structures out of canned goods.

This year’s build will be going on from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday in the mall.

For the next week, the public will be able to vote for the People’s Choice Award by dropping off canned goods at each of the locations in the mall. Judges will also be giving awards for best meal, best use of labels, best original design, most cans, and structural ingenuity.

The canned good structures will be on display through Sunday, March 1st, after which all of the building materials as well as the donations will go to local food banks. The annual event benefits food banks at Love Chapel, the Salvation Army and the Community Center of Hope.

The annual event has led to donations of more than 300 thousand cans of food to the local food banks. It is organized by United Way of Bartholomew County and Fair Oaks Mall.

A political action committee set up to push for the upcoming Bartholomew Consolidated Schools referendum will hold its kickoff event this afternoon at The Commons.

Janice Montgomery, a retired educator in BCSC, is one of the organizers for the committee. She explains the purpose of this afternoon’s event:

The referendum would raise property taxes by just over 15 cents per $100 of assessed value, with the vast majority of the new revenue going to raises for teachers and support staff. Bartholomew County voters will weigh in during the primary election in May.

Montgomery said that today’s rally will give the public the chance to meet with teachers and staff from the school district, to hear their stories directly.

Today’s event is being organized by the “Vote Yes for BCSC and Me” PAC, headed up by David Doup, with Montgomery as one of the co-chairs.

She talks about why she supports the effort to raise teacher and staff pay.

The event will start at 4:30 p.m. at The Commons and last about an hour.

Legal Aid will be having a Free Legal Aid Clinic on Monday at their offices in the Doug Otto United Way Center in Columbus.

Volunteer attorneys will be offering free legal consultations to low-income Bartholomew County residents. You can expect a 10 minute consultation to answer general questions, to offer legal information, or to receive other limited assistance or advice.

The clinic will be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday at the center on 13th Street.

Cummins leaders will be joining with girls from Girls Inc. organizations from across Indiana at the statehouse today for Girls Inc. Advocacy Day at the Indiana General Assembly. The goal is to equip the girls with advocacy skills as they put them into practice at the statehouse.

That will include girls and leaders from Girls Inc. organizations in Jackson, Johnson and Shelby counties. Across Indiana, Girls Inc. serves more than 12,000 and Indiana has the second most Girls Inc. chapters of any other state, after California.

The organization’s mission is to create strong, smart and bold Hoosier leaders.

Cummins partnership with Girls Inc. comes under the company’s Cummins Powers Women initiative, which was launched two years ago to advance equity for women and girls globally. Cummins participants today include Sharon Barner, vice president and General Counsel; Carole Casto, vice president of Marketing and Corporate Communications and Mary Titsworth Chandler, vice president of Corporate Responsibility and CEO of the Cummins Foundation

The Seymour Police Department is praising an officer who likely saved a life by using a combat triage material he paid for out of his own pocket.

The police department says that Officer Tim Toborg was first on the scene of a recent stabbing and found a victim bleeding heavily from a neck wound. Although Seymour officers have standard equipment including dressings and tourniquets, Toborg had purchased Quick-Clot Combat Gauze, a product developed for military use that includes a powdered clotting agent in the dressing.

Toborg packed the wound with the material and applied pressure until paramedics could arrive. Medical personnel said that due to the extreme blood loss, the action likely saved the victim’s life, according to police reports.

The police department is commending Toborg for his actions.

Two people were arrested after a Columbus police dog smelled drugs inside the vehicle during an early-morning traffic stop.

Columbus police report that they stopped a speeding vehicle near 16th Street and Central Avenue about 1:15 a.m. Monday morning. The police dog alerted to the smell of drugs and a search found methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia inside an eyeglasses case.

40-year-old Jennifer L. Jeffries and 26-year-old Makaelin J. Wilks, both of Columbus, were arrested on preliminary charges of possession of methamphetamine and of drug paraphernalia.

The Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Homebuyer Program, is organizing a free First Time Home Buyer Workshop next week.

The workshop is being put on by Apprisen, in partnership with First Financial Bank, Southern Indiana Housing and Community Development Corporation, and the Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center.

It will be held on Saturday, Feb. 29, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at YES Cinema in downtown Columbus.

For more information or to register, contact the Lincoln-Central Neighborhood Family Center at (812) 379-1630 or by email at info@lcnfc.org.

The city of Columbus is looking at bids of up to half a million dollars to improve pedestrian crossings on 25th Street.

According to the city engineer’s office, the project would improve the intersections at 25th Street and Home Avenue, 25th and Maple Street, 25th and Central Avenue and 25th and Taylor Road. It would add push-button pedestrian signals at those locations.

Dave O’ Mara Contractors submitted a bid of just over $392,000  and Milestone Contractors submitted a bid of about $516,000.

The Board of Public Works and Safety opened the bids for the project Tuesday morning and took them under advisement.

The Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress in Bartholomew County will be opening up the Hub to the public next week with an open house.

The Hub has been operating for about six months in the Doug Otto United Way Center on 13th Street in Columbus, across the street from San Souci.

Nathan Walsh, director of the Hub, explained that the facility is meant to be a one-stop shop where people can get into recovery from drug and other addictions.

The Hub is meant to reduce barriers to get into recovery, to help those with addictions and their families live their best life, Walsh said.

He said the open house is one way to show how inviting the Hub is, but they have also put together a video on their website.

You can find the website at asapbc.org.

The open house will be Thursday, February 27th, starting at 4:30 p.m. with brief remarks at 5:15 p.m.

Walsh said if you can’t make it to the open house, you can stop by during their normal office hours for a tour.

Indiana’s Democratic governor candidate, Dr. Woody Myers, drew applause from local supporters for his stances against school testing, for improving teacher pay and for cleaning up Indiana waterways.

Myers took questions from about 75 local residents at a town hall meeting Monday night at North Christian Church.

Myers is unopposed in the Democratic primary and will face Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb in the fall.

Myers was asked whether he would roll back charter schools and vouchers and he said he would. The issue, he said, is that 93 percent of Indiana children go to public schools, but public schools are not getting 93 percent of the financing, nor are public school teachers getting the financial support.

Myers said that due to recent changes in Indiana law, the next governor will have the ability for the first time to appoint the state public schools superintendent — that used to be an elected position. He said that the superintendent would be responsible for making sure that taxpayer money is spent appropriately, not wasted on charter schools engaged in fraud.

On a less serious subject, Myers chuckled when he vowed to take Indiana back to single class basketball high school championships.

Myers was asked whether he supported a proposal to increase the age limit for those seeking to buy long guns in Indiana. He prefaced his answer by stressing that he has a long history of gun use through hunting and target shooting. But he said he supports tightening loopholes that allow anonymous gun show sales, and prohibiting sales to those with mental illness.

Myers was asked about the dangers that polluted rivers cause for those who eat fish from Indiana waters. Myers clarified that there are only certain places where consuming fish is dangerous.

But he also pointed out he danger of high lead levels, especially for young children who are exposed. He said if elected governor, he would ensure that state agencies work closely with federal agencies. He pledged

Myers has served as Indiana State Health Commissioner, an attending physician at Wishard Hospital Emergency Room, and as a business executive in the health care industry.

Monday night’s event was sponsored by the Bartholomew County Democratic Party, Bartholomew County Democratic Women and Bartholomew County Indivisible.