Update: The boy was found Wednesday night and the alert has been canceled.

Previously:

Bartholomew County authorities are searching for 13-year-old Blaine Riley Music. He was last seen at 4:04 p.m. Wednesday afternoon in the area of 2895 Lake Stream Drive.

Blaine is five-feet tall and 120 pounds. He was last seen wearing an orange T-shirt, black shorts and tennis shoes. He wears glasses and sometimes goes by the name Enrique. He has a Nike swoosh symbol scar on his neck.

He is believed to be a runaway and is on depression medication.

If he is located you should contact the Bartholomew County Emergency Operations Center at 812-379-1689 or call 911.

A woman found walking in the middle of the road in Jennings County Tuesday morning was arrested on drug-related charges.

Jennings County deputies report they were called to State Road 3 and found the woman, identified as 35-year-old Sarah M. Darnell of Commisskey, who said she was walking to a cousin’s house. The deputies discovered that she was carrying methamphetamine, syringes, prescription pills and drug paraphernalia.

They arrested Darnell on possession charges for the items.

It’s almost time for roadwork to start again on the widening project on Interstate 65 between Columbus and Seymour. The agency is taking the work zone out of its winter configuration this week and next.

INDOT is announcing that you will see temporary ramps and signals going operational starting Thursday at the State Road 11 exit in Jackson County. The agency says that the existing loop ramps are permanently closed.

Next Monday through Wednesday, southbound traffic will be shifted to the outside lane and shoulder starting about three miles north of Seymour. That will mean there will not be a useable shoulder in that area.

Starting next Thursday and Friday, March 12th and 13th, the northbound and southbound traffic will be shifted to the outside lane and shoulder near the State Road 11 interchange.

All of those traffic shifts are being done so that work can start again in those areas. The shifts will happen between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. each night. After shifts are complete, crews will begin with grading operations and pipe installation north of Seymour and pavement removal near Exit 55.

Speed limits in the entire work zone will be dropped to 55 mph starting next week.

A Columbus man has been arrested on charges of child exploitation and possession of child pornography after a two-month investigation by authorities.

Indiana State Police are reporting that 24-year-old James G. Crouch was arrested at his home in the 2200 block of Sims Court and taken to the Bartholomew County Jail on the felony charges.

The investigation began in January after State Police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Detectives with the Indiana State Police’s Internet Crimes Against Children and Cyber Crimes units served a search warrant at Crouch’s home, leading to the arrest.

State police were assisted by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force including members of the FBI and the Bloomington and Martinsville police departments.

Anyone with information on ongoing crimes associated with missing or exploited children are urged to call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Tipline at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

A former Columbus Fire Chief has been sworn in as the new state fire marshal.

Gov. Eric Holcomb announced today that he had chosen Plainfield Fire Chief Joel Thacker as the new fire marshall. Thacker served as the Columbus fire chief for about four months, from May to September in 2012 under former Mayor Kristen Brown.

According to the governor’s office, Thacker started as a career firefighter in Brownsburg and then Johnson County’s White River Township. He moved to the Plainfield department in 2015 and became chief there in 2017.

Thacker will begin his new position on April 6.

Long-time local firefighter Roger Johnson also served as the state fire marshal from 2005 to 2008.

Two people were arrested on the east side of Columbus after a police dog smelled narcotics in their vehicle during a traffic stop last night.

Columbus police report that officers stopped the vehicle near McKinley and Gladstone avenues at about 11:05 last night. After the alert from the police dog, officers discovered methamphetamine, syringes and drug paraphernalia inside the vehicle.

32-year-old Autumn M. Gibson of Columbus was arrested on preliminary charges of possessing the items. 30-year-old Jacob E. Mercer of Columbus is facing a charge of maintaining a common nuisance.

Johnson County deputies say that a box truck was struck by a train this morning east of U.S. 31.

Sheriff Duane Burgess says that the truck driver, 24-year-old Jacob A. Murdick of Middletown, tried to beat the train, running a stop sign at Johnson County Road 650S. The rear of the truck was struck by the train, which was pulling 91 cars.

Murdick was taken to Johnson Memorial Hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

Other agencies assisting at the scene included Indiana State Police, Edinburgh Fire Department and Seals Ambulance Service.

Columbus mayor Jim Lienhoop gave his State of the City address last night at Fair Oaks Mall, touting the city’s successes and advancement on various fronts including the high number of housing starts in the community.

Lienhoop said that there are 843 housing units slated to come online this year, from Abbey Place on Lowell Road, to Bartholomews on Sycamore and 7th Street Townhomes, on the former St. Bartholomew property downtown.

Lienhoop also talked about challenges such as what to do with all of the city golf courses.

The city recently took control of Otter Creek Golf Course for the first time since it was gifted to the city in the 1960s. That means the city now has 54 holes of golf including Otter Creek, Green Belt and Par 3 courses under city management. And that is too many, the mayor said. An Otter Creek committee has been set up to get some answers

The recommendation is supposed to come back later this summer.

The mayor took a moment to shine a spotlight on the Bartholomew Consolidated Schools referendum, likening it to the problems the city has addressed with public safety recruiting and retention.

Voters will decide the referendum issue in the May primary election.

The city of Columbus’ newest firefighter, Travis Quillen, was sworn in this morning by Mayor Jim Lienhoop.

Quillen is a graduate of Seymour High School and of Purdue University with a bachelors degree in building construction management. He has spent six years working with the Hamilton Township Volunteer Fire Department in Jackson County. He is certified as an EMT and basic firefighter and is also a Stop the Bleed class instruction.

With the hiring of Quillen, the Columbus Fire Department is fully staffed with 95 sworn firefighters.

Children’s advocates from around Indiana are set to converge on Indianapolis today for CASA Day at the Statehouse.

Local Advocates for Children leader Therese Miller is scheduled to speak at the rally, along with Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush and Leslie Dunn, the state program director for CASA.

The rally will also be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Indiana program

Miller is the longest serving program director in the state, with more than 30 years at the agency. The local office, which covers Bartholomew, Decatur and Jennings counties serves more than 950 children a year. Advocates for Children provides trained volunteer advocates for children who have been the victims of abuse and neglect.

More than 25 local CASA volunteers and staff advocates will head to the statehouse, for a noon rally in the rotunda.

If you are interested in volunteering or learning more about the local CASA program, you can call Advocates for Children at 877-604-9402 or visit their website at apowerfulvoice.org.