A North Vernon man has been arrested for murder.

Brian Kirby, 52, has been missing from Jennings County since March. Now, two months later, police confirm: he was murdered by Alan Joseph Marantos, 34.

The joint investigation by the Jennings County Sheriff’s Office and Indiana State Police began on March 28, 2020, when Kirby was reported missing. Kirby was last seen alive at his home on Primshire Court on March 27, 2020.

The investigation revealed Marantos attacked Kirby at his home. Marantos then loaded Kirby’s body in his car and left. Later, Marantos burned Kirby’s body and scattered his remains all over Jennings County.

Alan Marantos has been incarcerated in the Jackson County Jail since April 2, 2020 when he was arrested on a Jackson County warrant for Robbery.

He will soon face an initial appearance in the Jennings County Circuit Court.

According to the most recent update from the Indiana State Department of Health, there are 29,936 total confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Indiana, an increase of 676 cases since Yesterday’s report.

There have been 1,764 deaths in Indiana as of this update, an increase of 48 deaths from Yesterday’s numbers.

Bartholomew County has 452 confirmed cases, an increase of 4 since yesterday’s update. There have been 33 deaths from COVID-19 in Bartholomew County.

In other area counties, Decatur County has had 220 cases and 31 deaths, Jennings 121 cases and 4 deaths, Jackson 345 cases and 1 death, Brown 32 cases and 1 death, Johnson 1049 cases and 102 deaths, Shelby 303 cases and 20 deaths.

JCPenney announced this week it is closing more than a fourth of its stores across the country for good, as part of its bankruptcy.

However, some stores in Indiana are re-opening, after shutting down in March because of the Coronavirus pandemic.

According to Inside Indiana Business, seven JCPenney locations across the Hoosier state are re-opening Wednesday among them are stores in :

-Jackson Park in Seymour

-Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood

-Hamilton Town Center in Noblesville

JCPenney is putting new safety precautions and guidelines in their stores, like having employees wear masks, signs reminding customers about social distancing, contactless checkout, and curbside pickup.

Indiana Senator Mike Braun says Coronavirus lockdowns were too strict from the beginning, but he says his home state is an exception.

Braun (R) criticizes what he calls one-size-fits-all stay-home orders, and argues the distinction between essential and nonessential businesses didn’t make sense.

Indiana did both those things for six weeks before allowing nonessential businesses to reopen May 4th in all but three counties. Some businesses, including gyms, movie theaters and bars, remain closed. But Braun says Indiana responded the right way. He says Governor Holcomb has been attentive to limiting “economic carnage” from the pandemic. Braun says instead of ordering shops considered nonessential to close, governors could have let any business stay open as long as they could enforce social-distancing limits, take hygiene precautions, and protect senior citizens and other customers in high-risk groups.

Braun criticizes the fact that people are attacking President Trump’s handling of the pandemic when there were problems with handling scenarios like this before the pandemic heated up.

In spite of that, Braun says the administration has “met the challenge” posed by the pandemic, addressing feared shortages of masks, ventilators and intensive care beds.

Salons are a local matter, but a group of salon owners and workers were holding up signs at the state house in hope that Gov. Eric Holcomb will override the mayor of Indianapolis. The group is demanding that salons and barber shops be allowed to reopen immediately.

Mayor Joe Hogsett said he will allow those shops to reopen June 1st.

Marion County, along with Lake and Cass, has lagged in reopening because of a high number of people with Coronavirus. Restaurants will be allowed to reopen Friday, but only with outside seating. The forecast for next week has a chance of rain every day.

All but four Indiana counties will loosen Coronavirus restrictions another notch on Friday.

Governor Holcomb is loosening restrictions two days ahead of schedule to give people the full holiday weekend. The “Stage 3” order allows gyms, pools, campgrounds, and basketball and tennis courts to reopen, though they’ll still have to take precautions to disinfect equipment and enforce social distancing — Holcomb says the executive order will have seven pages of requirements for swimming pools alone.

GOVERNOR HOLCOMB SAYS IT’S HOOSIERS’ COMMITMENT TO PRECAUTIONS LIKE MASKS AND SOCIAL DISTANCING THAT HAVE MADE THE LOOSENING OF RESTRICTIONS POSSIBLE, BUT WARNS EVERY STEP TOWARD REOPENING RAISES THE CONCERN PEOPLE WILL LET THEIR GUARD DOWN.

STATE HEALTH COMMISSIONER KRISTINA BOX SAYS THE NEXT SCHEDULED PHASE OF REOPENING ON JUNE 14 HINGES ON THE VIRUS’S SPREAD REMAINING UNDER CONTROL DESPITE HAVING MORE PEOPLE OUT AND ABOUT.

A cap on mass gatherings will double to 100 people. Stores and malls, which now are allowed to operate at half capacity, can bump that up to three-quarters.

Raceways can reopen, but without spectators. Recreational sports can resume, but not contact sports, including football and lacrosse. And while playgrounds were originally supposed to be part of this phase, they’re still closed while health officials try to figure out how to keep them disinfected. Box says playgrounds pose a tougher challenge, since it’s hard to stop small children from putting their hands in their mouths.

The order won’t take effect until June 1st in Marion, Lake, and Cass Counties, the same counties excluded from the last reopening order. Monroe County is holding off till June 1st on its own.

Bars, casinos, zoos, museums, and nightclubs are still closed.

Several events that were scheduled to happen in or around the Hope Square are no longer taking place. Among these are:

The Sunday Social History discussions at the Yellow Trail Museum on June 7^{th  and July}  5^th.

The first Hope Cruise in scheduled for June 5^th.

The Old Fashioned Independence Day and Cruise in on July 3^rd.

Hope’s 10^th annual Smoke on the Square scheduled for May 15th-16^th has been rescheduled for August 28^th-29^th.