Former Vice President Mike Pence returned to his hometown of Columbus yesterday, with plans to return to Indiana for good this summer.

His wife, Karen, pointed out that the plane that brought them home again, Air Force Two, was the exact plane that took them to Washington D.C. four years ago.

Pence and his wife were welcomed by the lieutenant governor, his brother Congressman Greg Pence and a small crowd of well-wishers.

The former congressman, governor and now vice president, choked up looking over the crowd greeting his return to Columbus Municipal Airport.

He thanked his extended family, his children and their spouses, his wife and Jesus Christ for the journey to vice president.

Vice President Mike Pence is trekking back to Indiana today.

NBC News reports Pence will fly to Columbus in the afternoon following President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. Indiana Republicans said he’s expected to “thank friends and longtime supporters” after his role has vice president is complete. Pence tweeted a thank you to America on Tuesday, calling it an honor and privilege to serve as VP.

Pence and the top Republican leaders in Congress are skipping President Donald Trump’s big send off event at Joint Base Andrews today. The Vice President’s office cited the logistics in getting Pence from the base in Maryland back to the Capitol in time to attend the inauguration. The top two Republicans in Congress, Senator Mitch McConnell and Congressman Kevin McCarthy will also not attend the Trump event. Trump is the first President in 150 years to skip the swearing in of his successor.

Air Force Two photo courtesy of Kentucky National Guard

Indiana has now passed 9,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic began 10 months ago.

The Indiana State Department of Health reported 126 new deaths attributed to the coronavirus in yesterday’s update, pushing the total to 9,092 since March. The state also added 2, 756 new positive cases and has a 7-day positivity test rate of 11.9 percent. The total number of cases since the pandemic started is 595,436.

In our area, Bartholomew and Decatur counties remain orange on the state’s color coded map, showing a serious spread of the disease. Shelby, Johnson, Brown, Jackson and Jennings all are showing red, or a severe spread.

Bartholomew County had two new deaths from the disease, while Johnson County had four deaths, Shelby, Jackson and Brown counties each had a single death.

A newly formed commission will take a look at the parking situation in downtown Columbus and suggest solutions.

Columbus City Council voted unanimously last night to approve the creation of the new commission which will be made up of eight people, including representative of the city engineer, police, visitors center, redevelopment commission and two appointments each by the mayor and City Council. One of the mayor’s appointments will be a downtown business owner, while one of the council appointments will be a downtown employee.

Specifically, the parking commission will be looking at the area between Brown and Sycamore streets and 1st through 7th streets.

Mary Ferdon, director of administration and community development for the city, pointed out that the pandemic had greatly reduced the parking crunch in downtown Columbus. But once the situation returns to normal, parking problems are expected to return.

Ferdon said there is always a danger of creating more bureaucracy, but the commission would have no authority to spend money and any fines or fees recommended by the commission would have to be approved by the city’s Board of Public Works and Safety.

Two people were arrested in Edinburgh over the weekend after a gun sale turned into a robbery.

According to Edinburgh police, the incident started when the victim went to a an apartment in the 600 block of South Pleasant to sell a gun and buy another one. Instead, he had his own gun pointed to his head by one suspect who ordered him to leave, while the second kept the money from the planned gun purchase.

Police arrested the two men as they left the apartment. 22-year-old Stormy Neville is accused of robbery, possession of a handgun and pointing a firearm while 20-year-old Damien M. Jones is facing a preliminary charge of robbery.

Four people were arrested on drug-related charges after deputies were called to check on the welfare of a person at a hotel.

Bartholomew County deputies were called to the hotel in the 10300 block of North U.S. 31 at about 11:05 p.m. Sunday night and talked to a man in the room. But they also saw a woman carrying a bag full of narcotics.

After obtaining a search warrant, deputies discovered six grams of heroin, about three grams of methamphetamine and syringes.

The renters of the room, 59-year-old Darrel Hayworth and 59-year-old Beth Hayworth, both of Morgantown, were arrested on preliminary charges of possessing heroin, methamphetamine, a controlled substance and syringes, as well as maintaining a common nuisance.

Also arrested on charges of visiting a common nuisance were 36-year-old Darrell Hayworth Jr. and 26-year-old Kelsey Wootton, both of Morgantown.

Evidence photo courtesy of Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department.

Bartholomew County deputies are reporting that they arrested a man for allegedly threatening a woman with a gun during an argument.

A person called 911 to report that a woman feared for her life after being threatened with the firearm. The Bartholomew County Emergency Operations Center dispatcher contacted the victim through text messages, who confirmed details including her name and location.

Deputies arrived in the area and found a woman and man arguing outside of the home last Thursday. After detaining the man, 54-year-old Daniel Elifritz of Columbus, deputies found the weapon.

He is facing preliminary charges of using a weapon as an instrument of violence, domestic battery, intimidation, and criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon. He was also wanted on an outstanding Bartholomew County warrant.

A Columbus-based organization will be operating a nationwide network of groups trying to raise educational attainment in their communities.

CivicLab, part of the Community Education Coalition of Columbus, has been chosen by the Lumina Foundation to take responsibility for the national Talent Hub network and Lumina’s Community Network.

John Burnett, president of the Community Education Coalition, explains the purpose of the talent hubs.

There are 26 talent hubs across the country, including Columbus, and nearly 100 communities are taking part in the community network, working through local and regional partnerships to improve education outcomes and to foster equity.

The Lumina Foundation will be providing $2 million in funding to the Community Education Coalition to operate the network over the next three years, plus a staff person and will help the organization leverage more funding from other groups Burnett says.

Awards were presented yesterday during the virtual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. program hosted by IUPUC, the African American Pastors Alliance and the Bartholomew County NAACP.

IUPUC presented its diversity awards, with the internal award going to Matt Souza and the community award going to the Community Education Coalition and its ECO Attainment Network.

The NAACP presented awards including Hunter Spalding, a Purdue sophomore, as the NAACP outstanding student; Christopher Quisenberry, a junior at Columbus East High School, as outstanding athlete, The Harmon Group as outstanding large business; Coach’s Cutz as outstanding small business; Brian Nix and Lori Thompson as outstanding citizens; and Mikala Lomax received the newly-created distinguished service award.