A man seen littering is under arrest after trying to flee from police in downtown Columbus early Friday morning.

According to Columbus police, officers on a foot patrol saw a man littering in the 1500 block of Chestnut Street at about 1 a.m. Friday morning. But after stopping him and asking for his ID, police say the man ran away.

Officers followed his foot prints in the snow an found him hiding behind a shed in the 1400 block of Sycamore Street. 37-year-old Clifford D. Roberts, of Columbus was arrested on a new charge of resisting law enforcement and for outstanding warrants in Bartholomew and Jennings counties.

Two Columbus police officers have been commended for their actions helping an elderly woman in need.

Police Chief Michael Richardson said that officers Chris Strickland and Adam Wisenbaugh checked on the welfare of the woman on January 28th and found that she did not have food, water or electricity in her home. Strickland purchased food for the woman using his own money, Richardson said, while Wisenbaugh worked with a local charity to get the woman a temporary hotel room.

Richardson said that police have many roles and sometimes that involves being a caretaker for the less fortunate. He praised the officers for taking the extra steps to make sure the resident was cared for.

Both officers have both been with the department for about six years.

The American Red Cross is holding a blood drive this weekend at The Commons.

The drive will be between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday in the Xenia Miller Conference room in the upper lobby of The Commons. The goal is to have at least 60 donors for the drive.

This month, the Red Cross Indiana region is urging you to donate blood, platelets or plasma. COVID-19 survivors are especially needed as donors to help with a shortage of convalescent plasma for other patients. Those who have made it through the disease may have antibodies in their plasma that could help patients currently battling the virus.

You can schedule an appointment by going online to redcrossblood.org

Most area counties remain orange on the state’s color coded map of COVID-19 spread in the state, indicating serious spread of the disease.

According to yesterday’s report from the Indiana State Department of Health, Bartholomew, Johnson, Shelby, Decatur and Jackson counties remain in the orange category, while Jennings and Brown counties are now in the yellow showing moderate spread of the disease.

Bartholomew County reported 29 new cases in yesterday’s update, while Decatur had 10, Jennings had 4, Jackson had 24, Brown had 1, Johnson had 37 and Shelby had 12 new cases. Johnson County had three deaths, while Bartholomew and Jackson counties each had a single death from the disease.

Statewide, there were 17 hundred and 62 new cases of COVID-19 reported yesterday, with 26 newly reported deaths and a 7-day positivity rate of 6 point 1 percent.

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools are planning to phase back to in-person learning for all of their students, over several steps with the first coming after next week.

The school district announced yesterday that the phased approach would move the middle school and high school students back to an in-classroom experience, after a hybrid approach that only had them in class for two days a week and at home for two days.

Next week will remain the same for all of the students, but starting on Feb. 22nd, middle school students will return to five-day a week in-person classes. High school students will be making the same transition but not until after spring break. Full-time in person learning for them will return on March 22nd.

School officials said that the local COVID-19 statistics are trending in the right direction and the phased approach is believed to be the best way to meet the needs of the students while protecting the health and well being of everyone in the community.

Gleaners Food Bank will be holding a drive-thru food pantry distribution from 4 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the Columbus Municipal Airport at 5175 N. Warren Drive.

You will be able to stay in your vehicle and the food will be delivered to you. There will be no early arrivals and there is no parking allowed on River Road or Cunningham Drive.

No ID is required.

Columbus-based diesel engine manufacturer Cummins Inc. is announcing the promotion of two of its top executives.

The company announced today that Tony Satterthwaite is being named vice chairman and Jennifer Rumsey will become president and chief operating officer.

Satterthwaite joined Cummins in 1988 and among his leadership positions he has been president of Power Generation, president of the Distribution Business and most recently president and chief operating officer. Prior to joining Cummins, Satterthwaite was an engineer with Schlumberger. Satterthwaite lives in Indianapolis with his wife.

Effective March 1st, Rumsey will succeed Satterthwaite as president and chief operating officer.

Rumsey joined Cummins in 2000 and has held a variety of leadership roles including serving as the vice president of engineering for the Engine Business, chief technical officer for Cummins, and most recently as the company’s president of the Components Cusiness.

Prior to joining Cummins, Rumsey worked on fuel cell development with Nuvera Fuel Cells. She lives with her family in Columbus.

The American Red Cross is looking for more donors to sign up for a blood drive this weekend at The Commons.

The drive will be between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday in the Xenia Miller Conference room in the upper lobby of the The Commons. The goal is to have at least 60 donors scheduled for the drive.

You can schedule an appointment by going online to RedCrossBlood.org

Graphic courtesy of American Red Cross

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools officials will be re-evaluating current COVID-19 conditions today to decide whether to return middle school and high school students to a regular schedule or to continue on with the hybrid learning. Under hybrid learning, students attend part of the week in class and part in e-learning, with the days depending on the letters of their last name. If any changes are made, they would go into effect on Monday.

Under yesterday’s updates form the Indiana State Department of Health, Bartholomew County remains in orange on the state’s color-coded COVID-19 map, indicating serious spread of the disease. There were 22 new cases reported yesterday in the county and 1 new death, with a 7-day positivity rate of 8.5 percent. Statewide, Indiana had 1,452 new cases of the disease, with a 7-day positivity rate of 6.2 percent, with 52 new deaths reported.

INDOT is planning to demolish and replace the Deaver Road overpass on Interstate 65 in Bartholomew County starting next week.

Crews will be closing the lanes of Interstate 65 overnight to place concrete barrier walls starting on Tuesday, February 16th from 9 to 6. Demolition work is scheduled to start on Thursday, February 18th, which will close the bridge through mid-June.

The official detour will take traffic from County Roads 175W to 450S and to 300W.

Starting the following week, Interstate 65 will close for one direction at a time for up to 20 minutes at a time while the bridge is demolished. That work will also take place overnights from 9 to 6 and the work could take up to seven days.

Traffic will be restricted to 55 mph through the entire work zone during the entire project.

The bridge replacement is part of the $65 million dollar project to widen Interstate 65 to three lanes in each direction between Walesboro and Columbus. The entire project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2023.

INDOT had previously scheduled restrictions at Denois Creek and Opossum Creek earlier this month, but those have now been moved to later in the project.