A Columbus woman is being accused of fleeing from police through three counties after allegedly stealing items from a Franklin store.

Franklin Police are reporting that the chase started at about 4:06 p.m. Sunday afternoon at the Morton Street Walmart store in Franklin after a woman allegedly put several items in her shopping bag and then left without paying. According to reports, a Franklin police officer tried to pull the woman over near the store, but she took off, heading first into Marion County and then Shelby County leaving accidents and traffic violations in her wake. At various points in the pursuit she went the wrong way against traffic, ran a red light, struck another vehicle, struck a tree, attempted to pass vehicles on the right hand shoulder and drove off the road, while reaching speeds of almost 90 mph.

She eventually surrendered after getting stuck in a Shelby County cornfield and trying to run away from police.

32-year-old Leandra R. Davis was first taken to Johnson Memorial Hospital to be checked out before being arrested on charges including possession of stolen property, resisting law enforcement, aggressive driving, criminal recklessness and leaving the scene of an accident.

Note: This story was first reported by the Daily Journal newspaper in Franklin

Hoosiers 65 and older can now make an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Indiana State Department of Health updated the age of eligibility yesterday. After the announcement, almost 96,000 Hoosiers 65 to 69 scheduled their appointments for the first vaccine dose by 5 p.m. last night.

According to our news-gathering partners at TTWN Media Networks, there are nearly 750,000 people in Indiana who are over 65, and public health managers say it will take some time to get them all vaccinated. In total, the health department says more than 1.3 million  first and second dose appointments have been scheduled since the state began offering the vaccine in December.

If you meet the criteria, you can sign up online at OurShot.IN.gov or call 211.

A reminder that the Town of Hope Groundhog Day festivities will be happening virtually this morning on the Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitators Facebook page.

A young groundhog named Hope will be checking her shadow to see how much winter weather is left this year. The activities start at 8:30 a.m.

Photo of Hope courtesy of Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitators

Contractors for Bartholomew County found an unwanted surprise when working at the county-owned Fox Pointe Drive building that houses the county health department.

The contractors were making repairs and renovations to the entrance area at the medical office suite, but in the course of that work, they discovered a black mold infestation that had spread throughout the area and needed removing. County maintenance supervisor Rick Trimpe said that the mold appears to have originally formed in the area of a water leak in a bathroom before the county bought the building. The mold spread up the wall, into another room and into the underside of the building.

County Commissioners President Larry Kleinhenz said the county decided to pay to have the contractors clean up the mess including treating the underskirting and crawl space at a cost of over $14,600. Trimpe said that the county has insurance that he expected to pay on the claim, but the county’s deductible is $10,000.

Commissioners retroactively approved the expenditure to clean up the mold along with just over $18,000 for the other remodeling work.

Columbus City Council will be asked tonight to approve the construction of a new Bartholomew County Court Services Building at a cost of just over $3.6 million dollars.

The project is one of the first concrete steps of a land swap between the city of Columbus and Bartholomew County governments that will eventually lead to space for a new hotel and conference center between Second and Third Streets downtown. The county is giving up the parking lot across Second Street from the jail, which also contains the existing court services building.

In return, the city has acquired the former Eynon Law Office property behind the jail on First Street. And the city will be funding and constructing the replacement building. The city will be paying the first $1.5 million for the project directly, with the rest of the cost to be financed over 15 years at a 3 percent interest rate. The county will then pay for that through a lease-purchase arrangement.

The Columbus Redevelopment Commission has already approved the construction of the building, with the money to come from property taxes generated in the downtown tax increment financing district. But the commission can not approve more than half a million dollars in funding without the approval of City Council.

City Council meets at 6 p.m. tonight.

Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop will be giving his State of the City address tonight, updating the community on the status of the city and its various projects and services.

The mayor said the idea is to give people a better idea of where their tax dollars are going.

Lienhoop said that in previous years, the State of the City speeches have been involved affairs including presentations by city department heads and guests, held at various locations including Donner Center, Fair Oaks Mall, the Columbus Learning Center and others. However, with the pandemic, this one will be different.

The City Council meeting starts at 6 p.m. tonight and the pre-recorded State of the City address will be posted to the city’s website at 7 p.m..

You can watch both by going to the city’s website at columbus.in.gov.

Seymour police and Jennings County deputies helped Scott County authorities with a drug raid on Friday morning in a rural part of the county, recovering 55 grams of methamphetamine and arresting three people.

Authorities served a search warrant at a home on Lovers Lane as part of an ongoing drug investigation in the county. Police report finding the methamphetamine, prescription pills and $400 in cash.

57-year-old Mason Steinkamp, who lived at the home was already facing an outstanding arrest warrant on four counts of dealing methamphetamine and now has new charges of dealing in methamphetamine of at least 10 grams, maintaining a common nuisance, unlawful possession of a syringe, possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia.

34-year-old Natasha Prosser of Austin is being accused of maintaining a common nuisance. and 20-year-old Jordyn Combest of Madison was arrested for unlawful possession of a syringe, maintaining a common nuisance and possession of paraphernalia.

Photo courtesy of Scott County Sheriff’s Department

A Columbus man is facing drug-dealing charges after a large amount of methamphetamine was found during a traffic stop last week.

Columbus officers report that they stopped a vehicle near 11th and Pearl streets at about 8:30 Thursday evening. A passenger appeared to be shaking and nervous, according to police reports. A Columbus police dog alerted to the smell of narcotics in the vehicle and a search revealed almost 57 grams of meth and other drugs including synthetic marijuana.

The passenger, 44-year-old Finis K. Carpenter of Columbus, was arrested on preliminary charges of dealing methamphetamine as well as charges for possessing methamphetamine, a narcotic and a look-alike substance.

Photo courtesy of Columbus Police Department

This is the first day for Indiana’s new coronavirus restriction rules with limits on crowds based on a county’s color on the Indiana State Department of Health coronavirus spread tracking map.

Most counties in Indiana are orange, which means they can have 25 percent of their usual crowds. Yellow counties in Indiana can have 50 percent of their normal crowds. Social gatherings are also limited, with a total of 25 people being allowed in red counties, 50 in orange counties and 100 in yellow counties.

Blue counties are allowed to resume normal operations, but there aren’t any blue counties in Indiana right now.

Locally, Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson and Jennings counties are all orange on the state advisory level map, while Johnson and Shelby counties are in the red. A county must maintain daily statistics at a lower advisory level for two weeks before it can be moved to that lower level.

Bartholomew County reported 36 new cases of the disease yesterday, Decatur 9, Jennings 5, Jackson 19, Brown 2, Johnson 30 and Shelby County had 11 new cases. There were no new deaths reported in our area yesterday.

Statewide, Indiana reported 1,750 new cases and five new deaths with a 7-day positivity rate of 8.5 percent.

Area counties are all under a travel advisory, due to the combination of rain and snow, plus below freezing temperatures overnight causing slick road conditions.

Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings, Johnson and Shelby counties are all under the yellow advisory level, the state’s lowest level of travel warning, meaning that routine travel or activities are restricted due to a hazardous condition. The Bartholomew County Emergency Operations Center has been reporting that some roads remain slick and snow-covered. You should use caution if you are driving and give yourself extra time to reach your destination.