The office of Vice President Mike Pence says that the Columbus native “welcomes” efforts by some lawmakers to “raise objections” when Congress meets Wednesday to certify the November election results.

According to our news-gathering partners at TTWN Media Networks, dozens of House Republicans and 11 GOP Senators have indicated they will challenge the electoral vote that gave a presidential victory to Democrat Joe Biden. On Saturday, the Vice President’s chief of staff, Marc Short, released a statement saying Pence “welcomes the efforts” of those lawmakers “to raise objections and bring forward evidence” before Congress on January 6th.

Indiana U.S. Senator Mike Braun is on the list of Republicans on Capitol Hill who will object to the election results. Braun on Saturday released a statement with other Republicans that said there are too many unanswered questions about voter fraud and the legitimacy of the November election to just sit by. Braun wants a 10-day pause to look for answers regarding absentee and mail-in ballots, as well as to look into questions as to whether key states followed state and federal election laws.

Columbus city government offices will remain largely closed through at least the end of the month due to COVID 19 increases.

According to the city, official business will still continue and employees will still be working to answer phone and e-mails. But meetings with the public will be handled by appointment only.’

City government meetings will continue with mostly virtual meetings through January. That will include the City Council, the Board of Works and Public Safety, City Utilities, the Human Rights Commission, Redevelopment Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. You can watch a live-stream of city government meetings through the city website at columbus.in.gov and clicking on the video link on the home page.

The Columbus City Utilities building is closed to the public, although the drive-through window will remain open. ColumBUS transit routes will continue to run as normal.

Hamilton Center and the Columbus Gymnastics Center will remain open for scheduled activities, but other visitors will be by appointment only.

Bartholomew County is starting the new year nearly surrounded with counties that are in the red on the State of Indiana’s COVID-19 advisory level map.

Johnson, Brown, Jackson and Jennings counties are all still in the red advisory level tracked by the state, or showing severe spread of the disease, according to yesterday’s update. Once a county is listed as being red, it can only drop back the orange level after two consecutive weeks of lower levels of infection. But those counties are all still showing the severe spread currently.

Bartholomew, Shelby and Decatur counties remain orange on the state map, showing serious spread of the disease.

Johnson County was the only area county to report new deaths yesterday, with two. Johnson County also led the area with 96 new cases. Bartholomew had 49, Decatur 11, Jennings 3, Jackson 21, Brown 2 and Shelby County 19.

Statewide Indiana added 3,002 new positive cases in yesterday’s tally, although some of those dated back as far as November 24th. There were 54 deaths reported yesterday, going back to Dec. 5th. That brings Indiana to 8,111 deaths since the pandemic started. The statewide 7-day positive rate is at 14.7 percent, according to the state health department.

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools are starting the new year with in-person, five-day-a-week teaching for elementary students and with what they are calling a hybrid model of in-person and online learning for secondary students. That is a move back from the all e-learning program that had been in place at the end of last semester.

At the middle and high school level, students will attend part of the week in class and part in e-learning, depending on the letters of their last name. A to K students will be in person Mondays and Tuesdays, while L through Z students will be in person Thursdays and Fridays. Should the county drop into the red level on the Indiana State Department of Health rankings, elementary school students would follow the same model.

The school district announced last week that the hybrid model will be in place for at least two weeks, or Jan. 15th. The district will continue daily to evaluate and to discuss the local situation with local medical professionals including the Bartholomew County Health Department and Columbus Regional Health.

Families that have already signed up for the full-time e-learning, or Bridge program, will continue with distance learning.

The district is encouraging staying home if you have had direct contact within the last 14 days with someone experiencing symptoms or who has been diagnosed with COVID-19. Or if you yourself has shown any of the symptoms.

The new semester starts tomorrow.

Local government offices are closing down for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

The Bartholomew County Landfill will be closing at 1 p.m. on Christmas Eve and will be closed both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, according to the Bartholomew County Solid Waste Management District.

The Columbus and Bartholomew County Recycling Center on Mapleton Street will be closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Columbus city offices will be closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. However trash and recycling routes will run on their normal schedules on Dec. 24th and Dec. 31st. There will be no trash or recycling pickups on Christmas day or New Year’s day. Normal Friday routes will be delayed until Saturday.

Columbus City Utilities offices will be closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. If you have a problem with your water or sewer service, you can call the business office at 812-372-8861 and follow the prompts.

Two area businesses have been chosen for the third round of Indiana Manufacturing Readiness grants, announced yesterday by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.

The agency in partnership with Conexus Indiana announced $1.5 million dollars in grants to 31 Indiana businesses under the governor’s Economic Activity Stabilization and Enhancement program. The grants are meant to stimulate manufacturing investment and position the state for future growth.

FosTecH Inc. of Jackson County is receiving $44,222 to put in place a new manufacturing control system that lets customers customize individual products. The company manufactures firearm products for civilians, military and law enforcement customers.

Poolguard of Jennings County was awarded $56,250 to increase its productivity and capacity to meet the increased demand the company is seeing during the pandemic. The company manufactures swimming pool safety devices and builds its own electronic printed circuit boards.

After a lull in Monday’s report of COVID-19 deaths, the Indiana State Department of Health is now reporting a record number of deaths from the disease in the state with yesterday’s update.

The state is adding 143 new deaths to the tally, up one from the high hit earlier this month. However the newly reported deaths happened between Nov. 10th and Monday. The state is now reporting 72 hundred and 44 deaths from the disease.

December could soon surpass November as the deadliest month for COVID-19 in Indiana. The coronavirus killed 982 people during the first 21 days of November. Through December 21st, 1,469 Hoosiers died of COVID-19. As of yesterday, the virus was killing an average of 69 Indiana residents per day.

Of the counties in our area, Johnson County is reporting six new deaths, while Bartholomew, Jennings and Decatur counties are each reporting one new death.

Bartholomew County had 38 new cases reported, Decatur 9, Jennings 11, Jackson 32, Brown 4, Johnson 137 and Shelby County 27.

Statewide there were 3,258 new cases reported with a 7-day positivity rate of 12.2 percent. The total since the pandemic began in Indiana is 471,876 cases.

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools will start the new year with in-person, five-day-a-week teaching for elementary students and with what they are calling a hybrid model of in-person and online learning for secondary students. That is a move back from the all e-learning program that has been in place for weeks.

At the middle and high school level, students would attend part of the week in class and part in e-learning, depending on the letters of their last name. A to K students would be in person Mondays and Tuesdays, while L through Z students would be in person Thursdays and Fridays. Should the county drop into the red level on the Indiana State Department of Health rankings, elementary school students would follow the same model.

The school district announced yesterday that it will continue daily to evaluate and discuss the local situation with local medical professionals including the Bartholomew County Health Department and Columbus Regional Health.

Families that have already signed up for the full-time e-learning, or Bridge program, will continue with distance learning.

The district says there are no restrictions on travel during the winter break, but they encourage staying home if you have had direct contact within the last 14 days with someone experiencing symptoms or who has been diagnosed with COVID-19. Or if you yourself has shown any of the symptoms.

If you do come down with COVID-19, the district asks that you call to report cases during the winter break at 812-314-3867.

The new semester starts on January 5th.