An Edinburgh family escaped a tragic house fire on Christmas Day. The Edinburgh Fire Department was dispatched to a house fire just after 3 p.m. on Friday.

While en route, crews were notified that there might be a child inside the home but that turned out not to be true. Firefighters initiated a primary search and gave an “all-clear” as that nobody was in the house.

Emergency crews knocked down the blaze which was located mainly in a back bedroom area. However, there was smoke damage throughout the home.

No injuries were reported.

The Edinburgh Police Department, which also responded to the fire, said the family lost a lot in the blaze and local residents are trying to put together some way of helping them. Contact the Fire Department if you would like to donate clothing or other items to the victims.

The Indiana National Guard will mobilize teams of guardsmen on Monday to 133 of the state’s facilities hit the hardest by the pandemic, said Inside Indiana Business. Brigadier General Dale Lyles said the state is also planning to expand its national guard assistance to all 534 of the state’s long-term care facilities over the next three weeks. The guardsmen will assist with prevention checklists, data entry, staff and visitor screenings and wellness checks at the healthcare facilities through the end of the year.

Kroger is offering coronavirus antibody tests.

The FDA has authorized the grocery store chain to begin using antibody tests. The test requires a quick blood sample from your finger, which can let a person know if they’ve been infected with coronavirus in the past. Kroger says the tests cost $25 and results come back within 15 minutes. They will be available at all of their pharmacies and clinics by the end of November.

A Clifford man and woman were arrested Tuesday evening on multiple charges after Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputies assisted Bartholomew County probation officers during a home check.

Jason Matthew Grider, 39, of Clifford, was arrested at his residence on Tuesday.

During the check, officers located a significant amount of narcotics.  Grider, who was on probation, for about three months, after serving almost ten years on a narcotics manufacturing charge, was arrested and taken to the Bartholomew County Jail and booked with several drug related charges.

He remains in the Bartholomew County Jail without bond.

Another occupant at the residence, Amy Rivera, 36, was also arrested and charged with multiple drug charges.

She remains in the Bartholomew County Jail and held on a $91,000 bond.

Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office K9, Bravo, has recovered from two surgeries to repair an on-the-job injury (torn ACLs) to his right and left knees.

There were no complications during the surgeries and veterinarians have given him the OK to return back to duty and a normal life .

Along with his service to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office, Bravo has been a great deal of assistance to the Bartholomew County Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET), Intelligence Led Policing (ILP) Unit and several out-of-county agencies.

Bravo has been in service since September, 2019.  He has been deployed five times on foot pursuits, 86 times to locate illegal drugs and he has assisted deputies with numerous warrant services.

A Columbus man is behind bars after he was found sleeping in the backseat of a woman’s vehicle.

The owner of the vehicle called police just before 4 a.m. Sunday and said that that a man, later identified as 24-year-old William Hickey, was asleep in the backseat of her car. She told police she had just gotten off work and stopped at a gas station. She said she didn’t know Hickey was in her car until she heard him snoring.

Officers found Hickey face-down in the backseat of the woman’s vehicle. When the officers woke Hickey up, they smelled alcohol on his breath. Hickey was combative with the officers and hit his head repeatedly against the safety partition in the back of a Columbus police cruiser after he was arrested, according to police.

Hickey was taken to the Bartholomew County Jail on multiple charges including public intoxication and unlawful entry into a motor vehicle.

Indiana hospitals are handling a surge in coronavirus patients so far, but they’re warning that could change.

More than 1,600 Hoosiers are hospitalized with COVID. Indiana hasn’t seen numbers that high since April. Indiana Hospital Association president Brian Tabor says hospitals are better able to handle the flood of patients now than they were then. They’re now confident of their supply of ventilators, and while the pipeline for masks and other protective equipment isn’t perfect, Tabor says it’s vastly improved from where it was in the spring.

But Tabor says capacity issues involve not just equipment and beds, but staff. He says hospital staffs are feeling the strain of dealing with the pandemic for nearly eight months, and that strain is multiplied when doctors or nurses need to quarantine because of contact with someone who tests positive. He’s pleading with Hoosiers to keep health-care workers in mind and help them manage the increasing load, by masking up, washing their hands, and social distancing.

Some states are already confronting a hospital crunch. North Dakota has just 28 open intensive care beds in the entire state, and was down to 16 a few days ago. Utah hospitals predict they’ll have to start triaging ICU space in the next week or two.

In contrast, Indiana still has 700 ICU beds, and can add more than a thousand in a pinch. But Tabor says hospitals are approaching staff shortages in the South Bend and Evansville areas. The 12-county Indiana State Department of Health district for southwest Indiana set a record October 15 with 182 patients hospitalized with COVID, then matched it five days later. The district was down to 155 on Sunday.

And the seven-county district which includes South Bend and Evansville, after peaking at 136 COVID patients on May 3, fell below 100 three days later and didn’t return to that level until the end of September. The region has now been above the May high-water mark for 15 straight days, and reached its highest level yet, 210 patients, on Sunday.

This past weekend the Columbus Firemen’s Cheer Fund, Walmart, and WKKG held their First Pre-Kamp Out For Kids event. White River Broadcasting partnered up with the Cheer Fund and Walmart for the first of two toy drives at both Columbus area Walmart Locations.  From Noon until 4:00 PM on Saturday the two locations combined brought in a few hundred toys.  On top of the toys the Cheer Fund raised a total of $1,633 in cash donations.  If you would like to help there is still time!  This weekend Walmart will again be taking toy and cash donations at the customer service desks at both Columbus Walmart Stores! Additionally on November 6^th and 7^th toy and cash donations will also be accepted during WKKG’s Kamp Out for Kids broadcast at Fire Station Number 1.