The National Weather Service is warning that we could see some river flooding in the area, as warmer weather breaks up ice on the waterways.

Forecasters say the danger of ice-jam related flooding could last into the weekend and through early next week. High temperatures in the upper 40s and low to mid 50s are expected into next week.

Local counties under the weather advisory include Bartholomew, Brown, Decatur, Jackson, Jennings, Johnson and Shelby counties.

Image courtesy of National Weather Service

Some Eastern Bartholomew Water customers will be without service for part of the day today and a road will be closed, while the utility makes repairs to a broken water main.

The work will be on County Road 100W in the Rosstown area. The road will be closed between County Roads 550S and 625S during the repairs. Authorities estimate the road will close at about 8 a.m. and reopen at about 5 p.m.

The utility estimates that customers will be without water for four to six hours tomorrow. Once water service is restored, those affected customers will be under a boil water advisory from about 4 p.m. this  afternoon to 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

Customers south of County Road 550S to 900 S may also be affected.

A downtown riverfront improvement project is still moving forward under contract changes approved by Columbus Redevelopment Commission this week.

The city is adding money and new responsibilities to the contracts for Hitchcock Design Group and Core Planning Strategies, after approvals and demands from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources have taken longer than expected.

The riverfront project would remove the low-head dam on East Fork White River between the downtown bridges, connect the People Trail along the river, and provide in-river recreation such as kayaking and canoeing. While DNR has given a permit for the project, there are still approvals needed from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and Army Corps of Engineers.

City Council members Tom Dell and Elaine Hilber asked whether there is any guarantee that all the agencies will eventually allow this project to be approved. Hilber called the approvals a moving target. Both consultants said they had a good feeling the project can move forward.

Core would see an additional flat fee of $161,000 plus expenses for its work as project manager, while Hitchcock would receive just over $115,000 more plus expenses for the additional work.

The redevelopment commission approved the contract changes.

Riverfront design illustration courtesy of Hitchcock Design Group.

Columbus city government offices are going to remain mostly closed to the public through at least the end of March.

City officials say that they will be reviewing the spread of COVID-19 in the community and the pace of local vaccinations to determine whether they can re-open after March 31st.

Officials stress that city business will continue with employees working, answering phones and e-mails and meeting with members of the public by appointment only.

The city will also continue with largely virtual government meetings that will be streamed through the city’s website and conducted by Web Ex. Should Gov. Eric Holcomb opt not to extend his emergency order, the city would go back to in person meetings.

City officials say the restrictions are meant to protect the health and safety of employees and the public.

Three local not-for-profit groups will be receiving part of more than $65,000 in grants being announced by Heritage Fund: The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County.

The agency announced the recipients of grants from its most recent grant cycle yesterday.

Gleaners Food Bank is receiving $15,343 to support a Mobile Food Pantry for seniors.

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools are receiving $17,500 to support the Counseling Counts program

Thrive Alliance will be getting more than $15,764 to purchase software to manage customer relationships and more than $16,688 toward a new outreach program for Bartholomew County seniors.

The grants are being made through the agency’s unrestricted Community Fund, which gives between $600,000 and $700,000 dollars annually to local nonprofits. The Community Fund focuses on needs in the areas of youth development, substance abuse, neighborhood revitalization, innovation and creativity and being a welcoming community.

Indiana has now passed 12 thousand deaths from COVID-19.

There were 44 new deaths added to the Indiana State Department of Health tally Tuesday, dating back to Dec. 1st. That brings the total to 12,025.

In our area, Johnson County reported a single death in yesterday’s report, the only surrounding county to record a death.

All of our area counties are currently showing a moderate spread of the disease and are yellow on the state’s color coded map. However Bartholomew, Johnson, Decatur and Jackson counties all remain under the orange, or serious spread advisory level. Counties much remain at a lower 7-day score for two consecutive weeks to move down to a lower advisory level.

State officials are opening up eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines to people who are between 60 and 64. There are nearly 432,000 people between those ages in the state, and nearly 91,000 of them have already made vaccine appointments. Anyone older than 64 has already been eligible.

Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputies used a department pickup truck to pull a burning truck away from a home this morning, saving the home from damage.

Deputy Sgt. Andrew Dougan and Sgt. Jarod Aspenson were called to the 5000 block of Brush Creek Drive at about 3:08 a.m. this morning on a report of a vehicle fire. They found the burning truck just a few feet from the home. After trying to put the fire out with extinguishers failed, Dougan hooked up a tow strap and pulled the burning truck away from the home.

Firefighters from Columbus Township Fire and Rescue Department and Elizabethtown Volunteer Fire Department arrived and quickly extinguished the blazing truck according to police reports. Most of the personal items inside the truck were able to be salvaged.

Photo courtesy of Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department

Columbus-based diesel engine manufacturer Cummins Inc. is announcing a partnership with Daimler Truck AG that will lead to the production of medium duty commercial vehicle engines for the German company’s trucks and buses around the world.

Under the partnership, Cummins will establish an engine plant at the Mercedes-Benz Mannheim German campus. The company would then produce medium duty engines compliant with European emissions standard for Mercedes-Benz. In all other regions, including North America, Cummins will use local production and supply chain networks for Daimler Trucks’ brands.

The production of the current medium duty engine generation by Daimler will end with the start of production of the Cummins engines at Mannheim.

The global production and delivery of medium duty engines by Cummins for Daimler trucks and buses would begin in the second half of the decade.

The companies also plan to work together on alternative and emerging technologies, including non-diesel engines.

You can read more about the agreement here.

A redevelopment area in the northwestern corner of Bartholomew County could see some new business soon. The county redevelopment commission was updated yesterday on several possible projects in the district in the Taylorsville and Edinburgh area.

The county originally set up a tax increment financing district in the northwestern corridor in 2015 between U.S. 31 and Interstate 65 along County Road 800N. An expansion in 2019 increased that to about 1,200 acres including property to the north and south.

Jason Hester, with the Greater Columbus Indiana Economic Development Corporation, told the redevelopment commission yesterday afternoon that what he called Project A is getting close to making announcements about their plans. Although under a non-disclosure agreement, he said that Bartholomew County is a national finalist to draw the unnamed company to the community. Discussions of an exact site are ongoing and he expected discussions of incentives to start soon.

Two other projects are also in the works, Hester said.

The city of Columbus is moving ahead with plans for an apartment complex and grocery on land next to the Bartholomew County Jail on Second Street.

Yesterday afternoon, the Columbus Redevelopment Commission approved the process to sell that city-owned property so it could be used for the $40 million dollar project. Developer Flaherty & Collins of Indianapolis is proposing to build 200 apartments and a 12,000 to 15,000 square foot grocery at the property just east of the jail. The project would open in about three years.

Heather Pope, redevelopment director for the city, asked the commission to give her the authority to begin seeking two appraisals for the property, putting together an offer sheet and advertising the sale in the newspaper.

The commission also approved a plan to start the process of extending the life of the tax increment financing district for that specific parcel for 25 more years, so that the redevelopment commission can be reimbursed for its investment in the project. The city’s central tax increment financing district is otherwise set to phase out in 2036.

The process would include approvals by the Columbus Plan Commission and City Council and then would come back before the Redevelopment Commission.