A Columbus man was arrested for allegedly violating a protective order. At about 7:18 p.m. Sunday, Bartholomew County Sheriff’s deputies were called to the 10000 block of Alvin Drive. There, they found 22-year-old Ricky Reed. While being taken into custody, Reed allegedly pulled away from deputies and refused to comply. Deputies regained control of Reed a short time later. He is facing preliminary charges of Invasion of Privacy and Resisting Law Enforcement.

Reed remains in jail on $10,000 bond.

Former Congressman Luke Messer has found a new role with Washington D.C.  firm, Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting.

The firm announced this morning that Messer, a Republican, will co-lead the firm’s bipartisan federal advocacy team. As part of his new role, Messer will advise clients on federal regulatory and policy developments.

“I am excited to join a major firm with a strong presence in Washington, D.C. and nationwide,” said Messer. “I look forward to working with my new colleagues to help clients navigate the complex maze of federal policy decisions in Washington.”

Messer, originally from Greensburg, served three terms in Congress representing the Sixth District.  During his time there, he served as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee and served on the House committees on Financial Services; Education and the Workforce; Budget; and Foreign Affairs.

He left Congress this month, replaced by Rep. Greg Pence.  Messer chose not to see re-election, instead running for the U.S. Senate and losing in last year’s primary to new Sen. Mike Braun.

Messer holds a law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School and a bachelor’s degree in speech from Wabash College where he graduated summa cum laude.

The Yellow Trail Museum in Hope had its annual meeting last night at Willow Leaves of Hope.

The museum recognized three volunteers of the year, Kim Ray, Kathie Clouse and Caitlin Downhour. They are working on a major project to digitize and catalog the museum’s artifacts and documents in the museum’s research center, as well as those of the Rural Mail Carrier’s Museum that the Yellow Trail currently holds in its collection.

Museum board President Erin Anderson explains the scope of their work.

This weekend will see the unveiling of designs for the Exhibit Columbus installations going up around the city in August.

Teams of professional architects and designers from around the world are taking part in the Miller Prize installations. They will be putting up the installations at the AT&T Facility, Columbus City Hall, the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library Plaza, Central Middle School and the Bartholomew County Courthouse Lawn.

But there will also be college teams and local students participating. Anne Surak, director of exhibitions for Exhibit Columbus explains that there will be six regional university teams, representing eight schools.

The university installations will be at North Christian Church, St Peters Lutheran Church, First Christian Church and an alley on Washington Street downtown.

There will also be local students taking part.  Surak explains that she has been working with a local student design team since the start of the school year, including giving them a tour of the city and the students taking part in last fall’s symposium.

She said that participating students will be building their installations through the C4 program.

The design presentations will start at 10 a.m. Saturday at The Commons with the University Design Research Fellowship participants. The Miller Prize presentations will be from 2 to 4:30 p.m.

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to improve a local skate park. The campaign is sponsored by the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority and offered through the crowdfunding platform developed by Patronicity. The campaign is led by Columbus Parks and Recreation.

“With unique amenities and rich architectural history, it is only fitting to have a world-renowned architect designing their first U.S. skate park in Columbus,” said Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch. “Not only will this be a place for people to practice skateboarding, but it provides an excellent location for outdoor concerts and events.”

If the campaign reaches its $50,000 goal by February 28th, the “Crider 2.0” project will receive a matching grant of $50,000 from IHCDA’s CreatINg Places program.

This campaign will enhance the Jolie Crider Memorial Skate Park located at Clifty Park. The architectural design will come from Finnish designer, Janne Saario, his first and only design in the United States. The space will be used by skateboards, longboards, roller derby, in-line skating, bmx and scooters. Crider 2.0 has a vision to be a place for individuals to hangout, have outdoor concerts and events, and practice their sport.

“We are excited about the possibilities,” said Stacy Findley, Project and Resource Development Director for Columbus Parks and Recreation. “There’s nothing like the Jolie Crider Memorial Skate Park. This is an unique opportunity with a world-renowned designer to renovate the park and keep it safe for generations to come.”

If you would like to donate to the cause, click here: bit.ly/2Co0itA.

If you receive food stamps, you’ll be getting February’s benefits even earlier than anticipated.

Officials with the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration say they’ve been informed by the USDA that the state must issue Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for the month of February this Wednesday, January 16th rather than the previously reported date of Saturday, January 19.

In Indiana, SNAP benefits are usually issued to recipients according to an alphabetical schedule over a 19 day period throughout the month. This one-time early benefit distribution was identified by USDA officials as a mechanism provide SNAP benefits during the partial federal government shutdown.

No SNAP benefits will be issued in the month of February, so recipients are strongly encouraged to budget their SNAP benefits to ensure the amount received provides for their food needs through all of February. January benefits are being distributed according to the normal schedule. The FSSA will continue to accept and process applications for benefits for January issuance through January 31st.

We’ve made it through the first major snowfall of the year. The Bartholomew County Emergency Management Agency says another storm may hit our area this weekend.

Officials say a Winter storm may push out of the southern plains on Friday night and push across Kentucky on Saturday. This may result in another significant accumulating snow for Central Indiana on Saturday.

Forecasters say it is still too early to determine how much snow we may be in store for. However, current forecast models suggest enough snow may fall to make it difficult to travel.

Bartholomew Consolidated Schools Superintendent Dr. Jim Roberts will be giving the public an update on the school district’s concerns and priorities for this year’s legislative session.

The school district’s legislative discussion will be from 9 to 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 25th at the Columbus Learning Center. Coffee and pastries will be served starting at 8:30 a.m.

Roberts says that some of the hot topics will be tuition funding and how kindergarten students will be counted for school funding purposes.

Pre-kindergarten funding would become simpler and more widely available, under BCSC’s preferences, as would English Language Learning opportunities.

Safety items have been a priority for the school district, as well as teacher recruitment and retention efforts.

Roberts said that the public will have monthly chances to talk directly to legislators, when the Third House sessions kick off again later this month.

Third House sessions are organized by the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce and they will be held monthly this session, instead of weekly. The first Third House session will be at 7:30 a.m., Jan. 28th at Columbus City Hall.

Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop is outlining this year’s priorities when it comes to public safety in the community.

One of the milestones this year should be the completion of the training facility at the airport.

The mayor says that the facility will also allow other area agencies to come to Columbus to train. Those agencies will be paying to use the facilities, which will help offset the city’s cost to operate the facility, Lienhoop said.

The city will continue to address mold and safety problems at local fire stations this year. Lienhoop says that the city has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars repairing fire stations since he took office.

Lienhoop says that continuing efforts to clean up the city will be one of the public safety priorities this year.

The mayor said that property owners are more likely to voluntarily comply with the city’s cleanup efforts now that the track record is already laid for forcing cleanups.

A Columbus man was arrested Friday on drug possession charges, after drawing attention by swapping price tags in a store.

Columbus police say that they were called to the east side Walmart at about 7 p.m. Friday evening after store security reported the suspicious activity. Officers found that the man, 37 year old Matthew G. Ratliff had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. As he was taken into custody, a search revealed he was carrying methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and three other types of controlled substances.

He was arrested on drug possession charges and for the outstanding warrant.