The Indiana Department of Transportation says its contractor is planning paving operations later this week at the roundabout construction site two miles west of North Vernon where U.S. Highway 50 intersects with Walnut Street and County Road 400 West. INDOT says this should normalize traffic flow at the junction.

Milestone is the state’s contractor for this $1.9 million project. INDOT says that striping and other construction activities will be while flaggers direct drivers around work crews.

The work is dependent on the weather.

A pair of open houses on the future of the playground inside The Commons has been scheduled. The Commons Playground Public Input and Design Study Committee announced that it has evaluated public input and created a vision for the future development and redesign of the playground. Designs for the proposal will be unveiled at that time.

Those sessions will be held Monday, October 29th in the lower lobby of The Commons. The first session is at noon, the second at 2 p.m.

The Columbus Fire Department is celebrating the career of one of their own. Paramedic Firefighter Tom Rebber has recently retired after 30 years of service. Capt. Mike Wilson, department spokesman, says that during Rebber’s three decades as a Columbus Firefighter, he also served as a Fire Inspector and Deputy Chief.

Tonight’s suicide prevention program at Columbus North’s Judson Erne Auditorium featuring speaker Kevin Hines has been cancelled. Organizers say that Hines suffered a medical emergency and is unable to travel.

This event may be rescheduled for a later date.

A man wanted on a warrant tried to run from Columbus police last night, according to police reports.

Officers say that they recognized 27 year old Steven J. Richcreek walking in the 800 block of Wilson Street at about 8:35 Monday night and confirmed that he was wanted on a warrant from Bartholomew County Superior Court II. But when police tried to talk to Richcreek, he allegedly took off.

Police caught him near 9th and California streets. In addition to the warrant, he is now facing an additional charge of resisting law enforcement.

Columbus Parks and Recreation is announcing that its online registration system is going to be having some downtime.

The department is moving to a new system later this month and the service will be unavailable from Sunday, October 14th until Tuesday, October 16th. If you need to register for facilities during the down time, they ask that you do so by Friday, October 5th.

The department is asking for your patience as staff work through the move to the new system. If you have any questions, you can call 812-376-2680 or go to the department’s website at columbusparksandrec.com.

The Yellow Trail Museum in Hope will have an educational session on Victorian era spiritualism on Friday.

“When a Spirit Calls” will include the history of speaking with lost loved ones, mourning practices, and memorials. It will be led by Karen Shank-Chapman from the Wayne County Historical Museum in Richmond.

The event is free to the public and no reservations are required. It will be from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m at the museum and visitor center on the northwest corner of the Hope Town Square.

Columbus residents will have to pay less for flood insurance. The city planning department is reporting that the area has received an improved flood insurance rating, dropping premiums by an additional five percent.

The city has held a Class 8 rating in FEMA’s Community Rating System but that is being upgraded to a Class 7 rating. Estimates from FEMA are that the change would save about $40 per flood insurance policy. For the 374 policies currently in place in the city, there would be a total savings of over $46 thousand dollars.

The planning department is reporting that local efforts at reducing flood damage have led to the improved rating. Those include creation of the city’s flood plans, heightened development standards and preservation of open space. They also credited additional flood studies for areas in the Haw Creek watershed not included on the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps.

CRS Press Release

Bartholomew County leaders are still working on a plan for a new highway garage. During Monday night’s County Council work session, members debated the scope of a new bond needed to get the facility built. County Commissioners have been adamant for years that a new garage is needed. They say the current facility on State Street has largely outlived its usefulness. The property is also land-locked, making expansion next to impossible. The commissioners are looking at purchasing property owned by the Bartholomew County Solid Waste Management District. That property is just outside of city limits on 25th Street.

The council offered guidance to commissioners several weeks ago as to how large of a bond it was willing to take on. That amount was set at six-million dollars. There was some debate about possibly lowering that amount to five-million dollars, but Council President Mark Gorbett argued against it, citing cash flow concerns and a slew of other needs throughout the county that need to addressed.

A final decision on the bonding amount won’t be made until early 2019. Commissioner Rick Flohr says that final figures on purchasing the land won’t be known until November. Engineering and architecture plans for the new garage won’t be ready until this January.

If you need a flu-shot, Tuesday is a great opportunity to take care of it. Amanda Organist with the Bartholomew County Health Department explains…

The clinic will be from 10 to 4 p.m. in the Fair Oaks Mall parking lot. Organist says that it will be in the same area as where the farmer’s market is held. There will be  a few stations you need to drive through to fill out paperwork and other steps to get the flu shot.

Organist says that the clinic will accept most insurance, cash and credit cards. If your insurance doesn’t cover the flu vaccine, she explains that there is a privately funded vaccine program that will cover the costs.

For more information, call the Bartholomew County Health Department at (812) 379-1555, option 1.