The People Trail will be closed from 25th Street to National Road, starting today.

The Columbus Parks and Recreation Department is reporting that there will be construction work going on that area through Friday.

Jennings County deputies are looking for four go-carts stolen from the local Shriners.

Deputies are investigating the thefts from the Rolling Hills Shrine Club in North Vernon that were first reported on Saturday. The go-carts were taken from a shed on the property. They are all painted black with the Shrine emblem on the doors.

If you have seen the go-carts or have any information, you can call the Jennings County Sheriff’s Office at 812-346-=8642 or dispatchers at 812-346-4911.

You will be seeing a major shift in traffic soon on Interstate 65 between Columbus and Seymour. INDOT is reporting that it plans to move all traffic across the median to the east side of the interstate, starting tonight or Thursday night.

That almost three-mile change will be near the Walesboro exit. INDOT says that southbound motorists will be shifted across the highway, starting north of State Road 58. Two 11-foot-wide lanes will be maintained in each direction while construction takes place on the west half of the interstate.

That is in addition to other work that is causing single-lane closures on weekends both northbound and southbound while work is happening on bridges. Those go into effect at 6 p.m. Fridays and continue through noon on Sundays. Those changes will be going on through the next four weekends not counting Labor Day.

INDOT reports that there will also be spot lane closures—both northbound and southbound — between mile markers 50 and 60 overnights, through next week.

Trucks are restricted to left-lane travel throughout the work zone. This suspends northbound exits at the Indiana State Police weigh station located north of U.S. Highway 50 at Seymour.

This is all part of the $143 million Next Level Roads project widening the interstate to six lanes between Seymour and Columbus.

Columbus police arrested two people on drug related charges after a Sunday morning traffic stop.

Police report that they stopped a speeding vehicle at about 12:15 a.m. Sunday morning near Terrace Lake Road and County Road 200S. Inside the vehicle, the officer smelled marijuana.

As a passenger got out of the vehicle, the officer allegedly noticed a handgun, which 20-year-old Mauricio Colin of Indianapolis said he owned. But Colin does not have a handgun permit. As he was being arrested, officers allegedly found marijuana in his pockets.

Police also discovered more marijuana and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle. The driver, 25-year-old Rikki Garcia Herrera of Columbus is faces possession charges for marijuana and the drug paraphernalia. Colin was arrested on preliminary charges of possession of a handgun without a license and possession of marijuana.

A Holton man died in a traffic accident yesterday on U.S. 50 in Jennings County.

Deputies report that 69-year-old Richard L. Sutton was pronounced dead after the crash east of County Road 200N Monday.

Sutton was driving a pickup westbound when his vehicle crossed the centerline, left the south side of the road, striking a ditch and a fence before coming to a stop in a yard, according to police reports..

According to Jennings County deputies, a witness suggested that Sutton appeared to slump in his seat before leaving the road and deputies say they do not know if he suffered a medical emergency leading to the crash.

The Bartholomew County sheriff would put a full-time deputy in Flat Rock-Hawcreek schools under a proposed plan being considered for a school resource officer.

Representatives from the Flat Rock-Hawcreek schools, the town of Hope and the sheriff’s department say that in this day and age, it is a necessity to have the security that an armed officer provides.

School Board President Pat Walters talks about the need for a school resource officer, or SRO.

Flat Rock Hawcreek Schools include Hauser Jr. Sr. High School and Hope Elementary in northeastern Bartholomew County.

Sheriff Matt Myers said that he has built the proposal into next year’s budget. Myers said that the agreement would involve the schools covering the deputy’s salary and benefits, but the county would cover equipment, training, uniforms and the police vehicle. The school district has received a grant of about $30,000 to pay part of the cost for an officer in the schools.

Myers said his department is also working with Bartholomew Consolidated Schools to provide an additional school resource officer. That would augment the two officers the city of Columbus already provides.

An Edinburgh company is planning a $2. 9 million dollar expansion.

Georg Utz Inc. will be asking the Bartholomew County Council tonight for a tax abatement on their planned expansion. Jason Hester with the Greater Columbus Economic Development Corporation laid out the proposal to buy new equipment during a council work session last week.

Hester said the company will be filling seven jobs before the end of the year to meet the terms of a previous abatement and plans to add seven more for the current abatement. The company has 63 workers already, he said.

Hester explains the way a tax abatement works:

The County Council meets at 6 p.m. tonight in the Council Chambers at the Governmental Office Building on Third Street in Columbus.

Camp Atterbury is planning to open its gates to the public for the annual Community Day on the base early next month.

The event will include displays of military vehicles, helicopters, performances by the Southern Indiana Pipes and Drums and the 38th Infantry Division Band. And there will be live fire demonstrations including howitzers, grenade launchers and machine guns. Weather permitting, the 122nd Fighter Wing will provide demonstrations of the firepower of their A-10 aircraft and there will be a helicopter extraction demonstration.

There will also be food vendors and information booths.

Community Day at Camp Atterbury will be Sept. 8th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., starting at Building 722. The static display area opens at 10 a.m. Live fire demonstration begins at 2 p.m.

Camp Atterbury on Facebook

Columbus City Council will be discussing next year’s budget this week.

Jamie Brinegar, the city’s finance director, said that the biggest change year over year will be made to accommodate the changes recommended by a recently completed salary study. For example, the 2019 budget is seeking almost $274,000 more for city police officers than the 2018 budget. Firefighter salaries would increase about $285,000 over this year’s level.

The council will hold two special meetings this week for budget negotiations. The first will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday afternoon and the second will be Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. Both are scheduled to be held in the council chambers at Columbus City Hall.

Bartholomew County say a vehicle’s passenger gave them a fake name when the driver, who didn’t have a license, was pulled over for a traffic stop Friday.

The traffic stop happened Friday in the 6000 block of Jonesville Road. 25-year-old Edwin H. Berrera was the driver of the car and told county deputies that he did not have a license. His passenger gave a name to police that turned out to be fake. Police discovered that he was really 23-year-old Edward Velarde of Seymour.

A sheriff’s department police dog alerted to the odor of narcotics in the vehicle and deputies allegedly discovered marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Both men are facing preliminary charges of possession of marijuana. Berrera is also being charged with driving without ever receiving a license, and Verlade is being accused of false informing.