Four teens are being accused of armed robbery after a Columbus gas station was hit early Friday morning.

Columbus police say that two suspects with their faces covered entered the Marathon Gas Station on North National Road at about 12:07 a.m. Friday morning when one pulled a knife on the cashier. While holding the cashier at knifepoint, the second suspect then stole tobacco and vaping products.

Police were alerted to teens in the backyard of a home in the 3000 block of 16th Street shortly afterwards. One of the teens tried to run away, but was soon captured. Two others were found hiding in a shed in the backyard, along with evidence linked to the gas station. A fourth suspected was arrested later in the day on Friday.

Three 15-year-olds and a 17-year-old are facing preliminary charges of armed robbery, with one 15-year-old also being charged with resisting law enforcement and false informing.

Bartholomew County had the second highest number of new cases of COVID-19 reported since the start of the pandemic, under the new report from the state.

Bartholomew County has 118 new cases and a 7-day positivity rate of 11.4 percent as of today’s update from the Indiana State Department of Health. The only higher day for the county was Nov. 19th with 121 new cases. Bartholomew County also had two new reported deaths, bringing the total here to 65. No other area county reported new deaths in today’s report.

In other area counties, Decatur had 43 new cases, Jennings 17, Jackson 39, Brown 6, Johnson 164 and Shelby County 31.

On the state’s color coded map of COVID-19 spread, Bartholomew and all of its surrounding counties are orange, showing serious spread of the disease.

Indiana has added 5,700 more positive COVID-19 cases and 33 deaths as of Friday’s report. That report showed 324,537 total cases since the start of the pandemic and 5,328 total deaths.

Area law enforcement agencies are urging you to be safe on the road during any holiday travels. They say to drive sober and to buckle up.

Indiana State Police, Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department and Columbus Police Department are involved in efforts to raise safety awareness during this holiday season. The agencies stress that many traffic injuries and deaths could be prevented by wearing a seatbelt. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, from 1975 to 2017 seatbelts have saved an estimated 374 thousand lives. Indiana’s seatbelt usage rate is above 90 percent but still, more than half of the people killed in motor vehicle crashes last year were not buckled up.

In Indiana, there were 106 people killed in alcohol related collisions in 2019, which was 13 percent of the state’s total traffic fatalities. Every day, almost 30 people die every day in drunk driving crashes according to federal data.

Bartholomew County government offices will be mostly closed next week for an expanded cleaning and social distancing to try to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Government offices are closed today under a normal holiday schedule. But next week, only essential workers will be allowed in the buildings on a case-by-case basis and the public will be largely kept out of county facilities. The plan is meant to allow maintenance crews to perform a deep cleaning of county facilities, but also to allow workers to remain separated in the wake of Thanksgiving festivities where COVID-19 might have spread.

Some essential functions will still happen next week including court hearings and the Monday County Commissioners meeting, which will be open to the public via the Zoom app.

Starting Dec. 7th, county offices will only be staffed at 50 percent on a rotating schedule to increase social distancing. The public will still be able to get their business done through phone, email or appointments with individual offices.

Two local counties have been downgraded on the Indiana State Department of Health coronavirus spread map, as of the most recent update.

Decatur and Brown counties had been listed by the state as red counties, showing severe spread of the disease but have now been downgraded. Bartholomew and all of its surrounding counties are now orange, showing serious spread of the disease.

Bartholomew County has 66 new cases and a 7-day positivity rate of 11.7 percent. In other area counties, Decatur had 21 new cases, Jennings 34, Jackson 69, Brown 7, Johnson 164 and Shelby County 75. Johnson County had four new reported deaths, and Shelby County had one.

Indiana has added 6,434 more positive COVID-19 cases and 63 deaths, as of the most recent update on Wednesday. That report showed 318,894 total cases since the start of the pandemic and 5,295 total deaths.

Indiana State Police have released the name of a homicide victim, found over the weekend in Brown County.

Authorities say the body has been positively identified as 38-year-old Angela Weisheit of Indianapolis.

Sheriff Scott Southerland told the Brown County Democrat newspaper that the body was found by a deer hunter near Bean Blossom and Bell roads Saturday. Detectives with the state police said that they believe this is an isolated incident and stress that there is no indication of danger to the public.

This remains an active investigation. Investigators believe that someone has information in the case and are urging anyone to come forward with that information. They say that if you are in fear of reporting what you know, law enforcement has the means to mitigate those concerns. All tips will be investigated and you can remain anonymous.

If you have any information you can contact Indiana State Police Bloomington Post at (812) 332-4411.

The city of Columbus is giving up on collecting rent from its restaurant tenants in The Commons and the Jackson Street parking garage until at least July of next year.

The Columbus Redevelopment Commission adopted a proposal to fully abate the rent at a special meeting Wednesday afternoon to fully abate the rent for Orange Leaf, Subway, Bucceto’s, Luciana’s, The Garage Pub & Grill and Lucabe’s Coffee from January through June 30th.

The city has already abated rent on the properties in full or in part, starting in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Heather Pope, director of the city’s redevelopment department, said that in a normal year from June through December, the city would have collected more than $136,000 in rent, while this year the city has only collected just over $20,000, due to the previous abatements.

Councilman Tom Dell urged the commission to approve the rent abatement, saying that downtown restaurants are facing some of their toughest times ever because of the COVID-19 restrictions. Dell said that the city doesn’t view the rents in the city-owned buildings as a profit-maker, instead just as a way to recover some costs. In this case, the greatest cost would be having to replace those restaurants.

The commission approved the proposal unanimously.

Columbus firefighters are warning that Thanksgiving celebrations also carry the potential for fire dangers.

Capt. Mike Wilson, spokesman for the Columbus Fire Department, says that statistically tomorrow brings the greatest chance for a kitchen fire, the most common type of residential fire. Frequently that is due to distractions, he said.

Frying your Thanksgiving turkey is popular right now but that brings its own set of dangers.

That includes inside of a garage. When outdoors, Wilson said you should keep the fryer off of wooden decks and away from eaves or overhangs.

And you should invest in a non-water fire extinguisher, Wilson said.

The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department says several legitimate organizations are working with the department to develop fundraisers to honor fallen police dog Diesel. But there are also fake fundraisers that have popped up which are not approved by the department.

The sheriff’s department said that the Bartholomew County Humane Society, Dog World and veterans organizations have volunteered to host fund raisers for a memorial and to sustain the department’s K9 Program. However, the department has not approved any fundraisers through online sites like Spot Fund or Go Fund Me. Those sites appear to be scammers who are acting as if they are supporters of the efforts. The sheriff’s department warns you not to fall victim to those activities.

If the department does decide to approve a fundraising effort, there will be a public endorsement of the fundraiser by Sheriff Matt Myers.

Myers said that Diesel’s handler, Deputy Matt Bush, and other deputies have been touched by the hundreds of cards, prayers and donations supporting the department after the death of the dog during a chase earlier this month.

If you would like to drop off a card or other donation item, you can bring it to the front desk at the Sheriff’s Office or mail it to 543 2nd Street.

Indiana is reporting more than 100 deaths from COVID-19 according to the newest numbers from the State Department of Health.

Tuesday’s report show 5,702 new cases of COVID-19 for a total of 306,538 since the pandemic started. The state’s 7-day all test positivity rate is 11.4 percent.

The 103 deaths reported today brings the state total to 5 thousand 169 since March. The deaths reported today happened between Oct. 30th and Monday.

Bartholomew County has 50 new cases and a 7-day positivity rate of 13 percent. In other area counties, Decatur had 11 new cases, Jennings 27, Jackson 68, Brown 7, Johnson 90 and Shelby County 37. Johnson County had one reported death, the only area county with a new fatality from the disease.