Editor’s note: This compilation was created from stories nominated from Republic reporters and editors.
1.
Catastrophic spring flooding engulfs Columbus
The first weekend in April 2025 stunned Columbus residents with moderate to severe flooding on Columbus’ west side and along the East Fork White River, the Flat Rock River and the Driftwood River.
Over the April 5 through April 6 weekend, 7.5 inches of rain fell on Bartholomew County in just 36 hours. At the same time, communities north of Bartholomew County also received large amounts of rainfall, which resulted in East Fork White River cresting higher than expected.
State Road 46, State Road 11 and the back way to Columbus on County Road 325W all flooded over several days, making I-65 and U.S. 31 one of the only open arteries to travel to the city from various locations.
First responders rescued 31 people from flood waters over the weekend, including about 20 unhoused individuals and their dogs who had been staying in encampments near Noblitt Park and behind Bartholomew County Jail.
The other rescues involved people who ignored high water and road closure signs, as well as another at a farmhouse on County Road 400S after a man called to say his basement had filled with water and that he was surrounded by flood waters and could not leave his home.
Two additional two water rescues were conducted the night of April 7, officials said.
Cooke said the flood appears to be most extensive since the catastrophic flood in Columbus in 2008.
Over the weekend, East Fork White River crested at 17.09 feet — the third highest crest recorded in 112 years, according to records from Bartholomew County Emergency Management.
By comparison, the river crested at 18.6 feet during the 2008 flood and at 17.9 feet during a major flood in 1913. This year’s flood narrowly topped a January 2005 flood caused by melting snow and rain.
One fatality was reported in the flooding. A local man was found in the Driftwood River April 10. The coroner’s office identified him as Darrell Voelz, 62, Columbus, who had been reported missing after the severe flooding. County Coroner Tom Barrett said his office was called to the scene near the Lowell Fishing Site after the county’s Water Rescue Team located Voelz’s body.
2.
Jackson pleads guilty to theft and misuse of public funds
Former Columbus Township Trustee Ben Jackson will face up to 64.5 years in prison after entering into a plea agreement with prosecutors on Nov. 10.
Jackson, who resigned about a year ago amid an investigation into his use of the township’s credit card, waived his right to a trial during a pretrial conference in Bartholomew Superior Court 1 and entered into a change of plea of guilty on all 17 felony counts and one misdemeanor filed in July related to his theft and misuse of public funds.
Jackson, a Republican, pleaded guilty to charges that he stole and misused public funds to cover more than $1.12 million in personal expenses he paid for with the township’s credit card over an eight-year period.
Those included lavish trips across the United States and overseas, college tuition for his children, retail purchases, home improvement projects, among several other things, according to a report by the State Board of Accounts (SBOA).
Decatur Superior Court Judge Matthew Bailey, serving as special judge, scheduled sentencing for Jan. 21.
3.
Love Chapel hits new records in the need for food
In November, Love Chapel expected to set a new monthly record for families served after the food pantry saw a spike in demand following a lapse in federal nutrition benefits during the longest government shutdown in history.
As of late in the month, Love Chapel had served 1,635 families, according to Kelly Daugherty, the organization’s executive director. That puts the food pantry on pace to serve well more than the monthly record of 1,698 families in December 2024.
Earlier in November, the City of Columbus and several community partners announced they would provide $300,000 in emergency funding to Love Chapel, aiming to help the food pantry meet surging demand following the lapse in SNAP payments.
The community partners include Cummins Inc., Centra Credit Union, Toyota Material Handling North America, Love Chapel Foundation and Heritage Fund of Bartholomew County. The emergency funding aims to ensure that Love Chapel could continue providing meals and food assistance affected by the disruption to SNAP benefits.
The $300,000 donation is the largest one-time cash donation in Love Chapel’s over 50-year history, Daugherty said.
4.
Sen. Greg Walker stands up to Trump over redistricting
Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus, was one of the majority of Indiana Senate Republicans — who rebuffed pressure Dec. 11 from President Donald Trump and his allies to redraw the state’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
In a 31-19 vote, the Indiana Senate rejected a proposed congressional map that aimed to redraw congressional districts in ways that could flip two Democratic-held seats as part of a broader national push to help preserve the GOP’s narrow majority in the U.S. House.
Walker gained national and international media attention in his comments to The Republic, saying he would not be intimidated by Trump after declining an invitation to meet the president in the Oval Office on Nov. 19.
The state senator said he declined the invitation and believes it violated the Hatch Act, which restricts certain political activities by federal employees.
Walker said he would have reported the alleged violation to federal authorities “if I thought that there was anyone of integrity in Washington that would follow through on my accusation and actually cause someone to lose their job over it.”
“I refused (the invitation), but the underling who reached out to me is trying to influence the election on my dime,” Walker told The Republic. “That individual works for me. He works for you. He’s on my payroll, he’s on your payroll, and he’s campaigning on company time. That’s a violation of the Hatch Act. He’s a federal employee. He works in the White House. But does anyone care about the rules anymore? Not that I can tell.”
“How does (Trump) have the time to mess a nobody like me with all of the important matters that are to take his attention as the leader of the executive branch in this nation?” Walker also said. “There is no way that he should have time to have a conversation with me about Indiana mapmaking when that’s not his business for starters. But secondly, doesn’t he have anything better to do? I can make a big list of things that are more important for him to focus on.”
The Oval Office invitation came two days before Walker became the sixth GOP senator to be targeted in a swatting incident since Indiana Senate leaders said they were rejecting Trump’s push for congressional redistricting.
5.
Villas residents relocate as apartment complex is torn down
Demolition began in October for the Villas, an affordable housing complex in Columbus that closed at the end of July.
Contractor Denney Excavating Inc. demolished the structure at 4101 Waycross Drive, according to property owner BHI Senior Living and county records.
Last year, BHI Senior Living announced that it had decided to close the 99-unit Villas apartments by the end of April 2025, when its contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that subsidized rent for its residents was set to expire.
The company later received extensions from HUD to “provide added time and flexibility for those (residents) still in transition,” company officials said previously. The final closing date was July 31.
Residents received tenant protection vouchers this past April that aimed to help them relocate. In total, 41 residents and families used the vouchers.
All tenants had relocated out of the apartments by July, most to communities in and around Columbus, in areas where they preferred to live. A few residents moved in with family members.
6.
Tornadoes tear through Bartholomew County
For the first time in 50 years, Bartholomew County weathered two tornadoes in a single season — a milestone hit on May 16, when one EF-2 tornado carved a 35-mile path of destruction across three Indiana counties.
The twister, which had 200-yard-wide funnel by the time it entered Bartholomew County, swept across the Grandview Lake community, with reports of significant damage.
Just two months earlier, another EF-2 tornado, with winds of 112 mph and a width of 3.5 football fields, tore through 13.6 miles of southwest Bartholomew County, collapsing metal farm buildings, twisting transmission towers, downing powerlines and hurling debris half a mile.
And between the two tornadoes, another storm system dumped 7.5 inches of rain in the county in just 36 hours, resulting in the third-highest crest recorded in East Fork White River in 112 years and the most extensive flooding in 17 years.
Before this spring, Bartholomew County hadn’t seen two tornadoes in a single year since 1974, and only the floods of 2008 and 1913 surpassed this year’s flood, according to records with the National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Bartholomew County Emergency Management.
7.
Trump pardons two Bartholomew County residents
Federal prosecutors moved to dismiss criminal charges against two Bartholomew County residents who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia filed a motion to dismiss the indictment against James Behymer of Hope and Donald Lee Moss of Elizabethtown, citing President Donald Trump’s executive order pardoning, commuting or dismissing the cases of 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the attack, according to filings in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.
Behymer and Moss pleaded guilty in October to one count of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer during the U.S. Capitol attack, according to court filings. The two men were scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 13.
The offense would have carried a maximum sentence of eight years in prison, a $250,000 fine and up to three years of supervised release, according to court records.
Federal prosecutors allege that Behymer and Moss were part of a group of “angry and violent rioters” who descended upon and assaulted D.C. Metropolitan police officers near the lower west terrace of the U.S. Capitol who were attempting to keep them from breaching the building on Jan. 6, 2021.
Federal prosecutors also included images they claim are of the two men that were taken from officers’ body cameras and third-party footage.
8.
Crump on a new journey to renovation
The Crump renamed itself as the Crump Center for the Performing Arts (CCPA) and announced in November that Indianapolis-based architecture and design firm DKGR has been selected to lead the design and planning of the historic Crump Theatre’s transformation into a modern, 750-seat performing arts and community venue.
The selection of DKGR follows a competitive Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process that attracted interest from regional and national firms specializing in historic renovation and adaptive reuse. Three finalist firms presented at the Crump in August to community stakeholders and feedback on each was collected.
Originally opened in 1889, the Crump Theatre is Indiana’s oldest surviving theater in operation and a cornerstone of downtown Columbus’s cultural identity. After decades of closure and volunteer-led preservation efforts, the Crump Center for the Performing Arts aims to reintroduce the venue in 2028 as a regional hub for performing arts, live entertainment, and civic gatherings, connecting Columbus’s architectural heritage with its future as a creative destination, according to those leading the renovation effort.
9.
CRH joins partnership with Cleveland Clinic
Columbus Regional Health joined a Cleveland Clinic program in January aiming to offer hospitals and health systems around the world access to some of the Ohio-based health system’s resources and expertise to enhance patient experience and care, safety and outcomes, according to a joint announcement Wednesday by the two organizations.
The program, called Cleveland Clinic Connected, seeks to build a global network of what the Ohio-based health system has described as “independent, like-minded, quality-focused organizations that have a positive impact on patient care around the world.”
CRH is the second U.S. member of the program and the first in Indiana, officials said. This past March, Parrish Medical Center in Florida announced that it had become the first U.S. hospital to join the program.
Through the program, CRH physicians will gain access to unique educational opportunities, as well as best practices and protocols that are used at Cleveland Clinic locations around the world, officials said. CRH physicians will also be able to request input from Cleveland Clinic subspecialists regarding complex cases.
Cleveland Clinic Connected member institutions retain full ownership and management of their facilities while collaborating with Cleveland Clinic experts, according to the program’s website. Cleveland Clinic physicians do not provide care at member facilities.
10.
Jay Foyst wins his bid as Columbus City councilman after Supreme Court ruling
The Indiana Supreme Court in June granted a request by Columbus City Council member Joseph “Jay” Foyst to hear a longstanding legal battle over the validity of his candidacy in the 2023 municipal election and ordered the case dismissed.
In a 4-1 decision, the high court found that the case is now moot because Bartholomew County Democratic Party Chair Ross Thomas did not contest the results of the 2023 election, according to a copy of the decision, which was written by Justice Derek R. Molter. The justices sent the case back to the trial court to be dismissed.
Foyst, a Republican, won the 2023 general election, defeating Democratic nominee Bryan Munoz with 59.5% of the vote.
Chief Justice Loretta H. Rush, Justice Mark S. Massa and Justice Geoffrey G. Slaughter concurred with the decision. Justice Christopher M. Goff dissented in part and concurred in part, finding that the high court should have denied Foyst’s request to hear the case.
“Today we grant transfer and remand to the circuit court to dismiss the case as moot,” Molter writes in the decision. “…Because Thomas instead brought only a pre-election challenge, his only requested relief was to prohibit Foyst from appearing on the ballot. But the election is over, and Foyst already appeared on the ballot, so Thomas’s request is moot.”
The decision ends a roughly two-year legal battle over Foyst’s candidacy in the 2023 municipal election. It also means that Foyst will remain on the Columbus City Council and the Republicans will retain their 5-4 majority.
