A special Christmas collection of ornaments and home decorations are featured in the Gary Webster family Christmas on Dec. 24, 1975. Pictured in their Columbus home are, from left, Gayle, Kelly, Gary and Jodi Webster.
2015
Morgan Abel of North Vernon, a nurse at Columbus Regional Hospital, was selected as Miss Indiana USA and would represent the Hoosier state in the Miss USA pageant.
2000
Most of North America was treated to a partial solar eclipse on Christmas Day that blotted out as much as 60% of the sun around midday.
1975
Columbus had its first white Christmas since 1947, with 1.1 inches of snow blanketing the ground. Only a trace amount of snow, .02 inches, fell on Christmas Day in 1962.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following information is summarized from the records of city, county and state police, fire and hospital agencies.
Arrests
Sunday
Miguel E. Matzar-Alvarado, 45, of 611 Garden St., Columbus, operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a prior conviction, 7:23 p.m., by the Columbus Police Department, released on $7,500 bond.
Devin L. Winchester, 31, of 1690 Wrenwood Drive, Columbus, possession of cocaine or narcotic drug, possession of paraphernalia, possession of hypodermic syringe or needle, 8:09 p.m., by the Columbus Police Department, held in lieu of $20,000 bond.
Monday
Miguel Velasco Allende, 43, of 2958 Joann Drive, Columbus, operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury, operating a vehicle while intoxicated – endangering, operating a vehicle while intoxicated, 4:06 a.m., by the Columbus Police Department, held with no bond.
Fire, medic runs
Monday
12:38 a.m. — Unconscious person in the 300 block of Reeveston Drive.
7:46 a.m. — Person injured in a fall in the 3600 block of Central Avenue.
8:37 a.m. — Gas odor in the 2700 block of Arnold Street.
9:49 a.m. — Possible overdose in the 2600 block of West Tellman Road.
11:25 p.m. — Structure fire in the 3800 block of Rosewood Lane.
Incidents
Monday
3:02 a.m. — Property-damage accident in the 5100 block of South U.S. 31.
8:27 a.m. — Domestic disturbance in the 90 block of Reo Street.
9:28 a.m. — Attempted theft in the 4000 block of North County Road 150W.
9:55 a.m. — Property-damage accident in the 3000 block of 25th Street.
12:15 p.m. — Theft in the 3000 block of Columbus Center.
12:15 p.m. — Property-damage accident at North Marr Road and Jolinda Drive.
1:09 p.m. — Sex crime in the 1300 block of Audubon Drive.
1:14 p.m. — Theft in the 1000 block of Ashford Park Place.
1:25 p.m. — Property-damage accident at Washington Street and North National Road.
1:44 p.m. — Property-damage accident in the 4600 block of Westchester Drive.
2:08 p.m. — Fraud in the 14700 block of North U.S. 31.
2:44 p.m. — Theft in the 3000 block of Columbus Center.
2:44 p.m. — Shoplifting in the 2900 block of North National Road.
3:16 p.m. — Domestic disturbance in the 1000 block of Grand Avenue.
3:17 p.m. — Theft in the 500 block of Jewell Street.
3:38 p.m. — Property damage in the 3100 block of West County Road 300S.
4:17 p.m. — Battery in the 800 block of Fairview Drive.
4:19 p.m. — Property-damage accident in the 2600 block of Eastbrook Plaza.
4:28 p.m. — Property damage near the 74 mile marker of South I-65.
4:31 p.m. — Domestic disturbance in the 2100 block of Vinewood Drive.
5:08 p.m. — Property-damage accident in the 3200 block of Columbus Center.
6:02 p.m. — Theft in the 2400 block of North Old State Road 9.
7:29 p.m. — Trespass in the 600 block of Third Street.
7:49 p.m. — Domestic disturbance in the 1000 block of Ashford Park Place.
8:03 p.m. — Accident in the 13400 block of West State Road 46.
9:11 p.m. — Fraud in the 2300 block of Tyler Drive.
11:48 p.m. — Residential entry in the 100 block of Cambridge Court.
JENNINGS COUNTY
Arrests
Monday
Dominic Smith, 23, Commiskey, domestic battery, battery, public intoxication, 1:03 a.m., by the North Vernon Police Department, $905 bond.
Ronald Miller, 54, Nashville, warrant, 1:53 p.m., by the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department, $2,555 bond.
William Heilman, 32, Lafayette, warrant, 1:59 p.m., by the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department, $5,055 bond.
Billey McRoberts, 46, North Vernon, warrant, possession of methamphetamine, 8:07 p.m., by the Jennings County Sheriff’s Department, $3,660 bond.
James Haller, 38, Madison, dealing methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine, 10:18 p.m., by the North Vernon Police Department, $10,055 bond.
Fire, medic runs
Monday
7:14 p.m. — Unconscious person in the 300 block of South Gum Street.
Incidents
Monday
11:48 a.m. — Property-damage accident in the 300 block of East O&M Avenue.
12:01 p.m. — Leaving the scene of an accident at High and North State streets.
3:22 p.m. — Theft in the area of Lincoln Street.
3:58 p.m. — Theft in the area of Hayden Pike.
4:15 p.m. — Fraud reported to the North Vernon Police Department.
8:36 p.m. — Public intoxication in the 1700 block of Twin Oaks Drive.
8:49 p.m. — Property-damage accident in the 9 block of North State Street.
11:40 p.m. — Public intoxication in the 3100 block of North State Road 3.
Tuesday
2:46 a.m. — Public intoxication in the 100 block of West U.S. 50.
WRIGHTWOOD, Calif. (AP) — California, soaked from days of relentless rain and recovering from mudslides in mountain towns, was hit with another powerful storm Christmas Day that led to evacuation warnings and high surf advisories.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in Southern California issued an evacuation warning for Wrightwood, a mountain town about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles, a day after rescuing people trapped in cars during a mud slide.
The National Weather Service said waves near the San Francisco Bay Area could reach up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) Friday.
Statewide, more than 70,000 people were without power Thursday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.
A day ago, heavy rain and fierce winds were blamed for at least two deaths.
A major storm system moving toward the Midwest and Northeast was expected to interfere with travel, according to the National Weather Service.
A mix of freezing rain and sleet could create icy conditions in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Maryland. Forecasters warned heavy ice could cause outages. Snow was expected to blanket the Northeast early Friday.
Roads in the 5,000-resident California town of Wrightwood were covered in rocks, debris and thick mud on Thursday. With power out, a gas station and coffee shop running on generators were serving as hubs for residents and visitors.
“It’s really a crazy Christmas,” said Jill Jenkins, who was spending the holiday with her 13-year-old grandson, Hunter Lopiccolo.
Lopiccolo said the family almost evacuated the previous day, when water washed away a chunk of their backyard. But they decided to stay and still celebrated the holiday. Lopiccolo got a new snowboard and e-bike.
“We just played card games all night with candles and flashlights,” he said.
Davey Schneider hiked a mile and a half (1.6 kilometers) through rain and floodwater up to his shins from his Wrightwood residence Wednesday to rescue cats from his grandfather’s house.
“I wanted to help them out because I wasn’t confident that they were going to live,” Schneider said Thursday. “Fortunately, they all lived. They’re all okay — just a little bit scared.”
Arlene Corte said roads in town turned into rivers, but her house was not damaged.
“It could be a whole lot worse,” she said. “We’re here talking.”
With more rain on the way, more than 150 firefighters were stationed in the area, said San Bernardino County Fire spokesman Shawn Millerick.
“We’re ready,” he said. “It’s all hands on deck at this point.”
A falling tree killed a San Diego man Wednesday, news outlets reported. Farther north, a Sacramento sheriff’s deputy died in what appeared to be a weather-related crash.
Areas along the coast, including Malibu, were under a flood watch until Friday afternoon, and wind and flood advisories were issued for much of the Sacramento Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.
The storms were the result of atmospheric rivers carrying massive plumes of moisture from the tropics during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year.
Southern California typically gets half an inch to 1 inch (1.3 to 2.5 centimeters) of rain this time of year, but this week many areas could see between 4 and 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters), with even more in the mountains, National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford said.
More heavy snow was expected in the Sierra Nevada, where gusts created “near white-out conditions” and made mountain pass travel treacherous. Officials said there was a “high” avalanche risk around Lake Tahoe and a winter storm warning was in effect through Friday.
Ski resorts around Lake Tahoe recorded about 1 to 3 feet (30 to 91 centimeters) of snow overnight, said Tyler Salas, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Reno. Forecasters expect to see up to another 3 feet (91 centimeters) of snow through Friday, Salas said. The area could see 45-mph (72-kph) gusts in low elevation areas and 100-mph (161-kph) winds along mountain ridges.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared emergencies in six counties to allow state assistance.
The state deployed resources and first responders to several coastal and Southern California counties, and the California National Guard was on standby.
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Associated Press writers Sophie Austin in Oakland, California, and Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City contributed.
Scott Keen of Columbus saw this 2025 bumper crop of Osage Oranges (aka Hedge Apples), some already shredded by squirrels that eat only the seeds, on the ground under one of the Osage trees near the round lake in Mill Race Park on Oct. 17.
Scott Keen of Columbus saw this 2025 bumper crop of Osage Oranges (aka Hedge Apples), some already shredded by squirrels that eat only the seeds, on the ground under one of the Osage trees near the round lake in Mill Race Park on Oct. 17.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump marked Christmas Eve by quizzing children calling in about what presents they were excited about receiving, while promising to not let a “bad Santa” infiltrate the country and even suggesting that a stocking full of coal may not be so bad.
Vacationing at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the president and first lady Melania Trump participated in the tradition of talking to youngsters dialing into the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which playfully tracks Santa’s progress around the globe.
“We want to make sure that Santa is being good. Santa’s a very good person,” Trump said while speaking to kids ages 4 and 10 in Oklahoma. “We want to make sure that he’s not infiltrated, that we’re not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa.”
He didn’t elaborate.
Trump has often marked Christmases past with criticisms of his political enemies, including in 2024, when he posted, “Merry Christmas to the Radical Left Lunatics.” During his first term, Trump wrote online early on Dec. 24, 2017, targeting a top FBI official he believed was biased against him, as well as the news media.
Shortly after wrapping up Wednesday’s Christmas Eve calls, in fact, he returned to that theme, posting: “Merry Christmas to all, including the Radical Left Scum that is doing everything possible to destroy our Country, but are failing badly.”
But Trump was in a jovial mood while talking with the kids. He even said at one point that he “could do this all day long” but likely would have to get back to more pressing matters like efforts to quell the fighting in Russia’s war with Ukraine.
When an 8-year-old from North Carolina, asked if Santa would be mad if no one leaves cookies out for him, Trump said he didn’t think so, “But I think he’ll be very disappointed.”
“You know, Santa’s — he tends to be a little bit on the cherubic side. You know what cherubic means? A little on the heavy side,” Trump joked. “I think Santa would like some cookies.”
The president and first lady Melania Trump sat side-by-side and took about a dozen calls between them. At one point, while his wife was on the phone and Trump was waiting to be connected to another call, he noted how little attention she was paying to him: “She’s able to focus totally, without listening.”
Asked by an 8-year-old girl in Kansas what she’d like Santa to bring, the answer came back, “Uh, not coal.”
“You mean clean, beautiful coal?” Trump replied, evoking a favored campaign slogan he’s long used when promising to revive domestic coal production.
“I had to do that, I’m sorry,” the president added, laughing and even causing the first lady, who was on a separate call, to turn toward him and grin.
“Coal is clean and beautiful. Please remember that, at all costs,” Trump said. “But you don’t want clean, beautiful coal, right?”
“No,” the caller responded, saying she’d prefer a Barbie doll, clothes and candy.
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Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Washington contributed.
Reminder:
The following closings have been announced for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
NEW YORK (AP) — A planned Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center, a holiday tradition dating back more than 20 years, has been canceled. The show’s host, musician Chuck Redd, says that he called off the performance in the wake of the White House announcing last week that President Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility.
As of last Friday, the building’s facade reads The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. According to the White House, the president’s handpicked board approved the decision, which scholars have said violates the law. Trump had been suggesting for months he was open to changing the center’s name.
“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Redd told The Associated Press in an email Wednesday. Redd, a drummer and vibraphone player who has toured with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie to Ray Brown, has been presiding over holiday “Jazz Jams” at the Kennedy Center since 2006, succeeding bassist William “Keter” Betts.
The Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to email seeking comment. The center’s website lists the show as canceled.
President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Congress passed a law the following year naming the center as a living memorial to him. Kennedy niece Kerry Kennedy has vowed to remove Trump’s name from the building once he leaves office and former House historian Ray Smock is among those who say any changes would have to be approved by Congress.
The law explicitly prohibits the board of trustees from making the center into a memorial to anyone else, and from putting another person’s name on the building’s exterior.
Trump, a Republican, has been deeply involved with the center named for an iconic Democrat after mostly ignoring it during his first term. He has forced out its leadership, overhauled the board while arranging for himself to head it, and personally hosted this year’s Kennedy Center honors, breaking a long tradition of presidents mostly serving as spectators. The changes at the Kennedy Center are part of the president’s larger mission to fight “woke” culture at federal cultural institutions.
Numerous artists have called off Kennedy Center performances since Trump returned to office, including Issa Rae and Peter Wolf. Lin-Manuel Miranda canceled a planned production of “Hamilton.”
Neil Frank, a former head of the National Hurricane Center credited with increasing the country’s readiness for major storms, died Wednesday. He was 94.
Frank led the hurricane center from 1974 to 1987, the longest-serving director in its history.
“He gets tremendous credit for the being the first one to go out of his way and reach out and make the connection between the National Hurricane Center and the emergency managers,” said meteorologist Max Mayfield, who served as the hurricane center’s director from 2000-2007.
“He taught me that it’s not all about the forecast,” Mayfield said. “A perfect forecast is no good if people don’t take immediate action.”
Frank’s son, Ron Frank, said in a Facebook post that his father died at home a few days after going into hospice care.
KHOU-TV in Houston, where Frank spent two decades as chief meteorologist after leaving the hurricane center, first reported his death. The station referred an Associated Press call for comment to CBS, whose spokeswoman declined comment but directed the AP to Ron Frank’s post.
When Frank started at the National Hurricane Center, advances with weather satellites were helping forecasters to better predict the location and direction of a storm. Frank worked to make that information more accessible to residents in hurricane-vulnerable areas, said Mayfield. He also regularly appeared on television to give updates on storms and advice on staying safe.
“He was so passionate and you could just feel his enthusiasm but also sense of warning — that he wanted people to take action,” Mayfield said. “He was very animated, spoke with his hands a lot. And if you’d play it on fast-forward, he’d look like a juggler sometimes.”
Frank was skeptical that human actions, such as the burning of oil, gas and coal, cause climate change, Mayfield said. In a video posted to YouTube titled “Is Climate Change Real?” he instead attributed warming to the planet’s natural and cyclical weather patterns. Scientists today overwhelmingly agree that burning of fossil fuels is the primary driver of planet-warming emissions that are causing more frequent, costly and deadly extreme weather around the world.
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
The American Academy of Pediatrics sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday, seeking to block nearly $12 million in cuts to the group.
Earlier this month, the federal government “abruptly terminated” grants to the group, the lawsuit says.
The funding supported numerous public health programs, including efforts to prevent sudden unexpected infant death, strengthen pediatric care in rural communities and support teens facing substance use and mental health challenges.
“AAP does not have other sources of grant funding to replace the federal awards, and without the necessary funds it must immediately terminate its work on its dozens of programs that save children’s lives every day,” says the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “Within a few weeks, AAP will have to begin laying off employees dedicated to this critically important work.”
The suit alleges HHS made the cuts in retaliation for the doctors’ group speaking out against the Trump administration’s positions and actions.
The doctors’ group has been vocal about its support for pediatric vaccines and has publicly opposed HHS positions. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who helped lead the anti-vaccine movement for years — is seeking to broadly remake federal policies on vaccines. Earlier this year, the pediatrics group released its own recommendations on COVID-19 vaccines, which substantially diverged from the government’s recommendations.
The group also supports access to gender-affirming care and has publicly criticized HHS positions on the topic, saying it opposes what it calls the government’s infringements on the doctor-patient relationship.
“The Department of Health and Human Services is using federal funding as a political weapon to punish protected speech, trying to silence one of the nation’s most trusted voices for children’s well-being by cutting off critical public-health funding in retaliation for speaking the truth,” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said in a statement. Perryman’s organization is representing the doctors’ group in the case.
A spokesman for HHS could not immediately be reached for comment.
Mark Del Monte, CEO and executive vice president of the 67,000-member doctors’ group, said the organization depends on its relationship with the federal government.
“We need this partnership to advance policies that prioritize children’s health. These vital child health programs fund services like hearing screenings for newborns and safe sleep campaigns to prevent sudden unexpected infant death,” he said in a statement. “We are forced to take legal action today so that these programs can continue to make communities safer and healthier.”
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
