The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) has issued an Air Quality Action Day and is forecasting high ozone levels for Sunday, August 20, 2017 in the following areas: 

• Southeast Indiana – Clark, Floyd, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Scott, and Washington
• Southwest Indiana – Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Greene, Knox, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, and Warrick 

IDEM encourages everyone to help reduce ozone by making simple changes to their daily habits. You can:

• Walk, bike, carpool or use public transportation
• Avoid using the drive-through and combine errands into one trip
• Avoid refueling your vehicle or using gasoline-powered lawn equipment until after 7 p.m.
• Turn off your engine when idling for more than 30 seconds
• Conserve energy by turning off lights or setting the air conditioner to 75 degrees or above 

Anyone sensitive to changes in air quality may be affected when ozone levels are high. Children, the elderly and anyone with heart or lung conditions should reduce or avoid exertion and heavy work outdoors. 

IDEM examines weather patterns and current ozone readings to make daily air quality forecasts. To learn more about ozone or sign up for air quality forecasts, visit www.SmogWatch.IN.gov or download our iPhone App: 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/smogwatch/id882860480?mt=8 

Ground-level ozone is formed when sunlight and hot weather bake vehicle exhaust, factory emissions and gasoline vapors. Ozone in the upper atmosphere blocks ultraviolet radiation, but ozone near the ground is a lung irritant that can cause coughing and breathing difficulties. 

Troopers from the Indiana State Police Jasper Post will be conducting a sobriety check point at an undisclosed location in Crawford County on Friday, August 25, 2017.  Those drivers passing through the checkpoint area should have their licenses and registrations ready to present to troopers, and will only be detained briefly while troopers determine whether further investigation is necessary. 

The purpose of the sobriety checkpoint is to remove those motorists from the highways who are alcohol and/or drug impaired and poses a danger to all who use the roadways.  Impaired drivers are responsible for billions of dollars in property damage, personal injury, and death annually.   

Reminders so motorists do not find themselves “Over the Limit and Under Arrest”:

• Plan ahead and always designate a sober driver before consuming alcohol.
• Don’t drive your vehicle if you’ve been drinking alcohol.  Call a taxi or sober friend. 
• Take care of your friends.  Never let a friend drive while impaired. 
• If you are hosting a party, always offer non-alcoholic beverages.  Make sure all of your guests leave with a sober driver.
• Never provide alcohol to anyone under the legal drinking age of 21.

Motorists encountering another vehicle being operated erratically are encouraged to dial 911 or call the Jasper Indiana State Police Post at (812) 482-1441 or (800) 742-7475.  Be prepared to give a description of the vehicle, location, and direction of travel.

Indiana Department of Transportation officials urge motorists to plan for traffic congestion expected to occur in southern Indiana before and after the total solar eclipse on August 21. Approximately 200 million people live within a day’s drive of the total eclipse path. Many will be on the road to get a closer view.

INDOT officials offer the following advice:

• Be prepared for traffic congestion before and after the August 21 eclipse.

Interstate 69, U.S. 41, and U.S. 231 are expected to experience increased traffic in southbound lanes before the event as caravans of motorists head for Western Kentucky where the moon’s full eclipse of the sun can be viewed within a 70-mile-wide swath encompassing Hopkinsville, Paducah, and Madison, KY. After the event, transportation planners anticipate a “mass exodus” from total eclipse regions.  Expect heavier than normal northbound traffic on these routes.  

Interstate 65 will also see increased traffic going to—and returning from—total eclipse vantage points that begin at Bowling Green, KY and extend beyond Nashville, TN.  Again, southbound traffic is expected to rise before the solar eclipse. Northbound lanes will experience congestion after the eclipse.

• If you want to drive toward the eclipse path for better viewing, allow extra time.

If skies are clear, August 21’s solar eclipse promises to be an unforgettable celestial phenomenon, the first that has been visible to all 48 contiguous states in several hundred years.  Beyond the total eclipse’s 70-mile-wide path—which arcs across 14states from Oregon to South Carolina—a partial eclipse will provide a sky show that becomes more and more pronounced the closer spectators get to the sun’s full black-out. The partial eclipse can be well seen throughout Indiana, but traveling south improves the view. For example, Evansville is situated to experience a partial eclipse of 99 percent and Jeffersonville will see 96 percent. This mid-day event waxes and wanes over a period of several hours.

• Make plans now for overnight accommodations—overnight camping is prohibited at rest areas.
• If planning to view the eclipse, wear safety glasses. They are available on-line or from many popular retailers costing from $2 to $70; some are being given away by organizations.  DO NOT look at the partial eclipse without proper filtration.

•  Visit the NASA website at http://eclipse2017.nasa.gov.

Do’s & Don’ts:

• Don’t take pictures while driving.
• Don’t wear eclipse glasses while driving.
• Don’t stop along the interstate or park on the shoulder.
• Do turn your headlights on during the eclipse event.

Wednesday afternoon, troopers from the Indiana State Police Post at Sellersburg along with the Washington County Probation Department, did a probation check and served an arrest warrant on Kevin Wynn, 37, at 9240 East Saylor Road in Salem.

Once officers were inside of the residence they developed enough information to obtain a search warrant to search the home.

During the search officers located suspected Methamphetamine, Paraphernalia and Marijuana.

Wynn was arrested and incarcerated at the Washington County Jail on the charges of Possession of Methamphetamine, Neglect of a Dependent, Maintaining a Common Nuisance, Possession of Marijuana and Possession of Paraphernalia.

This investigation is continuing.

The Indiana Department of Transportation plans to close State Road 256 at its Muscatatuck River bridge located 1.92 miles east of S.R. 39 near Austin along the Scott-Washington County line.  

Contracted crews will be onsite beginning Monday to set barricades and begin making minor repairs in advance of installing a thin bridge deck overlay.  

Motorists will be detoured around the S.R. 256 closure via Interstate 65, S.R. 56 and S.R. 39. 

Ragle Inc. is the state’s contractor for this $300,000 2-bridge project.  The Evansville contractor will place a 3/8-inch polymeric overlay atop the Muscatatuck River bridge’s deck—restoring the driving surface, sealing it from weather degradation and ultra violet ray damage.  

In addition, approaches to the bridge will be milled and repaved. 

INDOT officials anticipate S.R. 256 reopening to traffic later in the month. 

A deck overlay at the S.R. 258 White River bridge in Jackson County has recently been completed near Seymour under this contract.