Harrison County - Troopers and crash reconstruction investigators from the Indiana State Police Sellersburg Post are investigating a crash that claimed the life of a Daviess County man Wednesday afternoon. 

Around 2:30 Wednesday afternoon, police and emergency personnel responded to the report of a two-vehicle crash on I-64 eastbound near the 99.5 mile marker approximately 5 miles west of the Corydon exit.  Once on the scene, officers discovered the driver of a black 2023 Tesla T3  collided with the rear of a semi-tractor and trailer.  The driver of the Tesla, 50-year-old Suresh Kumar Lohano of Washington, Indiana, was pronounced dead at the scene.  The driver of the semi was not injured.   

Crash scene reconstruction and motor carrier enforcement officers from the Sellersburg Post responded to investigate and assist officers already at the scene.  After the preliminary investigation, officers believe a 2011 Kenworth semi-truck and trailer was eastbound on I-64 near the 99.5 mile marker when the truck experienced a mechanical issue causing the vehicle to lose power.  The driver could not steer the semi into the right lane or shoulder due to traffic in the right lane, and the truck quickly slowed and stopped in the left lane of the interstate.  The driver of the Kenworth immediately called 911 and successfully placed orange safety triangles out behind the truck.  A short time later, the black Tesla T3 approached from the west but failed to merge into the right lane before colliding with the rear of the semi-trailer, killing Mr. Lohano. 

The I-64 eastbound lanes remained partially closed until approximately 6:15 pm.  The Harrison County Sheriff's Department assisted with the investigation. The Harrison County Coroner's Office made notification to the family of the deceased.   

This crash is still under investigation. 

BEDFORD, Ind. (June 20, 2024) —  At its June meeting, the Radius Indiana Board of Directors unanimously approved MAC Construction’s bid for the first phase of development for the Monon South Trail project. Construction for Phase I of the Trail is set to begin this summer, commencing with a groundbreaking in Borden July 16. 

MAC Construction’s bid of $15.3 million is nearly $4 million under the engineer’s estimate for construction of the initial phase of the project, which will complete 20 miles of the nearly 60-mile trail by the Summer of 2025. During this phase, paved and aggregate sections of the trail will be completed through the downtown areas of Borden, New Pekin, Salem, Saltillo, Campbellsburg, Orleans, and Mitchell. 

MAC Construction is a family-owned civil engineering and construction company based in New Albany, Indiana. Working in multiple sectors of civil construction, MAC Construction’s projects include the New Albany Riverfront Amphitheater stage, constructing the City of Clarksville Little League Park, and beautifying Main Street in Louisville, Kentucky. Throughout their projects, MAC Construction has focused on improving the Midwest, and the company has won multiple awards for excellence in safety and construction from the Kentucky Association of Highway Contractors (KAHC) as well as Associate Builders and Contractors Inc. (ABC) in 2020. 

”We are very pleased that MAC Construction will bring their expertise and experience in recreational project construction to bear on the Monon South Trail. We look upon this project as one that will literally change the recreational and economic landscape of southern Indiana,” remarked Jeff Quyle. “The people who live in these four counties are going to have the opportunity to watch this eyesore rail corridor become an eyecatching asset over the next few months.” 

Radius Indiana, the eight-county economic development organization, leads the Monon South effort and administers the funding for the development of the trail from the state’s NextLevel Trails fund, READI, and Radius. Once completed, the trail will increase connectivity and quality of life among communities in southern Indiana and create new opportunities in tourism and economic development for the businesses and towns. 

To learn more information about the trail, Community Update Meetings will be held July 17 and 24. For additional updates, visit mononsouth.com and follow us on Facebook.

Southern Indiana Business Report

ENGLISH – Crawford County has welcomed its first mover through the Choose Southern Indiana remote worker program.

Kimberly Mallory moved from Kentucky after purchasing a parcel of land – the former Red Hill Fiber & Co. alpaca farm – in Crawford County. 

Mallory, who works for the University of Louisville, applied for an incentive and was approved by Choose Southern Indiana, however, Crawford County wasn’t a participant in the remote worker program. 

Jesse Belcher, executive director of Crawford County’s local economic development organization, said the county previously wasn’t a participant in the remote worker program because the county didn’t have the fiber network that a remote worker would need. 

With recent upgrades to connectivity in Crawford County, that is changing. 

“Now with the success of this person moving here, we don’t see any reason not to participate in the Choose Southern Indiana remote worker program at this point,” Belcher said. “If someone is interested, we will steer them to areas where we do have fiber.”

Fiber is expanding in Crawford County. Dubois Rural Electric is replacing old utility poles and Orange County Fiber is going to attach to the new poles. 

“In the next year, a significant portion of the western part of the county will be covered,” he said. 

Orange County hires a physician

Orange County also welcomed a new resident as part of its partnership with Choose Southern Indiana.

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Dr. Ashley McCurry received an incentive via the workforce attraction program. McCurry is a physician at Southern Indiana Community Health Care and will reside in Paoli. 

SICHC’s Dr. Yolanda Yoder said being able to add a physician to the medical staff comes at a crucial time for SICHC.

“The addition of Dr. McCurry to our Paoli office is especially important for expanding our primary health and maternity care team in light of Ascension’s Bedford hospital closure at the end of 2022, when we stepped in to provide health care in our new SICHC Mitchell and Bedford offices,” Yoder said. “Those teams kept local pregnancy care going in Lawrence County.  Having Dr. McCurry join us in providing pregnancy and family medical care in Paoli, where patients transfer for their final weeks of pregnancy and delivery, helps preserve those needed services. That’s what we call health equity – where rural people don’t have to go without valuable health care just because they don’t live close to a city.”

Amid a national shortage of physicians, Yoder said it’s extremely difficult to find physicians willing to move to areas that don’t have the amenities of larger cities. 

“The work of Choose Southern Indiana in highlighting what we do have can be pivotal for helping health care professionals see all we offer.  Our rural areas have an abundance of vibrant, proactive citizens who love their community by engaging in innovative activities,” she said.

Farmer’s markets, the Lost River Co-op & Cafe in Paoli, community garden, youth mentoring, schools that take a trauma-informed approach to supporting youth, recovery services, and community health centers that integrate mental health and primary health care are examples of the caring community that exists, Yoder said. 

“When Choose Southern Indiana shines a spotlight on what is happening here and adds a financial incentive, we all gain when new members join the local team and add their unique, additional skills,” she said. 

McCurry is SICHC’s first physician hired via the Choose incentive. 

“We are grateful for this new program that enhances our community by attracting people with needed skills. We look forward to additional help in attracting future medical providers like Dr. McCurry to serve at any of our offices in Bedford, Mitchell, West Baden, English, Marengo, Paoli and Salem,” she said. 

Kristal Painter, program manager of Choose Southern Indiana, said Choose has brought in a number of workers in manufacturing and defense, but is also seeing workers in other professions applying.

“It is exciting to see other industries utilizing the Choose Southern Indiana program to recruit skilled professionals to our region,” Painter said. “Recently we’ve received applications for a pastor and a brewmaster and we are working with the employers to bring those people and their families into our community!  We encourage other industries or employers to reach out to us to see how they might use the program for recruitment.”

In Daviess County, Washington Community Schools has added four teachers to its faculty by using the Choose program. In February, three teachers, all from Ecuador, received incentives to move to Daviess County through the workforce attraction program.

Currently there are four programs for Choose Southern Indiana:  Remote Worker, Employer/Workforce Attraction, Defense Sector and Healthcare/Nursing.  Painter said she’s in the process of adding another program specifically geared toward recruiting teachers and nurses that are recent graduates from universities or colleges in Indiana as a way to retain graduates, this is in partnership with Indiana Destination Development Corporation.