South Putnam Community Schools will offer in-person registration this week with the first day of school coming August 11.

In-person registration is Monday, 12:00 pm - 7:00 pm and Tuesday, 8:00 am - 11:30 am and 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm.

The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division is warning taxpayers about Child Tax Credit-related scams, which criminals may use to steal money and personal information.

While millions of American families started receiving the advance Child Tax Credit payments last week, criminals were already looking for innovative tactics to take advantage of unwitting victims.

Taxpayers should be on the lookout for a variety of phone, e-mail, text message and social media scams targeting families eligible for the credit. Any communication offering assistance to sign up for the Child Tax Credit or to speed up the monthly payments is likely a scam.

When receiving unsolicited calls or messages, taxpayers should not provide personal information, click on links, or open attachments as this may lead to money loss, tax-related fraud, and identity theft.  

“As the country continues to  grapple with the financial fall-out of the COVID-19 pandemic, scammers and criminals continue to evolve their efforts to steal the assistance the government provides, from those that need it the most,” said Acting Special Agent In Charge, Donald “Trey” Eakins, IRS Criminal Investigation, Chicago Field Office. “Be aware of those that try to steal the tax credit that you are entitled to, and if an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is,”

Although scammers constantly come up with new schemes to try and catch taxpayers off-guard, there are simple ways to identify if it is truly the IRS reaching out.

• The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers via e-mail, text messages, or social media channels to request personal or financial information, even information related to the Child Tax Credit.
• The IRS does not leave pre-recorded, urgent, or threatening messages. Aggressive calls warning taxpayers about a lawsuit or arrest are fake.
• The IRS will not call taxpayers asking them to provide or verify financial information so they can obtain the monthly Child Tax Credit payments.
• The IRS will not ask for payment via a gift card, wire transfer or cryptocurrency.

If you are eligible for advance payments of the Child Tax Credit, the IRS will use information from your 2020 or 2019 tax return to automatically enroll you for advance payments. Taxpayers do not have to take any additional action. Taxpayers who are not required to file a tax return or who have not provided the IRS their information, may visit IRS.gov/childtaxcredit2021 to provide basic information for the Child Tax Credit.

To report suspicious IRS-related phishing and online scams, visit IRS.gov.

Indiana residents across the state are invited to attend one or more of a series of public meetings on Aug. 6, Aug. 7 and Aug. 11 to provide feedback on Indiana’s redistricting process.

The Indiana General Assembly is required to redraw Indiana’s districts for the U.S. House of Representatives, the Indiana House of Representatives and Indiana Senate following the nationwide census every 10 years.

Public meetings will be held Aug. 6 at Ivy Tech campuses in Lafayette (10 a.m. to noon), Valparaiso (3 to 5 p.m. CST), Anderson (10 a.m. to noon) and Columbus (4 to 6 p.m.).

On Aug. 7, meetings will be held on Ivy Tech campuses in Fort Wayne (10 a.m. to noon), Elkhart (4 to 6 p.m.), Evansville (9 to 11 a.m. CST) and Sellersburg (4 to 6 p.m.)

On Aug. 11, a final public meeting will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. in the House Chamber at the Indiana Statehouse.

Campus meeting room information will be updated as it is available on the Indiana General Assembly’s website at iga.in.gov.

All meetings will be livestreamed and archived at iga.in.gov.

The Purdue Farmland Value and Cash Rents Survey suggests farmland prices across Indiana have risen to all-time highs in June of 2021.

Statewide, top quality farmland averaged $9,785 per acre, up 14.1% from the same time last year. The high growth rate for top-quality farmland was closely followed by the growth in average- and poor-quality farmland prices, which increased by 12.5% (to $8,144) and 12.1% (to $6,441), respectively. Across all land quality classes, 2021 per-acre farmland prices exceeded the previous records set in 2014.

“A unique combination of economic forces, including net farm income, expected income growth, crop and livestock prices, interest rates, exports, inflation, alternative investments, U.S. policy, and farmers’ liquidity, all played a major factor in the price increase we’re experiencing,” said Todd H. Kuethe, Purdue associate professor and the Schrader Endowed Chair in Farmland Economics and survey author.

That’s rare, he said.

“Normally we’ll see positive price pressure from one or two market forces; however, this June, survey respondents indicated that all 10 forces we asked them about were putting upward pressure on land values,” he said.

Statewide cash rental rates increased across all land quality classes in 2021. Average rental rates increased by 3.9% for top-quality land, from $259 to $269 per acre. The cash rental rates for average- and poor-quality lands both increased by 4.6% to $227 and $183, respectively. At the regional level, the largest rental rate increases for top- and average-quality land were both in the Southeast region (11.5% and 6.4%), and the largest rental rate increases for poor-quality land were in the North region (5.5%). Across all three land-quality classes, the highest per-acre cash rent was observed in the West Central region.

Rent as a share of June land value decreased slightly in 2021, suggesting that cash rental rates appreciated slower than farmland prices. Some portion of the difference in appreciation rates between farmland values and cash rents may reflect changes in expectations between fall 2020, when 2021 rents were negotiated, and the 2021 growing season.

For more in-depth analysis on the survey, the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture will host a free webinar from 12:30-1:30 p.m. ET Aug. 20. Join Purdue agricultural economists Kuethe, James Mintert and Michael Langemeier as they break down the Purdue Farmland Values Survey and USDA Land Values report, discuss marketing strategies for 2021 corn and soybean crops, and make projections for 2022 corn and soybean returns. Register for free.

The department of agricultural economics conducts the Purdue Farmland Value and Cash Rent Survey each June and publishes it in the Purdue Agricultural Economics Report. The survey is produced through the cooperation of numerous professionals knowledgeable of Indiana’s farmland market. These professionals provided an estimate of the market value for bare- poor-, average-, and top-quality farmland in last December and June, and a forecast value for this coming December.

United Way of Central Indiana (UWCI) announced it has awarded $171,384 in COVID-19 relief to human service organizations focusing their efforts on housing and food insecurity in Putnam County. 

These grants were made possible through the generosity of individual and corporate donors, as well as a generous grant from a sponsored project of Indiana United Ways, with funding provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. 

This latest round of grants builds on the ongoing COVID-19 relief efforts by the United Way, which has now totaled $409,717 in Putnam County.  

A local workgroup was established to identify needs within the community and determine organizations who were currently meeting those needs. The looming end to the eviction moratorium and the expiration of unemployment benefits were two contributing factors in the workgroup focusing on housing and food insecurity during this sixth round of COVID funding for Putnam County.  

“We are pleased to support these local nonprofits who continue to meet the needs of Putnam County residents during the pandemic,” said Chris Flegal, UWCI Community Relations Director. “United Way is committed to making sure families are supported through these challenging times as we continue to monitor the situation locally and mobilize resources for the greater good.” 

While the latest United Way grants are focused specifically on food insecurity and housing, earlier rounds of funding supported everything from PPE & sanitary supplies, transportation, mental & physical health, childhood education & well-being, food insecurity, housing, utilities, senior care, legal services, victims of domestic violence, and legal services. 

“We are honored to receive funding from United Way of Central Indiana,” said Lea Durbin, Executive Director of Beyond Homeless. “This grant will help us increase our efforts to provide safe and secure housing to women and children who’ve recently found themselves homeless, provide utility and other housing-related assistance to families so they can stay in their home and not end up in further crisis, as well as support our work in establishing our Putnam County’s first homeless shelter for men.” 

Among the recipients:

Putnam County Pantry Coalition, $50,000? 

Family Support Services of West Central Indiana / 360 Coalition, $50,000? 

Beyond Homeless, $50,000? 

Patty Pack Program, $18,000? 

Putnam County Senior Center, $3,384? 

Putnam County is one of 15 in the Orange category on the state's coronavirus dashboard map.

Propelled by the increasing Delta variant Indiana quadrupled the number of counties approaching high risk for community spread of COVID-19 in the latest report.

Gov. Eric Holcomb extended the statewide public health emergency until August 30.  The new order does not reimpose any statewide face mask requirements or other restrictions that expired in April.

Owen and Montgomery counties have joined Putnam in the Orange category.  Parke, Clay, Hendricks, and Vigo are Yellow.

The state's latest numbers indicate cases and hospitalizations are at levels last seen in the month of May.

Effective Monday, August 2, face masks will again be required in all indoor spaces for everyone on the Purdue University campus, including students, employees and visitors, regardless of vaccination status. 

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