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They say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But what if it is?

Then, drop in at the Repair Café at Wisconsin Makers in Whitewater.

The regional makerspace is kicking off its monthly Repair Café Saturday, March 14, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Volunteer makers will be on hand to fix or help attendees fix broken household items they bring with them.

“Everyone has some broken ‘treasures’ sitting around the house,” said maker Pete Spangler. “This is the perfect place for ‘do-it-yourself geeks’ to finally get them repaired.”

Wisconsin Makers has the hardware and other materials to make basic repairs, although there might be repair parts that will need to be ordered.

The workshop is free of charge, while donations to the nonprofit makerspace are accepted.

While not required, registration is appreciated. Attendees may share their name and what they have to repair on the Whitewater Makers’ Meetup.com website, or on Facebook at facebook.com/WisconsinMakers/Events tab. Persons also may call or text (262) 753-6243.

Located at 200 E. Clay St. in Whitewater, Wisconsin Makers is a community workshop that serves Jefferson, Rock and Walworth counties and beyond.

The Repair Café was started in 2008 in Amsterdam, and since 2011, it has provided professional support to 1,588 groups worldwide, including 88 in the United States.

“Wisconsin Makers is not yet listed on the Repair Café world website; however, we are the first repair café in the State of Wisconsin,” Spangler said.

He noted that “volunteer fixers” have an average repairable rate of 70 percent when it comes to working on everything from lamps and vacuums to blenders and bicycles.

“Home repairs not only save money, but keep trash out of landfills,” Spangler pointed out. “And then there is the feeling of accomplishment when you repair something yourself.”

People who have nothing of their own to repair are encouraged to stop in to chat or even lend a hand on someone else’s repair job.

Spangler noted that coincidentally, this Saturday is “Pi Day,” the international celebration of mathematics and the Greek symbol representing a constant, making it a particularly good day to learn how to be a “DIY geek.”

“We encourage all interested people from throughout the area to stop in,” he said.

Future Repair Cafés are scheduled at Wisconsin Makers for two Saturdays, April 22 and May 5.

COVID-19 update

Dear Warhawks,

The situation regarding COVID-19 or coronavirus is rapidly changing. Several UW System campuses are extending their Spring Break by a week, and may move to alternative course delivery. UW-Whitewater leadership is assessing the situation and will communicate regarding our campus Spring Break (March 23-27) and what follows as soon as possible.

I strongly encourage everyone to reconsider their travel plans during Spring Break. The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States has grown significantly and continues to change daily. Cases internationally are also expanding. We need to be aware of the potential risks to health and safety, and canceling travel may be the most prudent step.

I am asking all students to take home with them all of their instructional materials, medications, laptops and other necessary personal items when they leave for Spring Break.  This is a quickly changing situation and we need students to have necessary materials with them if campus moves to alternative instruction.

Students who live on campus and are unable to return home will receive support from University Housing staff and Student Affairs staff.

Again, no decisions have been made as of yet, but we need you all to be prepared.

For faculty and staff, regardless of the mode of course delivery, UW-Whitewater will remain open and employees will continue to report to work as scheduled, unless ill.

These steps are about preparedness and not panic. This is important. We don’t want our community to feel additional stress at an already stressful time of the year. Yet, we must be prepared. The risk rate in Wisconsin remains low at this time.

Please rest assured that the leadership at UW-Whitewater is not only watching the situation closely, but also working to make sure that our emergency plans are in place.  Campus leaders have been meeting regularly since mid-January regarding COVID-19. Here is the link to the campus’s COVID-19 website: https://www.uww.edu/uhcs/covid19. There are links to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with other helpful sites.

A UW-Whitewater COVID-19 call-in line will also be launched on Thursday, March 12. We will send out the number once the line is live.

We will hold a COVID-19 listening session from 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday, March 19, in the Old Main Ballroom of the University Center. University Health and Counseling Services and emergency response team members will be available to discuss questions and concerns. I encourage you to attend. The listening session will also be live streamed on the campus Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/uwwhitewater/.

What can you do to help?

• The best thing that you can do to keep yourself and others healthy is to regularly wash your hands with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds.
• If water isn’t available, then use hand sanitizer. Hand sanitizer needs to contain at least 60 percent alcohol to be effective.
• Refrain from shaking hands.
• If you cough or sneeze, do so into your elbow or a tissue.
• Get plenty of sleep.
• If you have a fever, please stay home.

Again, I encourage all to be mindful of the risks associated with travel during the Spring Break period and seriously think about canceling those plans. I have canceled my Spring Break trip to Florida as a precautionary measure and so that I can be on campus during this critical time.  We will continue to keep our campus community updated as necessary.

Sincerely,
Dr. Dwight C. Watson
Chancellor

As of March 10 there have been three confirmed cases of coronavirus in Wisconsin. Although no one has been diagnosed in Jefferson, Rock or Walworth counties, it is anticipated that we will not be able to avoid having infections in our community in the coming weeks/months.

Aaron Raap, Whitewater Chief of Police, indicated to the Banner that his department’s preparations for an outbreak of coronavirus include the following:

• For the past two weeks or so, I have been disseminating “best practices/guidelines” for emergency services workers with our police and fire departments.  I’ve received these from different sources – including the Walworth County and the Jefferson County health departments.
• In the event of a significant WPD employee quarantine, I would immediately request mutual aid from both of our county sheriff’s departments.

Sara Kuhl, UW-W Assistant Vice Chancellor, University Marketing and Communications, provided the following information to the Banner:

• Campus leaders have been meeting regularly since mid-January regarding COVID-19 and we have our emergency management protocols for these sorts of situations.
• We are also working closing with the county and state health departments and following recommendations from the CDC.
• We will launch a new website in the next few days that we hope will also answer questions. 

The Banner is scrupulous in respecting the copyrights of other publications, but the following column from the New York Times is the best summary of coronavirus prevention advice that we’ve seen, and we trust that our reprinting of it would be seen to be understandable in the public interest. From the New York Times, March 10, 2020 By David Leonhardt Opinion Columnist 7 Steps to Take Against the Coronavirus

More than 700 cases of coronavirus have been detected in the United States, and the true number is surelymuch higher, given the lack of testing so far.

Fewer than 4,400 Americans had been tested as of yesterday, according to The Atlantic. In South Korea, by comparison, the government has tested almost 200,000 people: “Authorities in the city of Goyang even setup drive-thru testing booths,” CNN reported.

With so little guidance on what to do, Americans are left to decide for themselves about how to respond. Below are seven pieces of advice that my colleague Ian Prasad Philbrick and I have compiled. (If you think our list is missing anything, email me at leonhardt@nytimes.com, and we’ll update the list in a future newsletter.)

1. Wash your hands. Hand washing works. Even if people come into contact with the virus, they can avoid becoming infected by washing their hands before touching their face. But do it right. “Hands should be scrubbed for at least 20 seconds, the time it takes to sing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song twice, to ensure germs won’t be transferred to objects or spread from person to person,” Liz Mineo of The Harvard Gazette writes. Hand sanitizers help too, but soap is usually more reliable.

2. Try to touch your face less. It’s virtually impossible not to touch your face, I realize. I’ve been trying. But you can touch it less often. Be aware of when you’ve just touched surfaces that might infect you (like doorknobs in busy places) and don’t touch your face until you’ve washed your hands. There are strategies — like keeping tissues handy and keeping your hands busy, as Jenny Gross of The Times writes — for touching your face less.

3. Keep your distance. It’s not easy, but try to stay at least six feet away from other people when you’re at work or in public. And don’t shake hands. Your hands are brutally efficient disease vectors. When family members came over to my house this weekend, they greeted us with a little bow. It was a nice touch — a small welcoming ritual that reduced the awkwardness of saying hello without a hug or handshake.

4. Be more aggressive about staying home if you feel sick. You probably don’t have coronavirus (though, of course, you can’t be sure), but you could spread your cold and make it more severe. The Washington Post’s Marisa Iati explains: “If everyone with a cold floods their local emergency rooms, it will be harder for health care workers to treat patients who are critically ill. Plus, you could pick up the virus in the hospital if you don’t already have it.”

5. Don’t stockpile masks. They’re needed for hospital workers and other caregivers. “Masks are only useful if you have a respiratory infection already and want to minimize the risk of spread to others, or if you’re caring for someone who is sick or working in a hospital in direct contact with people who have respiratory illnesses,” writes Julia Belluz of Vox.

6. Do stock up on food and medicine. While there’s no need to make a run on toilet paper or stockpile a year’s worth of canned food, experts recommend having enough supplies on hand for at least 14 days — the recommended length of a quarantine.

A good shopping list: Canned, dry or frozen foods; beverages; vitamins and cold medicine; and any prescription medications you normally take, as Mike Snider and Veronica Bravo of USA Today write.

7. Check in with friends and family. “At the top of every checklist for prepping for shutdowns or self quarantine should be checking in with people less able to prep. Give your number to someone nearby who might not have anyone to help out, or even talk to, if they end up alone,” tweeted The Atlantic’s James Hamblin. Coronavirus is particularly dangerous for people over the age of 70. They should be aggressive about all of the measures here — and, if you’re younger, you should think about how to help.

Milwaukee Street is now closed to thru traffic from Rice Street to the roundabout.  The contractor will be finishing the sanitary sewer and storm sewer work in this section.  After the underground work is completed, crews will complete the remaining concrete pavement, curb and gutter, drive approaches and sidewalk, street signs, pavement markings and restoration. 

After the underground work is completed between Rice Street and the roundabout, the contractor will resume work on Elkhorn Road from the roundabout to Highway 12.  Work in this section includes storm sewer, milling and overlaying of asphalt pavement, concrete pavement, curb and gutter, sidewalks, street signs, pavement markings and restoration.  Elkhorn Road will be closed to thru traffic.  Access will be permitted for local businesses and property owners. 

The roundabout will remain open to traffic during construction.

All work is scheduled to be completed by July 21, 2020. 

Bradley J. Marquardt, P.E.

Public Works Director                              

The monthly Whitewater Observatory Lecture series resumes starting this Friday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m. with a series of talks about black holes across the Universe: “Black Holes Are Everywhere!”  Come learn about the black holes lurking in the center of galaxies (March), black holes merging together in a death spiral that creates a burst of gravitational waves (April), and all of the ways in which one can  “feed” a black hole (May).

Fri, Mar 13 @ 7:30 p.m. (Upham Hall, Room 140) 
Prof. Bob Benjamin (University of Wisconsin-Whitewater) 
“What Lurks in the Hearts of Galaxies” 
NO observations following this lecture.

At its meeting on March 9 the Plan & Architectural Review Commission approved a Conditional Use Permit which was requested by Kwik Trip to construct a convenience store with a car wash and fuel pumps at 837 S. Janesville Street. The approximate five acre lot is located on the west side of Janesville Street between Highway 59 and the bypass. Kwik Trip already has an approved Conditional Use Permit for a store at the roundabout.

A Kwik Trip representative indicated that construction is anticipated to begin on both stores in April, 2021, with the expectation that both locations will open before the end of 2021. The product lines are expected to be similar between the two stores.

Whitewater High School 534 S Elizabeth St Whitewater, WI 53190

• Six weeks
• Begins 1 April – 6 May
• Wednesdays
• 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm  
• Childcare is provided

To Register:

Text/Phone 262-949-1408 Sarah Linn (Instructor)

414-418-8424 Jorge Islas Martínez

• Seis semanas
• Empieza 1 Abril  –  6 Mayo
• Miércoles
• 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
• Se ofrece cuidado para niños.

Para Registrarse:

Text/Phone 262-949-1408 Sarah Linn (Instructor)

414-418-8424 Jorge Islas Martínez

Las clases son patrocinadas por el Distrito Educacional de Whitewater