News

City of Whitewater Urban Forestry Committee – Monday @ 4:30 p.m.
Agenda
Please join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/905424965
You can also dial in using your phone.
United States: +1 (571) 317-3112
Access Code: 905-424-965
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Whitewater Unified School District Board – Monday @ 7:00 p.m.
Agenda includes homeless outreach and Ratification of the Whitewater Education Association (WEA) 2020-21 Collective Bargaining Agreement (Click on “meetings” in upper right corner of page)
URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82463949173?pwd=ZS9ObVdNZmFxSzNBWXRZN1l3RTZOQT09
Passcode: 028806
Dial-in: 1-312-626-6799
Webinar ID: 824 6394 9173
Passcode: 028806

SCHOOL BOARD ELECTION CANVASS – Tuesday @ 9:00 a.m.
Whitewater Unified School District Central Office
419 South Elizabeth Street, Whitewater, Wisconsin
Agenda (Click on “meetings” in upper right corner of page)

City of Whitewater Finance Committee – Tuesday @ 4:30
Agenda
Please join my meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/696309717
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United States: +1 (408) 650-3123
Access Code: 696-309-717
New to GoToMeeting? Get the app now and be ready when your first meeting starts:
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Whitewater University Technology Park Board Meeting – Wednesday @ 8:00 a.m.
Agenda
Online via WebEx Conference WebEx Connection Information:
Meeting number (access code): 133 105 5820
Meeting password: Mf6frCpx45U
Join by phone
+1-415-655-0001 US Toll
+1-855-749-4750 US Toll Free

Lakes Drawdown Community Meeting – Wednesday @ 5:30 p.m.
Agenda
City of Whitewater is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/94328678246?pwd=dlljR2tmb0hoZFlGb0sxOXhCdHlZZz09
Meeting ID: 943 2867 8246
Passcode: 845632
You can also dial using your phone.
+1 312 626 6799 US
Meeting ID: 943 2867 8246
Passcode: 845632

City of Whitewater Community Development Authority Board of Directors – Thursday @ 5:30 p.m.
Citizens are welcome, and encouraged to join us via computer, smart‐phone or
telephone.
Please join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone.
https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/635977541
You can also dial in using your phone.
United States: +1 (224) 501‐3412
Access Code: 635‐977‐541
New to GoToMeeting? Get the app now and be ready when your first meeting starts:
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(Submitted by Gio Anello) Winter blues have you down? Are you missing live theater? Well the wait is over as Mukwonago High School proudly presents “Little Shop of Horrors” February 19, 20, 26, 27 at 7 p.m. and February 21 and 28 at 2 p.m.! The show can be seen LIVE at the Greenwald Foundation Performing Arts Center at Mukwonago High or can be viewed online via livestream for those who would feel safer watching it from the comfort of their own homes!

This dark comedy has a little bit of everything from upbeat music to slow, loving songs, from ethical dilemmas to greed and envy, and everything in between! “Little Shop of Horrors” has something for everyone and will be sure to leave you laughing until you’re short of breath as well as on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next.

Bringing this show to life under the direction of Mr. Allen Zablocki are Jacob D’Amour as Seymour, Jessica Cottourone as Audrey, Eva Metrusias as the Voice of the Audrey II, Gio Anello as the Dentist, Marek Nettesheim as Mr. Mushnik, along with Monique Noll, Norah Samuels, Layla Nowak, Gwen Gunderson, Abi Knoerschild, and Erin Parrilli as the Urchins. Supporting these characters are the talented ensemble members Alyssa Natrop, Gabe Pett, Ryan O’Connor, Leighton Jeske, David Winarski, Julia Rady, Zoe Eineichner, Coleman Strand, Adrian Hudz, Ethan Forster, Maddie Whilhelm, Kaylyn Geuder , Zoe Pilant, Angelina Rodriguez, and Maddy Fleischer.

A limited number of in-person tickets are available for $15. Livestream the event for $15 (single viewer) or $35 (family pass). Tickets can be bought by going to https://www.showtix4u.com/events/GFPAC.

Please be aware that masks are required to be worn by audience members at all times. If you have a reason to not wear a mask, please purchase a virtual ticket.

The cast, crew, and creative team have been working very hard to make this show a possibility and a success. We would like to thank the Mukwonago Area School District administration for all of their support and permission to present this show in such a complicated time. We look forward to performing for and seeing YOU there!

(Walworth County Public Health submission) Walworth County Division of Public Health has opened vaccine registration for additional future eligible groups for COVID-19 vaccination via a form on the county website. These populations will tentatively be eligible to begin to receive vaccination on March 1, 2021 dependent on vaccine supply. The eligible groups that can begin registering include:

• Education and child care staff
• Individuals enrolled in Medicaid Long-Term Care programs
• 911 operators
• Utility and communications infrastructure workers
• Public transit workers
• Food supply chain workers
• Non-frontline health care personnel
• Staff and residents in congregate living settings
• Mink husbandry workers

For details and a complete list of vaccine eligible groups, please visit the Wisconsin Department of Health and Human Services Vaccine Eligibility Page and the State Disaster Medical Advisory Committee guidance on Phase 1b. Although vaccine eligibility has further expanded, individuals who previously met eligibility criteria and have not yet received a vaccine are still eligible to be vaccinated.

Due to a nationwide vaccine shortage, vaccinations will likely take several weeks or months. There are a significantly large number of people included in the eligible groups and vaccine availability remains limited. Not everyone in these groups will be able to be vaccinated immediately.

Vaccination is not currently open to all public facing essential workers or the general public. The Public Health Division asks that those outside of the current eligible categories refrain from using these forms to register.

There is no fee associated with COVID-19 vaccination and no one will contact you to collect credit card information or seek payment.

Air Quality Alert

Start 4:09 PM CST, Friday, February 19

End 3:00 PM CST, Sunday, February 21

Source: U.S. National Weather Service

…AIR QUALITY ADVISORY ISSUED FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN… The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has issued an Air Quality Advisory for Particle Pollution which will remain in effect until 3:00 PM CST Sunday, February 21. This advisory affects people living in Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Green, Green Lake, Iowa, Jefferson, Juneau, Kenosha, Lafayette, Marquette, Milwaukee, Monroe, Ozaukee, Racine, Rock, Sauk, Sheboygan, Walworth, Washington, and Waukesha Counties.

Due to stagnant air increasing fine particle concentrations, the air quality index is expected to reach the UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS level. Sensitive groups include children, elderly people, individuals with respiratory and cardiac problems, and anyone engaged in strenuous outdoor activities for a prolonged period of time. For more information on current air quality, please see: https://airquality.wi.gov

(University of Wisconsin-Whitewater submission) If anyone still needs an incentive to use a face covering, David Welsch has one. 

Welsch, a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, determined that if people who interact with others increase their use of face masks by just one percent, it could reduce COVID-19 deaths by 10.5 percent.

Working with data from 3,069 of the 3,131 counties in the United States and applying a series of mathematical controls to allow for variations in the county populations, Welsch concluded that the lives of six people might be saved in the average county if the number of people who wear face coverings within six feet of others increased by a single percentage point.

“Even if that number is off by a bit — even if it’s three people per county — that is still a big number,” said Welsch. “Showing that masks can reduce COVID-19 deaths is the most important outcome (of the study).”

Welsch’s study, which was published as “Do Masks Reduce COVID-19 Deaths? A County Level Analysis” on Nov. 13, 2020, in issue 57 of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, adds to a growing body of research on face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ryan Westergaard, a chief medical officer with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, said Welsch’s study addresses what public health experts have been saying all along about the importance of wearing face coverings to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“COVID-19 spreads through respiratory droplets from our mouths and noses, and face masks contain those droplets, so wearing masks is important when people need to be out in public, said Westergaard. “But masks are just one tool to prevent the spread of the virus. Other prevention methods, like staying at home, maintaining social distance when you need to go out and washing hands thoroughly and frequently, also reduce the spread of the virus in the community.”

By the summer of 2020, Welsch had begun to notice the range of responses to wearing face coverings, from adherence to outright defiance.

“A lot of economists are inspired by things they see going on in the real world,” said Welsch, whose wife, a pediatrician, routinely wears a face mask and face shield at work. Welsch said their two children also wear masks at school and in basketball leagues. As a result, Welsch did not anticipate the widespread resistance to face masks that developed. 

“I didn’t realize how controversial mask usage was. I was surprised.”

Welsch decided to investigate, using a powerful mathematical tool called “econometrics.” He drew on the daily COVID-19 reporting by counties to the Centers for Disease Control and a nationwide map of face covering use from 250,000 surveys compiled in July by the New York Times using global data and survey firm Dynata. He also used the U.S. Census and other sources. Welsch omitted only 62 counties due to missing information in their reporting to the CDC.

“Correlation is not causation. If you just look at (one correlation), you can get this weird result,” said Welsch. “Like, let’s say they have an older population. People in that county are probably going to use more masks because they’re worried about their vulnerable relatives who are older.”

“That county is going to have more deaths, but they’re also going to have more mask usage.”

By applying econometrics, economists over the past 50 years have learned how to use observable data documented by sources like the CDC to mathematically control the more subtle, unseen variables that can lead to distorted results. Honing in only on COVID-19 deaths helped refine Welsch’s study even more.

“So it’s almost like a laboratory experiment where we’re comparing two things that are exactly the same and then altering one dimension,” said Welsch. “These techniques allow us to compare counties with the same-aged population where one has higher mask usage than the other.”

Will more people come around to face coverings? Will the conclusions by Welsch and others tip the balance toward creating an incentive?

“Economists make an assumption that people on average are rational,” said Welsch. “Humans might do weird things once in a while, right? Or irrational things. But, on average, we’re rational and we react to incentives.”

“

“21 Bridges” (Action/Police/Crime/Thriller) – Tuesday, February 23, 1 p.m. – Rated R (Violence, language) -1 hour, 39 minutes (2019)

An embattled NYPD detective (Chadwick Boseman)is thrust into a citywide manhunt for a pair of cop killers after uncovering a massive conspiracy that links his fellow officers to a criminal empire. He then must decide who he is hunting, and who is actually hunting him. During the manhunt, Manhattan is completely locked down for the first time in its history, with no exit or entry to the island, including all 21 bridges. This cops and robbers “ride-along” will leave you breathless!!

There is a capacity limit, and COVID-19 precautions, including facial mask, are required. Please register in advance online, by email (dweberpal@whitewater-wi.gov), or phone (473-0535).

Whitewater native and Voto Latino Wisconsin State Coordinator Miguel Aranda will be hosting a statewide virtual event on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). King & Spalding Associate Ahsin Azim will be leading the conversation. Individuals who qualify, have the potential for pro bono legal consultation related to DACA and filing fee assistance.

This opportunity is only possible through the partnership of the national Voto Latino organization and the globally recognized law firm of King & Spalding.

The virtual event will take place Thursday, February 25, 2021 at 5:15 PM central time. Open to the public, no registration required. The event is planned to also be available on Voto Latino Wisconsin’s Facebook page as a live event. A Facebook account should not be required to view. Event will be in English due to event logistics and resources.

Spanish:
Miguel Aranda, nativo de Whitewater y coordinador estatal de Voto Latino Wisconsin, organizará un evento virtual en todo el estado sobre Acción Diferida para los Llegados en la Infancia (DACA). Ahsin Azim, asociado de King & Spalding, dirigirá la conversación. Las personas que califiquen tienen el potencial para una consulta legal pro bono relacionada con DACA y asistencia con las tarifas de presentación.

Esta oportunidad solo es posible a través de la asociación de la organización nacional Voto Latino y el bufete de abogados King & Spalding, reconocido mundialmente.

El evento virtual se llevará a cabo el jueves 25 de febrero de 2021 a las 5:15 p.m. hora central. Abierto al público, no es necesario registrarse. Se planea que el evento también esté disponible en la página de Facebook de Voto Latino Wisconsin como un evento en vivo. No se debería requerir una cuenta de Facebook para ver. El evento será en inglés debido a la logística y los recursos del evento.

Facebook Event Page (Pagina del Evento):  Click here 
WebEx Meeting Link (Sitio del Evento)

King & Spalding Associate Ahsin Azim Bibliography:
Bibliografía de Ahsin Azim, asociado de King & Spalding

Want to help support the Latino community and related programming? Please consider donating to the national organization of Voto Latino at https://votolatino.org/

¿Quiere ayudar a apoyar a la comunidad latina y la programación relacionada? Considere hacer una donación a la organización nacional de Voto Latino en https://votolatino.org/

More Information on DACA from the Department of Homeland Security:
Más información sobre DACA del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional:
https://www.dhs.gov/deferred-action-childhood-arrivals-daca

By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
February 16, 2021

In the primary election on February 16, voters could choose up to two candidates of the five who were running for one of two open seats on the Whitewater Unified School District School Board. The four candidates with the highest votes will advance to the general election on April 6. Jakub Fadrowski had the lowest number of votes and will not appear on that ballot. The unofficial results, as shown on the Walworth County Clerk, Jefferson County, and Rock County Clerk websites, are as follows.

Candidate	Jefferson County	Walworth County	Rock County	Total
*Tom Ganser (I)	58	436	40	534
*Larry Kachel	61	387	40	488
*Maryann Zimmerman	54	358	49	461
*Andrea M. Svec	22	189	22	233
Jakub Fadrowski	8	46	2	56
Write-in	0	7	2	9
Total	203	1423	155	1781