Spring Break
Students will vote for the first time on campus in a presidential election for either Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., or Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.
The presidential elections are fast approaching and both candidates are sprinting to the finish in an attempt to draw in the last undecided voters.
A student was arrested on campus for carrying a concealed weapon this morning.
Stephen D. Schuerr, 39, of Burlington was arrested just after 8 a.m. for carrying a concealed weapon on state property.
University police arrested Schuerr without incident and said that he had no intention of harming anyone. Police believe that the student was carrying the gun for his own protection.
Two sexual assaults that reportedly occured on campus in September were both recanted by the alleged victims, according to University Police Chief Matt Kiederlen. On Sept. 24, a female UW-Whitewater student reported to University Police that she had been sexually assaulted near the Williams Center.
With six days left until Election Day, the city of Whitewater is hoping for a record turnout. In 2000, voter participation from District 2 in Whitewater was 89. Eight years and one on-campus polling station later, voter participation for the same district for the presidential primaries was 801.
This weekend a UW-Milwaukee student was robbed at gunpoint near Toppers World Headquarters. Police Chief James Coan said the incident is still under investigation. "We want to make sure we're covering all angles," Coan said. "There are aspects of this case we still need to pursue.
A 22-year-old student from UW-Whitewater is being treated for a possible case of Legionnaire's disease. The student is being treated at Janesville's Mercy Hospital. Legionnaires' disease has symptoms very similar to pneumonia. This includes high fever, chills, coughing and muscle aches.
Rep. Kim Hixson, R-Whitewater, seeks to retain the assembly seat he won two years ago in a narrow win by 38 votes over Debi Towns, R-Janesville.
A look at the Congressional race in Southern Wisconsin
Pedestrians crossing at the Whiton and Main streets intersection will no longer be assisted by University Police officers during peak hours.
The Whitewater Common Council, in its aim to increase pedestrian safety, moved one step closer to enacting an ordinance against jaywalking on Main Street, approving the ordinance at its first reading on Oct. 21.
The Whitewater Common Council approved a traffic analysis along Main Street Oct. 21 for an effective solution for pedestrian safety.
City and university police are stepping up safety efforts at the Whiton and Main streets intersection after a former student was hit by a car while crossing. Mike Chaloupka, 23, suffered from 12 broken bone and collapsed lungs. He died about two weeks after being struck Aug. 26. Since the accident, four citations have been given out for Failure to Yield to a Pedestrian and one verbal warning was given for inattentive driving on at the intersection. The campus police log archives, which go back to Sept. 4, 2006 show only one other citation for failure to yield, which occurred April 10 on Starin Road. "I'm not going to mince words, there is an increased level of enforcement taking place in that area," said University Police Chief Matt Kiederlen of the intersection between Whiton and Main streets. Kiederlen said there is a heightened concern in the area. "And when the community says that there's a heightened concern, we react," he said. "It's not necessarily enforcement for enforcement's sake, but it's just that there's a higher presence. The presence of the officers alone tends to decrease a lot of the problem." Improvements on Whiton and Main were discussed at the last four Whitewater Common Council meetings. "My opinion is the same as pretty much everybody else that has discussed this, and I believe that there should be a light at that intersection," Kiederlen said. That is the safest possible means of controlling the traffic flow at that intersection," "The city is exploring other options and considering what they might do with the Hawk System - it's a pedestrian activated stop system," James Coan, Chief of the Whitewater Police said. The campus police are paying more attention to getting pedestrians safely across the street than to the speed of vehicles. "Our main focus of concern, obviously, has been getting the pedestrians across as safely as possible," Kiederlen said. "We haven't been highly concerned with the speed of traffic or other aspects with the vehicles." Thirty-three speeding citations have been issued near the intersection since Nov. 23, 2006, four of which were issued after Aug. 26.