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COVID Between the Coasts

0000017c-83f8-d4f8-a77d-b3fd0d9f0000In 2020, WNIN, the Center for Innovation and Change at the University of Evansville and ¿Qué Pasa, Midwest? collaborated on a seven month research and reporting project to find stories of the coronavirus pandemic in seven Midwestern states.Students from two UE ChangeLab classes provided substantial data and reporting resources for this project. Explore their work here and the entire CBC series below. COVID Between the Coasts is an ongoing project. If you know of a Midwestern story of the pandemic that has not been told, let us know.0000017c-83f8-d4f8-a77d-b3fd0da00000CBC: Binge Listen to Season OneThe reporting was research driven. Dr. Darrin Weber and his fall semester ChangeLab class students, Maya Frederick, Timmy Miller, Ethan Morlock and Pearl Muensterman gathered, cleaned and created visualizations of demographic and coronavirus data in our selected region. Their work culminated in an extensive data visualization of the coronavirus progression in our seven state project area. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smvmyHHNNEI" target="_blank">Learn more about the app and research.Full size Mobile0000017c-83f8-d4f8-a77d-b3fd0da00001

Pandemic Forces Temporary Halt to Pipe Installation on Major Local Project

WNIN | By steve.burger

Published March 5, 2021 at 7:49 AM CST

Pandemic issues at a Texas company are causing delay of the First Avenue water main replacement.

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WNIN's Steve Burger talked with Mike Labitzke, director of the program management office for EWSU.

By now, contractors for the Evansville Water and Sewer Utility had hoped to be digging up First Avenue to install a new thirty six inch water main as part of an eight million dollar project to get better water service to northern areas of Evansville and Vanderburgh County.

Instead, the pipes are sitting on a work site, waiting for special fittings from a Texas company, Tyler Union, before they can be installed.

Mike Labitzke is director of the program management office for the water utility. He says the fittings are being held up by pandemic-caused production issues at Tyler Union.

“We really can’t lay one piece of pipe without the fittings, so, it’s a very critical item and it’s really delaying the start of construction.”

Labitzke says they hope to have the fittings by the end of March.

A request for comment from Tyler Union has not been answered. Labitzke says he does not expect the delay to change the overall time line for the First Avenue water project.