UW-Stout's award-winning Rube Goldberg team.

STOUT RUBE GOLDBERG TEAM GETS TO NATIONALS IN 120 STEPS
How many steps does it take to put on some hand sanitizer? The answer, according to UW–Stout’s first ever Rube Goldberg machine team, is 120. A Rube Goldberg machine is a complex mechanism created to solve a basic problem, like that bit at the beginning of Back to the Future with the toast. The Stout team’s contraption is Egyptian themed; it raises obelisks, buries sarcophaguses, and lights up the eyes of Egyptian gods all in the quest to give a dirty old mummy germ-free hands. Stout’s Valley of the Kings machine conquered the competition at the regional level and will hopefully do the same at the national tournament at Purdue later this month. Want to see the device in action? Click here for some video.

LET THE CONSTRUCTION BEGIN ...
Downtown Eau Claire is going to be seeing a lot more road construction this summer. The city has projects planned on Birch, Farwell, Galloway, Main, and Washington streets which involve rebuilding roads, fixing asphalt, and adding curbs and gutters, among other things. While the planned projects will inconvenience motorists for a few months, especially those trying to get downtown, one high point of the construction season ahead is the possible completion of two portions of the bike trail – one between Eddy Lane and Melby Street on the city’s north side, and the other from the railroad tracks on Galloway Street east to the Hastings frontage road.

DOWNTOWN EAU CLAIRE NEEDS A FEW GOOD BUSINESS PLANS
Downtown Eau Claire, Inc. (DECI) is currently hosting the 6th annual Jump-Start Downtown Business Competition. Again this year, the winner will be awarded $5,000 in start-up capital and $500 in advertising production to help open a new business, or to relocate an existing business to downtown Eau Claire. Since the competition’s inception, DECI has seen 15 participants open their doors downtown and has helped bring 41 new jobs to the area. Application and business plans must be submitted by May 21. For more information on contest details, entry, judging, and assistance, check out DECI’s website at www.nothingartificial.org.