• CU-CitizenAccess receives national award for project highlighting racial issues in Central Illinois
    April 10, 2013

    CU-CitizenAccess.org has won a national investigative journalism award for its collaborative project with Hoy Chicago looking at changing demographics and racial issues in Central Illinois.

    Investigative Reporters and Editors, a 4,000 member organization, gave the small multi-platform award to CU-CitizenAccess and Hoy Chicago for the project called Midwest Chronicles.
  • Photo of people looking at Dr. Alan Kalmanoff on a big screen.

    Community voices questions, concerns to jail consultant at public hearing
    April 19, 2013

    By Amy Harwath/CU-CitizenAccess.org -- On Wednesday, April 17 the group Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice held a public hearing with jail consultant Alan Kalmanoff to air their concerns and ask questions about his ongoing evaluation of the Champaign County jail.

    Over 70 people were in attendance, from local community members to graduate student members of the Planners Network to county officials...

  • Emergency text alert system inconsistent across college campuses
    April 25, 2013

    By Amy Harwath/CU-CitizenAccess.org -- If an emergency happens on its campus, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville gets the message out to 100 percent of its students via text message.

    But only about half of the students at  Iowa State University​ would receive an emergency alert via text.

  • Opt-in text alert system leaves many at University of Illinois out
    April 25, 2013

    By Amy Harwath/CU-CitizenAccess.org -- A Northern Illinois University lecture hall was the target of a mass shooting in 2008 where five persons were killed and 18 injured before the shooter took his own life.

    At the time of the shooting, Northern’s students had to voluntarily sign up for emergency text message alerts, which only reached up to 10 percent of the university’s students.
Restaurant Inspections: Map, Graphs & Stories

Click HERE to see restaurant inspection reports

For the past four years, Champaign Urbana Public Health District officials have discussed ways to best publicize restaurant inspections.

Health inspection reports of restaurants and food facilities are available by request from the health department. In June, the health department also began posting a monthly list of all inspected food facilities and the current status.

In 2011, CU-CitizenAccess.org began posting full inspection reports of all restaurants that failed routine health inspections since 2008.

As a service, we continue to post the full reports of failed health inspections as part of our searchable, interactive map.

Access the map, stories and other content on this issue here.

Immigration

Pulitzer-prize journalist talks immigration, life as undocumented resident
By Pam G. Dempsey/CU-CitizenAccess - For journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, a driver’s license meant working for the Washington Post - a job he really wanted.  The license was required....

Housing

photo of U-Haul truck in front of Dorsey Homes
Officials confirm reserved housing vouchers; aim to hold back more
By Robert Holly/CU-CitizenAccess – Community members told the Housing Authority of Champaign County this week that it was wrong to reserve vouchers for planned redevelopment projects while 400...

Justice

Attorney fights for rights of migrant workers
By Jeff Kelly Lowenstein/Hoy -- Enterprise Rent-A-Car must love Miguel Keberlein-Gutierrez. That’s because the supervisory attorney at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago...

Neighborhoods

Bristol Place Speaks: Starting Again
By Evan Lyman -- Loretta Williams has moved in and out of Bristol Place three times. She currently lives on Roper Street, taking care of her 3-year-old grandson, Ty’Vontis, whom she has looked...

Food

Green-colored permit proposed by health district officials
Health officials pursue publicizing restaurant inspections
By Pam G. Dempsey/CU-CitizenAccess -- By as early as next year, health inspections of restaurants throughout Champaign County may be one of three colors – green, yellow or red. At a joint...

Education

Students wait outside the Illini Union Bookstore on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012.
College counseling centers face 'perfect storm', expert says
By Pam G. Dempsey/Investigative Journalism Education Consortium -- More than 20 million college students across the nation will start school this month, just weeks after James Holmes, a Colorado...
Few restaurants netted top scores on health inspections
April 10, 2013

By Pam G. Dempsey/CU-CitizenAccess -- Just 29 Champaign County eateries ranked in the top scoring health inspections over the past six months, a new CU-CitizenAccess.org analysis shows. 



Of the 703 health inspections of food establishments and restaurants between September 2012 and February 2013, 172 inspections scored 90 and above. 
Restaurant Inspections: Full Reports
April 10, 2013

Below is a map with nearly 2,200 health inspections of food establishments and restaurants across Champaign County inspected between September 2011 and February 2013.



This list also includes schools, churches and hospitals among others.



Use the search bar in the top right-hand corner of the map to search for a health inspection report by name.



Click on the information bubble to see adjusted score and date of inspection for each establishment inspected since September 2011. 



Click on the color marker key at the bottom of the map to sort by score.
Sidebar: Old theatres and opera houses in Champaign
April 10, 2013

By Emily Siner / For CU-CitizenAccess.org



From the late 1800s to late 1900s, Champaign-Urbana was home to at least a dozen different opera houses, movie palaces and independent theaters, which attracted historic celebrities like Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, Harry Houdini and the Marx Brothers.



The map below compiles some of the theaters in downtown Champaign. Click on the blue markers for more information.



Some of the old theatres and “opera houses” in Champaign include:



 

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