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‘It’s amazing they function at all’: social security recipients and workers brace for cuts
Molly Hughes / For CU-CitizenAccess and Nazala Salauddin / For CU-CitizenAccess
/ May 16, 2025
Protesters say ‘Hands Off’ federal support, services in response to looming funding cuts
Jordan Butler / For CU-CitizenAccess
/ May 14, 2025
Built on Soul: How Neil St. Blues Became a Cornerstone of Downtown Champaign
Rachel Johnson / For CU-CitizenAccess
/ May 14, 2025
About Us
CU-CitizenAccess is an online newsroom devoted to community and watchdog reporting by journalism students at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
The newsroom focuses mostly on Champaign County and central Illinois, but produces occasional regional, national and international stories.
NEW TOOL: Click here to search Champaign County property by owner name — a feature removed by county officials
Latest News
Nearly 4,000 applications for tenant-based housing vouchers have been filed in Champaign County over the last seven months, but none have been processed and no one has received a voucher yet, housing...
Neighborhoods
“Hands off” was the message shared by hundreds in Champaign calling on the federal government to halt funding cuts to essential services across the U.S. Hundreds of people protested at West Side...
Nearly 4,000 applications for tenant-based housing vouchers have been filed in Champaign County over the last seven months, but none have been processed and no one has received a voucher yet, housing...
On Feb. 20, an anonymous student at the University of Illinois arrived at Carle Hospital at 1 a.m. and requested a sexual assault kit. In a mass email, the incident was reported...
Neighborhoods
“Hands off” was the message shared by hundreds in Champaign calling on the federal government to halt funding cuts to essential services across the U.S. Hundreds of people protested at West Side...
Nearly 4,000 applications for tenant-based housing vouchers have been filed in Champaign County over the last seven months, but none have been processed and no one has received a voucher yet, housing...
On Feb. 20, an anonymous student at the University of Illinois arrived at Carle Hospital at 1 a.m. and requested a sexual assault kit. In a mass email, the incident was reported...
Recent News
In the past decade, federal safety inspectors have fined Elmer Miller and his construction company based in Arcola, Illinois more than $1.8 million. Last year in Savoy and...
Whooping cough, rabies, syphilis and strep. These are some of the infectious diseases on the rise in Champaign County over the past six years, public health district records...
On Feb. 20, an anonymous student at the University of Illinois arrived at Carle Hospital at 1 a.m. and requested a sexual assault kit. In a mass email...
Richard Sexton, a man from Effingham who has been receiving disability benefits, said last week that his Social Security account and his retired wife’s account became inaccessible six...
March 27, 2025
Courtney Dillon / For CU-CitizenAccess, Molly Hughes / For CU-CitizenAccess and Dylan Tiger
Driving while on the phone. Being pulled over without lights or sirens. Getting searched for incorrectly turning down a one-way. These are just some of the situations drivers...
March 19, 2025
Molly Hughes / For CU-CitizenAccess, Stephanie Orellana / For CU-CitizenAccess and Nazala Salauddin / For CU-CitizenAccess
The Illinois Department of Public Health has reasserted Piatt County has been added to the list of sites that its cancer registry examines each year after concerns about...
Justice
In 2023, the University of Illinois Police Department conducted 2,526 traffic stops — 19% lower than traffic stops made five years ago and nearly half of the 4,701 traffic stops...
In the last 11 years, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) has racked up at least $51.9 million in fines for 90 federal- and state-level offenses and violations in the United States. ...
In the ongoing legal battle between the City of Champaign and the troubled Champaign Park Apartments, the court recently ordered inspection of heating systems and that the owners pay utility...
Six of nine central Illinois county jails fail to meet state standards for a respiratory illness isolation cell, state records show. A review of 2023 inspection reports for Illinois county...