2013 – Page 6 – CU-CitizenAccess.org

The Champaign county clerk's office collects nearly 2,000 statement of economic interest forms each year from local elected officials and high-ranking government employees. But few of them disclose any information.

Efforts at transparency in government lost in translation

Post author:Emily Siner / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:July 24, 2013
Post category:Government

Illinois state law requires government officials in Champaign County to file forms disclosing financial dealings that might lead to conflicts of interest in their official duties. But a review by CU-CitizenAccess.org of over 9,000 forms filed by officials over the past five years found that an average 16 percent of officials reveal any specific information.

Images_of_Money/Flickr Creative Commons

Weekly RoundUp: Housing

Post author:CU-CitizenAccess.org
Post published:July 24, 2013
Post category:Article Housing

A report out this week showed that home sales across the nation have reached a five-year high, and the state of Illinois is no…

Read more about the article Restaurants temporarily closed in June for failing health inspections have similar history

Photo provided/The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District

Example of a color-coded placard that restaurants would be required to post under a proposed plan to make inspection results more public. Red means that the restaurant's health permit was suspended following a health inspection.

Restaurants temporarily closed in June for failing health inspections have similar history

Post author:CU-CitizenAccess.org
Post published:July 18, 2013
Post category:Article Food Public Health

Three of the five restaurants that failed health inspections in June were temporarily closed over multiple repeat violations and failures. One restaurant, Main St.…

Weekly RoundUp: Farm Bill

Post author:CU-CitizenAccess.org
Post published:July 17, 2013
Post category:Article Public Funds

The House passed a farm bill last week after dropping food stamps from the negotiating table. According to an Illinois Public Media report, “The…

Imani Carr/Community Ambassador at Salt and Light in north Champaign

Community ambassador reviews our reliance on technology

Post author:CU-CitizenAccess.org
Post published:July 17, 2013
Post category:Article Technology

By Imani Carr/For CU-CitizenAccess.org CU-CitizenAccess worked with faculty from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science to secure a grant from the state…

zombieite/Flickr Creative Commons

Weekly RoundUp: Concealed-Carry

Post author:CU-CitizenAccess.org
Post published:July 11, 2013
Post category:Article Justice

This week Illinois passed a law that gives a concealed-carry permit to anyone who has passed a background check, taken a 16-hour gun-safety training…

Maps of Public Housing Authorities in Illinois

Post author:CU-CitizenAccess.org
Post published:July 10, 2013
Post category:Housing Poverty

Illinois public housing authorities are responsible for providing affordable housing to low-income residents located within their district. Some authorities – such as the housing authority in Champaign – serve an entire county. Others – such as The East St. Louis Housing Authority – are charged with only serving a city.

Read more about the article From fuzzy mold to raw sewage – 11 area restaurants failed health inspections in April, May

Contributed/Champaign-Urbana Public Health District

A draft version of a reinspection notice. Public health officials are drafting ordinances that would require food establishments to post a color-coded placard that indicates the results of each health inspection. Yellow means the food establishment failed its health inspection with an adjusted score below 36 and but can remain open pending a reinspection within 30 days.

From fuzzy mold to raw sewage – 11 area restaurants failed health inspections in April, May

Post author:CU-CitizenAccess.org
Post published:July 10, 2013
Post category:Article Food Public Health

Eleven restaurants failed health inspections in April and May, with critical violations ranging from employees not washing hands to potentially hazardous foods out of…

Flickr Creative Commons/dbking

Weekly RoundUp: Defense of Marriage Act

Post author:CU-CitizenAccess.org
Post published:June 27, 2013
Post category:Article Justice

This week the U.S. Supreme Court declared that the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, violated the Constitution. According to an article in the…

Danielle Shepherd

Low income often depend on two federal programs for housing

Post author:CU-CitizenAccess.org
Post published:June 26, 2013
Post category:Article Housing

Public housing authorities are responsible for supplying affordable homes to their community’s population of low-income residents. The Housing Authority of Champaign County’s mission statement, for example, is to provide “quality, safe and affordable housing to the citizens of Champaign County.”

To do so, authorities receive millions of dollars from HUD to build homes and create programs that will put poor people in affordable homes.