Yearly Archives: 2014
Read more about the article Sewage backups, lack of hand-washing among reasons for eight restaurants to fail April inspectionsClaire Everett
Evo Internet Café, 711 S. Sixth Street, on Monday, June 9.

Sewage backups, lack of hand-washing among reasons for eight restaurants to fail April inspections

By Claire Everett/CU-CitizenAccess.org -- Raw sewage backup prompted health inspectors to temporarily shut down two area restaurants in April. Champaign-Urbana Public Health District inspectors…

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Read more about the article Safe at Home Part 1: Illinois’s home birth crisisPhoto provided by Emily Fetterer and Kimberlie Kranich
Emily Fetterer and Kimberlie Kranich hold their new daughter, Azmi Ann.

Safe at Home Part 1: Illinois’s home birth crisis

By Christine Herman/For CU-CitizenAccess.org -- Home births have increased by more than 50 percent since 2004. But in 22 states, certified professional midwives have to…

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Read more about the article Obtaining Organic, Fresh Food on a Budget
Peppers are a good thing to buy organic, because they do not have peels. Here you can see red peppers at Strawberry Fields.

Obtaining Organic, Fresh Food on a Budget

By Joanna Nowak, Natalie Leoni, Carissa Townsend, Gino DiVittorio/ For CU-CitizenAccess.org -- University of Illinois research shows that “one in 12 seniors do not have access to…

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Read more about the article Unconditional Love: Pet ownership brings joy – and more – at any age
Emily Lewis sits with one of her dogs at the Dog Training Club of Champaign-Urbana.

Unconditional Love: Pet ownership brings joy – and more – at any age

By  Jack Preis, Ralph Cooper, Sarah Soenke and Taylor Rooks/ For CU-CitizenAccess.org -- According to the Humane Society, 62 percent of American households owned at…

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Read more about the article One family’s struggle for health insuranceDarrell Hoemann/CU-CitizenAccess.org
Giovanna Olea in the community center in Shadowwood community on Thursday, April 17, 2014. photo by Darrell Hoemann/The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

One family’s struggle for health insurance

By Giovanna Olea/For CU-CitizenAccess.org -- Giovanna Olea works for CU-CitizenAccess.org as a community ambassador in a computer lab at Shadow Wood Mobile Home Park. CU-CitizenAccess.org has opened…

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Read more about the article Big broadband to reach all of Champaign-UrbanaDarrell Hoemann/CU-CitizenAccess
iTV-3 vice president Levi Dinkla speaks during a press conference announcing a partnership between UC2B and iTV-3 at Enterprise Works in the UIUC Research Park on Thursday, May 29, 2014. photo by Darrell Hoemann/C-U Citizen Access

Big broadband to reach all of Champaign-Urbana

Darrell Hoemann/CU-CitizenAccess.org -- Now all residents in Champaign-Urbana can access big broadband, thanks to a new agreement with a private company. It was standing…

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Read more about the article Champaign County owes employees more than $1 million in unused vacation timeDarrell Hoemann
Deb Busey, Champaign County administrator in her office in the Brookens Center in Urbana, IL on Tuesday, May 20, 2014.

Champaign County owes employees more than $1 million in unused vacation time

Despite a 2003 effort to limit the number of unused vacation days employees can carry over, Champaign County workers have accumulated more than 62,000 hours of unused vacation. And that total will cost the county at least an estimated $1.6 million as of the last fiscal year, according to County Administrator Deb Busey.

Continue ReadingChampaign County owes employees more than $1 million in unused vacation time
Read more about the article Slices of Life: Area families struggle to find life after a soldier’s deathRobin Scholz /The News-Gazette
Robin Scholz /The News-Gazette connie Bickers sheds tears at the memorial she has built in the front yard of their home in rural St. Joe on Thursday, May 15, 2008.

Slices of Life: Area families struggle to find life after a soldier’s death

By Jonathan Jacobson -- Connie Bickers gave me simple directions to her house in St. Joseph, but the country roads in central Illinois all…

Continue ReadingSlices of Life: Area families struggle to find life after a soldier’s death