Darrell Hoemann
The Head Start and Early Head Start programs in Champaign County spent about $6.8 million last year to prepare young children from low-income families for kindergarten. But it is not enough. Although the programs serve nearly 600 children, there are still 230 on the waiting list.
Darrell Hoemann/CU-CitizenAccess.org
The average yearly amount of taxpayer money funding the highly subsidized federal crop insurance program has more than doubled in just over a decade. From 2003 through 2007, the government spent an average of $3.4 billion per year on crop insurance, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
Darrell Hoemann
Restaurant complaints filed in Champaign County over the past six months have ranged from a restaurant running out of napkins to a cockroach crawling out of a customer’s food.
Restaurant goers in Champaign County can call the Champaign Urbana Public Health District at (217) 373-7900 to file a complaint against the business if it’s located in the twin cities, or (217) 363-3269 if it’s in the county.
Screenshot
Our new restaurant app is here! Check out this new mobile-friendly tool that allows you to see the health inspection scores of all the restaurants inspected in Champaign County.
Darrell Hoemann
For 15 years, a silent guard has stood watch over the intersection of Neil Street and Bradley Avenue, guiding Champaign cars and pedestrians as they travel through it. Twenty-four hours a day the guard is responsible for making sure travelers reach their destinations safely and on time.
Darrell Hoemann
Access to Urbana police arrest data is now easier thanks to a new city website. Earlier this month, the City of Urbana launched an open data portal that allows the public to download data on the city’s finances, police arrests and incidents and even nuisance complaints.
Tiffany Jolley
As much as six inches of rain pummeled Champaign County last summer, flooding roads, basements and sewers and causing tens of thousands of dollars in repairs to residents' homes.
Darrell Hoemann
Chris and Barb Genzel have lived in the same house in Urbana for nearly 40 years and they say their house has never flooded. "Behind our house is a farm at a lower elevation, and our house backs up to a drainage ditch. We knew we were never going to flood," Chris Genzel said recently.
Darrell Hoemann
As a result of the Farm Bill passed by Congress a year ago, efforts to increase wildlife habitats and natural areas that filter fertilizer run-off will receive less funding and result in fewer acres of conserved land. As of December, there were 9,770 acres set aside in Champaign County for a program in which the federal government rents land from farmers for conservation purposes.