Jordan Butler
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…
Google Street View
About five times the number of 19- and 20-year-olds have been arrested or fined for unlawful use of ID in the first seven months…
Abandoned and vacant buildings abound in downtown Champaign after three years of pandemic closures, business failures, downsizing and moves, a street-by-street survey by CU-CitizenAccess…
Chris Sokolowski
It's not rare to find postings on social media sites in Champaign and Urbana about potholes or crumbling roads causing damage to cars —…
As the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic begins, cases plunge after the deadliest month for Champaign County just this year. Nearly 62,000 cases.…
Leapfrog
One area hospital's safety grade has declined since the pandemic began, and another withheld quality of care information from the organization.
Champaign County Sheriff’s Sergeant Norman “JR” Meeker had a 10-year history of violations, including destruction of personal property, contract violations, a Tik Tok account that shared bodycam videos of crime scenes and mountains of missed paperwork. Yet, he was still employed and promoted at the Sheriff’s Office until he flipped a truck while drunk. Champaign County Sheriff’s Office records suggest a systemic inability to deal with over-the-top behavior from its officers — a system in which a sergeant can be disciplined regularly, suspected for having alcohol problems for over a decade, violate contracts and be accused of using racial slurs — yet keep their job.
Gun violence in Champaign has steadily marched westward over the past three years as shootings have increased in neighborhoods north and south of Springfield Avenue, especially in or near several apartment complexes, according to a review of police data over the past seven years by CU-CitizenAccess.org. With about two weeks left in this year, 16 people have lost their lives. In 2020, there were nine homicides, but only two in 2019. Shooting incidents more than doubled in Champaign since 2019, going from 100 shootings, to 189 in 2020, then to 251 by December 13.
Google Maps Street View
Recently released data on employee salaries of the City of Champaign and City of Urbana show that Urbana pays substantially less than Champaign and that the pay gap between the two cities has actually increased over the past two fiscal years, according a CU-CitizenAccess review. When the data for employees receiving under $75,000 a year is included, the number of employees increases to 315, more than double the 145 employees included in the compensation report the City of Urbana publishes.
Champaign’s latest cash outflow report shows the city spent nearly $1.48 million in vendor payments from June 26 to July 9. Payroll totaled $2.1…