Champaign Cash Outflow: Top vendors from June 26 to July 9
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…
Darrell Hoemann
The window for the Urbana Police Department office inside the Urbana City Hall on Thursday, September 4, 2014. photo by Darrell Hoemann/C-U Citizen Access
Majority of Champaign and Urbana police live elsewhere; Effect of non-residency on community policing debated nationally
The vast majority of police staff members in Champaign-Urbana don't live in the cities they serve. Local and national experts attempting to unravel community policing solutions see residency as one more piece of the puzzle, but other factors may turn out to be more important for the community's residents.
Darrell Hoemann
Looking south to the Champaign Police Department Building on First Street. Photo by Darrell Hoemann/CU-CitizenAccess
Champaign and Urbana police struggle to diversify
In 2014, the police staff in Champaign was 88% white and Urbana’s police staff was 84% white, CU-CitizenAccess reported at that time. Almost seven years later, those numbers are virtually unchanged, despite pledges by both cities to diversify their police forces.
GEO YouTube
Antonio Ruiz gave an emotional statement and proposed changes to discipline procedures during the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) press conference in late April.
University of Illinois COVID discipline policies under fire after another “unfair” dismissal of graduate student
While the Graduate Employees Organization and some professors were pushing the University for the changes in COVID disciplinary and testing procedures, a graduate student in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Antonio Ruiz, was dismissed from the University for not complying with the COVID-19 testing policy. But the University has not deemed it necessary to review its procedures so far, even as calls for change are amplified by social media.
Darrell Hoemann
Litter in a field by Interstate Drive in north Champaign, IL on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. photo by Darrell Hoemann/C-U Citizen Access
Community members, businesses rally to clean littered fields in business area
In response to uncontrolled trash piling up in the North Prospect business area, community members rallied together to pick up 29 bags of litter…
Trash lines the bus stop next to Walmart on North Prospect Ave. in Champaign on April 5, 2021. Photo by Dylan Tiger.
Champaign residents seek litter solutions after delayed city cleanup efforts, untracked complaints
Champaign residents erupted on social media in early March about the excess litter in the Champaign area, especially North Prospect, with some claiming they have never seen the city so polluted before. In late spring this year, resident Michael Chrasta expects “a revival” of the Loving Our City cleanup initiative that was cancelled in March 2020 as COVID-19 entered the community.
Farm acreage at the 1831 2500N, Thomasboro, IL belonging to Baloo Enterprises LLC on Saturday, March 13, 2021. photo by Darrell Hoemann/C-U Citizen Access
Illinois billionaire Shahid Khan investing in thousands of acres of the state’s farmland
In recent years, Urbana billionaire Shahid Khan has added to investments by quietly purchasing farmland through a company he owns called Baloo Enterprises LLC. A spokesperson for Khan confirmed earlier this month that Khan has purchased roughly 24,000 acres of farmland in central Illinois.
Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity on the University of Illinois campus has been placed on conduct probation until Nov. 16, 2021 after violating mask protocol and city emergency orders.
Additional campus COVID complaints show more unsafe, unhealthy and outlandish behavior
Students selling negative saliva test samples on Snapchat. Fraternity members threatening students for taking pictures of long bar lines. People leaving quarantine and isolation dorms to pick up Doordash food orders and then socialize. These were the events among the 200 complaints sent to university officials in the latter part of the fall semester in 2020 at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
Source: U.S. Farm Credit Administration
Restaurants, religious organizations among top local industries that received PPP loans
The Small Business Administration released more data about businesses who received Paycheck Protection Program loans under $150,000. Previously, the SBA did not release business names for businesses that received loans under $150,000.
Gavin Good
Pi Kappa Phi fraternity was among several other frats and sororities that were widely reported for COVID-19 violations. Pi Kappa Phi is on conduct probation through May 2021.
University of Illinois COVID-19 complaints and social media reveal how widespread violations were
A review of more than 400 complaints about partying and public health violations, multiple disciplinary actions and partial lockdowns at apartment complexes show the impact of the partying and social gathering was far wider than previously recognized. While many students obeyed guidelines that included wearing masks and social distancing, a significant number of students held or attended large parties and social gatherings at Greek houses, dorms and apartments. Public records show that four fraternities and one sorority have been disciplined and more than 1,000 students were disciplined.