Darrell Hoemann/The News-Gazette
in Arcola on Friday, July 27, 2012.
A 100 percent taste of Mexico
By Azra Halilovic / CU-CitizenAccess.org / Hoy -- Out in the middle of farm country in Central Illinois, Arturo Zendeja and his wife run…
Health industry brings Filipinos to Champaign
By Jeff Kelly Lowenstein/Hoy -- Light gleams off the wooden floor in the gymnasium at Judah Christian School in Champaign. The squeaking of sneakers…
Health officials pursue publicizing restaurant inspections
By Pam G. Dempsey/CU-CitizenAccess -- By as early as next year, health inspections of restaurants throughout Champaign County may be one of three colors…
Making the Grade: How restaurants in Champaign County measure up
There are no national standards for scoring health inspection reports. What may be passing in one jurisdiction could be considered failing in another jurisdiction.
14 restaurants fail health inspections in June and July
These are the 14 restaurants that failed health inspections in June and July, according to Champaign-Urbana Public Health District inspection reports for June and…
Darrell Hoemann
A worker picks up eggs from a refrigerated cooler on Friday, Aug. 31, 2012, at Meatheads Restaurant on South Neil Street in Champaign.
Health district makes moves toward online restaurant reports; publicizing results still under discussion
After spending four years discussing how to best publicize restaurant inspections, county public health officials are now offering Champaign diners a small appetizer of…
File photo. Students on campus in August 2015. Today, more college students are in need for mental health services.
College counseling centers face ‘perfect storm’, expert says
By Pam G. Dempsey/Investigative Journalism Education Consortium -- More than 20 million college students across the nation will start school this month, just weeks…
Growing Local: Rise in farmers’ markets, community gardens fuel economy, discussion and needs
Approximately 95 percent of the food we eat in Illinois comes from someplace else. The farmland in Illinois is some of the richest in…
Bed Check: Safety violations cloud Central Illinois nursing homes
An elderly man with Alzheimer's disease leaves a local nursing home without staff noticing and is found wandering into traffic on Mattis Avenue in Champaign. A patient in an Urbana nursing home is left unattended on a bed pan for hours until the bed pan creates a deep pressure sore in its shape.
AP
photo by Darrell Hoemann
Ardith Orr recites the Pledge of Allegiance after devotions at the County Rehabilition and Care Center in Gifford on Monday, Nov. 28, 2011.
State officials overhaul nursing home care
In July 2010, Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law two bills that introduced broad reforms for the state’s nursing homes. The laws strengthened the screening process to keep residents with histories of violent crimes separate from vulnerable, elderly residents; instituted tougher quality and staffing requirements; upped fines for violations; increased the number of state inspectors by nearly 50 percent; and added new requirements for quicker reporting of fraud, neglect and abuse, among other changes.