Welcome to our Tweet beat
By Michelle Hagopian/For CU-CitizenAccess -- I’m a journalism graduate student in the College of Media working with the CU-CitizenAccess.org team this semester and my…
Health officials: Lack of sick days leads to food-borne illnesses
We've been reporting quite a bit recently about the sanitary conditions of local restaurants and how much information about those conditions is or isn't…
Congressional hearing highlights challenges accessing broadband service
By Jim Meadows/Illinois Public Media -- People who live in a city may take broadband Internet service for granted. But in many rural areas,…
Stimulus money may explain Champaign, Vermilion stability on poverty
By Julie Wurth/The News-Gazette -- A new report from the U.S. Census shows Champaign and Vermilion counties holding their own economically in 2010, with…
Eating Out: Do You Know How Your Favorite Restaurants Fare in Public Health Inspections? Focus Program Transcript September 13, 2011
Do You Know How Your Favorite Restaurants Fare in Public Health Inspections? from Illinois Public Media on Vimeo. Editor's note: This broadcast came about…
Champaign County restaurants fail inspections but public never told
Geovanti’s Bar & Grill on Green Street failed its restaurant inspections five times from September 2008 through February of this year. But no one who eats there would ever know, unless they took the initiative to request copies of the popular Campustown restaurant’s inspection reports from the local health department.
Champaign County income levels by township
This map shows the percentage of residents in each of Champaign County's 30 townships living below certain income levels. The figures for 2005 to…
Jose Diaz/For CU-CitizenAccess
Residents of mobile homes, like this one at Shadow Wood Mobile Home Park in Champaign, account for 43 percent of tornado-related deaths, according to the National Weather Service. The nearest public building that can provide shelter for Shadow Wood residents during a tornado 24 hours a day is Carle Foundation Hospital, located 2 miles away.
Shadow Wood: Storm shelters scarce for local neighborhood
Every time the National Weather Service issues a storm warning, Heidi Zavaleta has to decide where to seek shelter. She can stay at home,…
Jose Diaz / For CU-CitizenAccess
The Shadow Wood Mobile Home Park has seen many changes during the past two decades, most notably a dramatic increase in its Hispanic population and a reduction in crime.
Shadow Wood: A changing neighborhood
Two years ago, Jose Rodriguez and his three daughters left their home in Ibague, Colombia, a city of about half a million people in the slopes of the Andes Mountains, 80 miles west of Bogota, the capital city, and headed north for Champaign.
What the proposed zoning changes mean to Wilber Heights
Champaign County passed an ordinance in 1973 intending to turn the Wilber Heights neighborhood into a strictly industrial region. The regulation prohibits the rebuilding…