champaign county – Page 5 – CU-CitizenAccess.org

Looking south to the Champaign Police Department Building on First Street. Photo by Darrell Hoemann/CU-CitizenAccess

Another record year for Champaign shootings warrants debate over causes, solutions

Post author:D.J. Roach / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:December 17, 2021
Post category:Government Neighborhoods

Shootings continue at over 250 in a year that has already seen its highest number of shooting deaths ever recorded in the city, at 16 so far. The previous high of 9 occurred just last year, and even all the numbers that measure gun violence in Urbana have tripled in the past five years. Champaign County Sheriff Dustin Heuerman said the rise in shooting incidents and homicides this year can be attributed to retaliation in a lot of cases. While retaliation may be to blame for a lot of the shootings, law enforcement officials and community leaders said it is not the only cause.

Nearly 7,000 Illinois students may have returned from lower-vaccinated areas than Champaign

Post author:Marissa Plescia / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:September 3, 2021
Post category:CU-Covid19 Education Public Health

Almost 7,000 University of Illinois students may have returned to campus from Illinois ZIP codes with lower COVID-19 vaccination rates than Champaign, a new…

Read more about the article Nearly 8,000 students may be coming from Illinois zip codes with higher COVID infection rates than Champaign County

McKinley Health Center website

McKinley Health Center on the University of Illinois campus.

Nearly 8,000 students may be coming from Illinois zip codes with higher COVID infection rates than Champaign County

Post author:Marissa Plescia / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:August 20, 2021
Post category:CU-Covid19 Education Public Health

Almost 8,000 students may be returning to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus from Illinois ZIP codes with higher COVID-19 positivity rates than Champaign…

Read more about the article Community members, businesses rally to clean littered fields in business area

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

Post author:Dylan Tiger and Daria Makhneva / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:May 14, 2021
Post category:Community Voices Environment

In response to uncontrolled trash piling up in the North Prospect business area, community members rallied together to pick up 29 bags of litter…

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

Post author:Marissa Plescia / Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and Dylan Tiger
Post published:April 1, 2021
Post category:Agriculture

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.

Champaign County rail systems see frequent transport of hazardous materials

Post author:Sabrina Lee / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:December 18, 2020
Post category:Transportation

Approximately 107 trains, often carrying hazardous materials, pass through Champaign County’s 225 miles of active rail lines each day. Freight traffic accounts for about 101 of these trains. According to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, there have been 195 hazardous materials incident reports filed since 2010, with the majority of them being spills or leaks on local roads and streets, as well as some interstate highways.

Read more about the article Food insecurity projected to soar in eastern Illinois and Champaign County

Eastern Illinois Foodbank

Eastern Illinois Foodbank provides a graphic to explain how food reaches those in need.

Food insecurity projected to soar in eastern Illinois and Champaign County

Post author:Casey Daly / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:December 7, 2020
Post category:CU-Covid19 Food

The nonprofit organization Feeding America has projected Champaign County’s food insecurity rate to increase by 31% by the end of 2020 in comparison to data collected in 2018. Feeding America is a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community-based agencies.

Read more about the article COVID-19 hampers food distribution at Eastern Illinois Foodbank

Naomi Diaz

Eastern Illinois Foodbank's trucks at its facility in Urbana on North Shore Drive.

COVID-19 hampers food distribution at Eastern Illinois Foodbank

Post author:Naomi Diaz / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:December 7, 2020
Post category:CU-Covid19 Food

Pre-pandemic, Eastern Illinois Foodbank provided food and grocery products to 100,000 people in 18 different Eastern counties in Illinois. Today, they project the number of those in need to increase by 63,000. The foodbank expects the second wave of COVID-19 will continue to increase the need for “emergency food,” and they are preparing for just that.

Hamilton on the Park in Urbana is one of the Housing Authority of Champaign County's properties. Photo from HACC website.

Waitlist extends as Champaign County housing authority faces resource shortage

Post author:Luis Velazquez / For CU-CitizenAccess
Post published:December 4, 2020
Post category:Housing

5,210 individuals are on the waitlist for all properties and programs that the Housing Authority of Champaign County supports, according to the authority’s 2020 Fact Sheet. The annual budget from the federal government is about $23 million. According to the housing authority, they’re in the process of developing over $100 million in new units inside and outside Champaign County.