Heading out to eat and undecided about where to go? CU-CitizenAccess.org's new app could provide you with information to help you make that choice.
CU-CitizenAccess.org
In September 2014, the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District – after years of planning – created a website where citizens could look up restaurant inspection reports in Champaign County. Reports for more than 1,000 restaurants are available on the site, which is constantly updated and go back to 2008.
Darrell Hoemann
Nine restaurants and eateries have failed health inspections since November, including five that were temporarily shut down. At some of the restaurants public health inspectors found dozens of critical violations that included raw sewage on the floor, potentially hazardous food production and dishwasher malfunctions.
Danielle Sheppard
Illinois state inspectors say the bridge carrying traffic on County Highway 50 over Interstate 74 in Mahomet is in “critical condition” and “structurally deficient.” But an average of 2,550 vehicles — including school buses — still use the bridge each day, although the bridge has been reduced to a single traffic lane since August 2011.
Darrell Hoemann/CU-CitizenAccess.org
Trash litters the floors of the Edgar County jail, unknown liquid leaks from the ceilings, and broken locks make it impossible to secure internal doors. The Sangamon County Jail is consistently overcrowded, making living quarters unfit for inmates.
There are no national standards for scoring health inspection reports. What may be passing in one jurisdiction could be considered failing in another jurisdiction.
Darrell Hoemann
After spending four years discussing how to best publicize restaurant inspections, county public health officials are now offering Champaign diners a small appetizer of…
Darrell Hoemann
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.
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.