Champaign on track to get its first African-American city manager
|

Champaign on track to get its first African-American city manager

CHAMPAIGN– Officials in Champaign will decide at a meeting Tuesday whether to promote Deputy City Manager Joan Walls to serve as the city’s chief executive. Walls is a 24-year veteran of Champaign city government, who was appointed to the position in 2013. Under Champaign’s council-manager system of government, the city manager is hired by the…

It tastes like chicken, but ‘cultivated’ meat sees growing opposition from U.S. lawmakers
|

It tastes like chicken, but ‘cultivated’ meat sees growing opposition from U.S. lawmakers

Cultivated meat – meat grown from animal cells – is touted as a way to meet growing global demand with far fewer climate impacts. Yet two states banned the sale of cultivated meat earlier this year, and there are proposals in several Midwestern states to do the same. The meat sizzling in the pan at…

A rediscovered soil archive – more than a century old – could show how years of farming alters soil

A rediscovered soil archive – more than a century old – could show how years of farming alters soil

Soil science is a relatively new field and becoming more critical in the work to keep soil healthy and productive. The discovery of century-old soil samples at a land-grant university could offer big clues into how soil has changed over time.

$51 million awarded to Champaign-Piatt-Macon biomanufacturing tech hub project
|

$51 million awarded to Champaign-Piatt-Macon biomanufacturing tech hub project

A year-long campaign to promote biomanufacturing in central Illinois has paid off for the University of Illinois and its partners.  The U-S Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration has awarded an approximately $51 million grant to a consortium led by the University of Illinois, to establish the Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing (or iFAB) tech hub in Champaign, Piatt and Macon Counties.

A view of the front of the Urbana City Building.

Proposed Urbana City Council ward maps are available for review

The Urbana City Council is expected to review three proposed ward boundary maps at its June 3rd Committee of the Whole meeting. Meanwhile, the proposed maps are posted at the city’s website  for public review and comment. A link on the website’s front page takes users to information on ward redistricting. The map that wins council approval will replace Urbana’s current ward map.

Urbana Mayor Marlin confirms she won’t seek third term

Urbana Mayor Marlin confirms she won’t seek third term

Democrat Diane Marlin is confirming what she has been talking about for more than a year: she’ll step down as Urbana mayor when her current term ends next spring.

“After 8 years on City Council and 8 years as mayor, 16 in city government, is a good long run,” Marlin said in an interview with Illinois Public Media.