Vehicle Catalytic Converter Thefts Increase In CU
URBANA – Auto shop owners and law enforcement in Champaign-Urbana are seeing an increase in vehicle catalytic converter thefts. Catalytic converters make toxic exhaust fumes less harmful for the environment and are located on the underside of vehicles. They also contain precious metals like rhodium, platinum and palladium that can sell for upwards of $19,000 […]
Only One Elder Care Facility In Champaign-Urbana Is Requiring Staff Vaccinations
URBANA – More than 10,000 residents of long-term care facilities in Illinois have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to state data. But in Champaign County, only one long-term care facility is currently mandating that its staff receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Clark-Lindsey, a long-term care facility and nursing home in Urbana, […]
One Dead, 4 Injured, In Afternoon Shooting At Champaign American Legion Post
This is a developing story. It will be updated as we learn new details. CHAMPAIGN – Champaign Police say a 17-year-old male was killed and four other people were wounded Friday afternoon, in a shooting at a large post-funeral gathering for a previous shooting victim at the American Legion Post 559 on Hickory Street on […]
Where Can You Get Tested for COVID-19 In Central Illinois?
For health questions about COVID-19, call the Illinois Department of Public Health hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov. IDPH has also compiled a list of testing sites across the state, including information on testing eligibility and contact information. Public testing sites offer free testing regardless of insurance, with no need for a doctor’s referral. Illinois […]
Drag Picnic Offers Safe Space For LGBTQ+ Folks In Champaign
CHAMPAIGN — June is Pride Month, and LGBTQ+ folks and allies in Champaign are ready to kick off the month with a Drag Picnic taking place at West Side Park this Saturday. CJ Brown is the host and organizer of the picnic, as well as one of the drag performers taking the stage this weekend. […]
University Of Illinois Class Of 2021 Graduates Reflect On COVID Graduation
URBANA — Bells rang across the University of Illinois’s main quadrangle as seniors lined up at Alma Mater to take graduation pictures by Altgeld Tower. Pandemic or no, May is still graduation season on the Urbana campus. An estimated 5,600 University of Illinois students graduated during the weekend of May 15. However, for many […]
Champaign Leaders Call For End To Gun Violence
CHAMPAIGN – Champaign community leaders called for an end to gun violence Friday, a day when three more people were injured by gunfire in the city. “The gun violence has to stop,” said Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen at a city hall news conference, where she was joined by Police Chief Anthony Cobb and two other […]
COVID-19 Vaccination Walk-In Clinics Scheduled Thursday & Friday
CHAMPAIGN – People in Champaign and Macon counties are welcome to receive COVID-19 vaccines at clinics in Champaign on Thursday and Decatur on Friday. The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District will hold a free walk-in vaccine clinic at Salem Baptist Church in the 5th & Hill Neighborhood of Champaign on Thursday from 2:00 to 6:30 p.m. […]
217 Today: April 6, 2021
Tuesday, April 6, 2021 Today’s headlines: Voters are choosing candidates Tuesday for local offices from mayor to school board. Polls are open until 7 p.m. Gov. JB Pritzker stopped in Champaign on Monday to discuss money coming to schools from the American Rescue Plan Act. Republican Congressman Rodney Davis is calling for the governor to live up […]
Rural Locations, Pandemic Worsen Educator Shortages In East Central Region
Editor’s Note: Lee Enterprises reporters Lenore Sobota, Kelsey Watznauer and Lyndsay Jones of The Pantagraph in Bloomington; Valerie Wells of the Herald & Review in Decatur; and Rob Stroud of the Journal Gazette/Times-Courier in Mattoon-Charleston contributed to this story. SPRINGFIELD – East central Illinois school districts have an even greater difficulty filling teaching positions than […]
Snowplow Crews Labor To Clear Snow From C-U Streets
URBANA – Local governments in the Champaign-Urbana area all have crews out, working to clear streets of the snow that fell on central Illinois Monday and Monday night. Public Works staff with both Champaign and Urbana began work on keeping the roads clear on Sunday night, during the first wave of snowfall. Crews give priority […]
Champaign Neighborhood Shaken By Racist Flyers Left In Driveways
CHAMPAIGN – On the morning of January 16, Melanie Keil discovered a rock in the driveway of her home. Attached was a note with several websites under the title “No White Guilt.” Keil, who is white and married to a Black man, believes her mostly-Black Champaign neighborhood was targeted. “I do think this was a […]
Christmas Comes To Champaign, But Without Annual Community Dinner
The annual Community Christmas Dinner in Champaign will not be held this year. But it wasn’t the coronavirus that canceled it. No doubt, the COVID-19 pandemic would have canceled the event, which served a free Christmas Day dinner to hundreds of guests at Champaign’s First Christian Church. But organizer Lynne Barnes says they had announced […]
Towns Offer Aid To Businesses For COVID-Related Supplies
CHAMPAIGN – Small businesses have had to deal with an added expense this year, paying for supplies and equipment to prevent the coronavirus from spreading at their stores, offices and factories. Champaign, Urbana and Rantoul are offering state-funded grants to help with those new expenses. The grants can be used by small businesses in the […]
Pritzker’s Daily COVID-19 Briefing Full Transcript And Audio — Nov. 24, 2020
Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Dr. Ngozi Ezike are holding daily COVID-19 press briefings as cases and hospitalizations in Illinois reach record highs. Read and listen to the latest update from the governor’s office on new cases, phased re-opening and closings of different regions and the state’s ongoing pandemic response. You can watch the most recent […]