217 Today — Jan. 25, 2021
Monday January 25, 2021 Today’s headlines: Today (1/25) marks the beginning of “Phase 1B” of Coronavirus vaccine distribution in Illinois – meaning everyone over 65, plus certain frontline essential workers are eligible for the COVID vaccine. Sales of existing homes were up last month in Illinois and in Champaign County, capping off a strong year for realtors. A […]
Historic University of Illinois Aeronautical Engineer Remembered
URBANA – Many are remembering an astrophysicist from Illinois who developed technology critical to America’s space program, including a telescope and camera used by astronauts on the moon. The National Society of Black Physicists announced the death of George R. Carruthers on December 26, 2020. According to the Washington Post, Carruthers was born in Cincinnati, […]
U Of I Chancellor Releases Plan For Campus Life After Chief Illiniwek
A plan for addressing issues related to the University of Illinois’ use of Chief Illiniwek as a mascot includes formation of a student council to look at the development of new traditions for the Urbana campus. Chancellor Robert Jones released the implementation plan on Friday. The plan draws from input from a series of community-wide […]
Without A Field To Play On, The Marching Illini Meet Over Zoom
URBANA – As a freshman member of the University of Illinois’ marching band, Matthew Kostbade was looking forward to performing on the field. “I can see Memorial Stadium from this window right now and it pains me to look at it especially on Saturday’s when I know we could be out there with my drum […]
The University Of Illinois Dials Back Statements About FDA Authorization For Its COVID-19 Test
URBANA – The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s saliva-based COVID-19 test has never operated under emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, despite prior claims that it did, an FDA spokesperson tells Illinois Newsroom. Since July, the U of I has used a COVID-19 test it developed to test all students and […]
‘I’m Very Scared And I’m Furious:’ U Of I Students, Workers And Faculty Criticize COVID-19 Response
URBANA – Graduate student workers, facilities and maintenance employees, professors and students at the University of Illinois’ Urbana campus criticized the institution’s response to COVID-19 during a virtual town hall Tuesday afternoon. The forum was hosted by the Campus Labor Coalition, a group of unions representing workers on campus. Those who spoke expressed a wide […]
U Of I Plans To Expand COVID-19 Testing To Champaign-Urbana Community
URBANA – Administrators at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign want to expand their testing program to the broader Champaign-Urbana community. U of I System President Tim Killeen said earlier this week that the university system was working with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to expand its saliva-based COVID-19 test to other communities and public institutions […]
U Of I System Enrollment Surpasses 90K Students
Enrollment at the University of Illinois system this year exceeded 90,000 students for the first time. University officials say the increase marks the eighth year in a row of record breaking enrollment numbers. This year’s enrollment gains come in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downturn. Combined enrollment at the Urbana, Chicago and […]
News Around Illinois – Sept. 3, 2020
Illinois House Panel To Investigate Long-Serving Speaker CHICAGO (AP) — An Illinois House panel convened at the request of Republicans will investigate Speaker Michael Madigan, a long-serving Democrat who has been implicated in a federal bribery investigation, legislative leaders announced Wednesday. Republicans filed paperwork to form the bipartisan committee earlier this week, a move that […]
U Of I Scientists Use COVID-19 Data To Make Predictions, Inform Action For Campus, State
CHAMPAIGN – Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been analyzing COVID-19 data to help the state — and campus — make decisions throughout the pandemic. Nigel Goldenfeld, professor of physics, and Sergei Maslov, professor of bioengineering and physics, spoke at a live-streamed COVID-19 briefing Thursday. Goldenfeld said that at the start of […]
Students Demand University Of Illinois Defund And Disarm Campus Police
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students are calling on the institution to sever ties with the college town’s local police departments and dissolve the university’s own police force. Following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and the protests that followed, students at both the U of I’s Urbana and Chicago campuses are […]
The Retired University Of Illinois Mascot Still Lingers On Campus
URBANA – Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert remembers watching a man dressed up in Native American regalia dance across a football field as “surreal” and “in many ways silly.” It was the fall of 2006, and the University of Illinois’ former mascot, Chief Illiniwek, sported a feather headdress and face paint, as he wove in and out […]
Lawsuit By Scholar’s Family Against Counselors Dismissed
URBANA — A central Illinois judge has dismissed for a second time a lawsuit filed by the estate of a slain visiting Chinese scholar against two social workers at a University of Illinois counseling center. Champaign County Circuit Judge Jason Bohm wrote Wednesday what happened to Yingying Zhang was unconscionable. However, counselors Thomas Miebach and […]
University Of Illinois Creates Saliva COVID-19 Test With A Plan To Use It On Thousands Of Students This Fall
URBANA – Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have created a saliva-based COVID-19 test. During a webinar hosted Tuesday by U of I Chancellor Robert Jones and other university staff, Martin Burke, a U of I chemistry professor, announced that they had the capacity to test up to 10,000 people per day. He […]
News Around Illinois – June 16, 2020
GOP Sues Pritzker Seeking Exemption From 10-Person Limit CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois’ Democratic governor was sued Monday by the state’s Republican Party, which is seeking exemption from the 10-person limit on public gatherings. The Chicago Tribune reports the GOP contends in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s limit on […]