Jim Meadows

Jim Meadows has been covering local news for WILL Radio since 2000, with occasional periods as local host for Morning Edition and All Things Considered and a stint hosting WILL’s old Focus talk show. He was previously a reporter at public radio station WCBU in Peoria.
 

$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.

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

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.

State Senator Rose says the U of I favors its Chicago campus over Urbana when allocating state funds

State Senator Chapin Rose says the University of Illinois is not being fair to its flagship campus when it distributes state funds. Rose, who is a U of I Urbana alum, says his calculations show that the university is giving its Chicago campus more state money on a per-undergraduate basis than it gives to its Chicago campus: $10,073 per student at Chicago versus $7,483 per student at Urbana, for a difference of $2,590 per student in the Chicago campus’ favor.

New facility in Decatur makes animal feed ingredients from insects

A new facility that raises fly larvae for animal feed has opened in Decatur.

Governor J-B Pritzker helped cut the ribbon Thursday for the North American Insect Innovation Center, built by the French biotech company Innovafeed SAS.

The 10,000 square foot facility, with a staff of ten, is the company’s first facility in the Americas. And it is a precursor to a much larger growing and manufacturing plant, with 100 to 300 employees, that Innovafeed plans to build adjacent to the current facility over the next two years.

The Champaign City Building figures prominently in this view of downtown Champaign, as seen from University Avenue.

Downtown Champaign bar manager dies nine days after shooting

Champaign Police are reclassifying the shooting of a downtown bar manager as a homicide, following the death of Brandon L. Hardway. The Champaign County Coroner’s office says the 45-year-old Hardway, of Champaign, died early Saturday at Carle Hospital, due to injuries he received in a shooting on the afternoon of February 8. Police say the shooting happened outside Hardway’s bar, Pour Brothers Craft Taproom, 40 E. University Avenue in downtown Champaign. Police say Hardway had come outside for a cigarette break, and was shot in the back.

Kickapoo Rail Trail on track for two-year completion with $11.2 million state grant.

After seven years of construction, less than half of the 24-mile Kickapoo Rail Trail in east-central Illinois has been completed. But now, the project could be finished in the next two years, thanks to a state grant. An $11.2 million grant, awarded through the state’s Rebuild Illinois Capital plan will pay for the completion of the walking and bike path.

U of I hopes a new greenhouse will be an incubator for bioenergy crops.

University of Illinois officials held ceremonial shovels Wednesday morning, for a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of construction on a new greenhouse. It will open next summer in the Urbana-Champaign campus’ Research Park and be used for research into bioenergy crops.

A state program helps farmers donate the food they raise to food banks.

Now, farmers in Illinois can contribute some of the food they produce to food banks though a centralized donation program. This month, Governor J-B Pritzker signed HB2879, which turns a two-year, USDA-funded Farm to Food Bank pilot program into a permanent, state-funded operation.

After years of planning, a casino opens in Danville

Nearly a year after a groundbreaking ceremony, a new casino opened to the public for the first time on Saturday in Danville’s Eastgate area. Initially, the casino will be open eight hours a day, closed on Tuesdays.

Eastern Illinois University faculty go on strike

Negotiations continue Friday between Eastern Illinois University and its faculty union. But the bargaining session will take place off campus — because the union began its strike on Thursday, and doesn’t want its members to have to cross picket lines for the meeting.

Champaign County puts out the call for election judges for April 4

Tuesday, March 28 is the deadline for formal announcement of polling locations for the April 4 consolidated local elections in Illinois. In Champaign County, the county clerk’s office says the number of polling places will depend on how many election judges they can recruit. County Clerk Aaron Ammons says as of right now, Champaign County is well short of the number of judges he would like to have. 

EIU faculty union contract talks continue, now with a potential strike approved by rank & file

Federally mediated contract talks between Eastern Illinois University and its faculty and support staff union are scheduled to resume Monday, April 3. When they resume, officials with the EIU-University Professionals of Illinois chapter (Illinois Federation of Teachers Local 4100) hope the administration will feel more pressure to reach a settlement, following last week’s approval of a strike authorization vote.

Former Congressman Rodney Davis has been hired by a lobbying firm

Former Illinois Congressman Rodney Davis has been hired as a lobbyist. The Taylorville Republican will become a managing director for Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies. In his new job, Davis will provide counsel to the firm’s government relations clients.

WILL At 100: From its first broadcast on April 6 1922, WILL evolves from high-tech novelty to pioneer broadcaster.

April 6, 1922, marked the first broadcast of the University of Illinois’ radio station WILL-AM, then operating as WRM. At the time, both listeners and the university were still figuring out the role of radio broadcasting in American life. In the century that followed, WILL built a program schedule dedicated to both learning and culture, expanding to FM, television and online.

WILL At 100: Langston Hughes poetry reading, recorded by WILL Radio

The WILL Radio archives include hundreds of hours of recorded programs captured on acetate discs from the 1940s and 50s, including a 1957 reading at the University of Illinois by 20th century African-American poet Langston Hughes. Jameatris Rimkus, an archivist the University of Illinois Library, tracked down the mislabeled discs, rescuing them from obscurity.

WILL At 100: Looking Back On A Century Of Broadcasting

2022 marked the 100-year anniversary of WILL-AM, the oldest component of Illinois Public Media. The University of Illinois launched the station at a time when the idea of using radio to reach a mass audience was new and cutting edge. Over the century to come, WILL became a national leader in educational broadcasting, and more recently, public broadcasting.