Ranchers in Nebraska are rebelling against the “Big Four” meat companies by planning their own beef processing plant. They’re seeking a transformation for themselves, the industry and western Nebraska. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s60/audio/2021/11/beefplantwebfin.mp3 Plans to disrupt the Nebraska beef industry began in Hanoi, Vietnam. Rancher Rusty Kemp was on a 2019 trade trip with Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts….
CHAMPAIGN — University of Illinois service workers want a raise of $5 per hour. They say wages haven’t kept up with inflation and contribute to staffing shortages. Members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73 protested working conditions on Wednesday at the corner of Oak Street and Kirby Avenue in Champaign. “We have…
Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021 Today’s headlines: After getting his COVID-19 booster shot Tuesday, Governor J.B. Pritzker is urging eligible Illinoisans to get their boosters and join the more than 800,000 adults in the state who have already gotten their supplemental dose. Urbana residents stepped up one after another at this week’s city council meeting to argue…
URBANA – This week, the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign community joined together to celebrate past loved ones for the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) at the University YMCA. Day of the Dead is celebrated from November 1-2. Celebrations typically involve creating shrines to remember those who have passed away. Chabeli Duran, a…
Updated November 2, 2021 at 3:14 PM ET President Biden has promised delegates at the U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, that the U.S. is prepared to spend billions on measures to address climate change, but that legislation remains mired in intra-party squabbling by Democrats back in Washington. Biden is expected to be pressed on…
This is the second of a two-part series looking at what meatpacking has meant for southwest Kansas. Click here to read the first part. GARDEN CITY, Kansas — Outside an old, white two-story house in downtown Garden City, dozens of people stand in a loose row that spills out of the driveway and onto the…
CHAMPAIGN — Ninth graders started this fall at Centennial High School with trauma. There were midday gunshots near the Champaign high school in September. Other incidents included a social media threat and a student who brought a gun to school. The rattled freshmen turned to their peer advisor, Centennial senior Hussein Al-Juboory. “They were asking,…
Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021 Today’s headlines: Governor JB Pritzker signed an executive order on Monday declaring gun violence a public health crisis in Illinois. lllinois’ economic growth slowed down in October, according to the University of Illinois Flash Index. Upperclassmen at Champaign’s Centennial High School have mentored freshmen for the past seven years. So, when…
URBANA – Illinois’ economic growth slowed down in October, according to the University of Illinois Flash Index. The Flash Index reading for October is 105.4, down from the September reading of 106.0. This puts the Flash Index’s measure of the Illinois economy at its lowest point since six-tenths of a point from September, sending the…
Monday, Nov. 1, 2021 https://will.illinois.edu/nfs/217_Today_11-01-2021.mp3 Today’s headlines: Illinois’ legislature is the only one in the country to ever back off a Parental Notice of Abortion law. The Centers for Disease Control is evaluating “test-to-stay” as a way to keep students in class, even if they come in contact with someone who tests positive. Pumpkin farmers…
MORTON — The great pumpkin shortage of 2021 is turning out to be as real as Linus’ Great Pumpkin. Neither ever showed. Instead, despite some national headlines about a pumpkin shortage this year, Midwestern farmers say there’s nothing to worry about. “God granted us quite a bounty this year,” says John Ackerman, who grows pumpkins…
CHAMPAIGN — Learning did slow last year during pandemic school – especially for the state’s most vulnerable students. The Illinois State Board of Education dropped this information on Friday morning in its annual report card. “We need to recognize that for our Black and Hispanic children, remote learning was not very effective, particularly for English…
CHARLESTON — One of the things we’ve been looking at during our look at “Who’s in Charge of the News” is how information and misinformation spread, including on the COVID-19 pandemic. When the COVID-19 vaccine first began rolling out, white evangelicals — and Republicans — were among the groups most likely to say they were…
Friday, Oct. 29, 2021 Today’s headlines: Governor JB Pritzker’s effort to immediately shut down a promised wave of lawsuits challenging COVID vaccine mandates has come to the end of the road in Springfield. Urbana residents are voicing concerns this week about the city’s plan to install roadside devices that could read the license plates of anyone…
It’s no secret that journalism has a diversity problem – countless think pieces have been written about the topic, journalism schools and newsrooms have released statements about their commitments to inclusiveness and diversity, and yet many news outlets remain predominantly white, and the only path there is a degree in journalism for a job that’s…