Carle Foundation Hospital is routinely treating people in beds in the hallways of the emergency room at its Urbana facility on University Avenue, although the practice has come under criticism by health experts. The experts said the practice raises issues about confidentiality and safety, and could expose those patients and others to other health problems…
CHAMPAIGN – On a day when Women’s Marches took place all across the country, hundreds of people gathered at West Side Park in Champaign on Saturday afternoon to participate in the movement. The C-U event was the only one registered in Illinois, outside of Chicago. The rally kicked off with a series of speakers, including…
CHAMPAIGN – Champaign Unit 4 elementary school students will have the option to return to some in-person instruction at the end of this month. Unit 4 officials unveiled plans this week to bring students back into classrooms for shortened school days. The first day of in-person instruction is scheduled for Oct. 27. Parents can still…
SPRINGFIELD – Opioid overdoses are on the rise in Illinois, according to state health officials. The year 2019 saw a 22% increase in opioid-related emergency room visits compared to the prior year — and a 3% increase in overdose deaths, from 2,167 in 2018 to 2,233 in 2019. Preliminary data for the first half of…
Friday October 16, 2020 Today’s headlines: The confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett wrapped up yesterday in the US Senate. We hear from an Illinois Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. A team at Washington University in St. Louis is testing whether lab-made antibodies could be used as a treatment for COVID-19. The C-U…
MAHOMET — The Champaign County ballot includes another tax referendum this November. If voters approve, it will mean more money for the county’s system of forest preserves, just as they are experiencing an increase in visitors. Lake of the Woods is one of those forest preserves. Located on the Sangamon River, the site includes almost…
MONTICELLO — Students and employees of school districts in Piatt County now have access to free, rapid COVID-19 testing through Kirby Medical Center — a rural hospital based in Monticello. Monticello school officials hope access to rapid COVID-19 testing will decrease the number of student and teacher absences in the district. Illinois Department of Public…
Last year, 233 criminal incidents occurred on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus according to the 2019 annual security and fire report, mandated by the federal crime reporting law for colleges known as the Clery Act. But the university’s daily crime log routinely reports many more incidents. For example, there were 764 incidents reported in just…
On the outskirts of Rantoul, in east-central Illinois, about 100 migrant farmworkers are living at an old hotel in a sleepy part of town. Every day at…
CHAMPAIGN – Texas-based company Vistra Energy announced it would close its remaining coal-fired power plants in Illinois within the next decade, taking a step toward clean energy. The plants scheduled to be shut down include Joppa Steam, Kincaid, Baldwin and Newton. The latest closures follow previous coal plant shutdowns in Illinois in recent years—including in…
URBANA — Previously confidential statewide data tracking coronavirus cases across Illinois shows that there have been at least 50 different outbreaks in Champaign County traced to restaurants, stores, churches, nursing homes, hospitals and in a county office. The internal database kept by the Illinois Department of Public Health has tracked case counts for nearly 2,600…
Apple Podcasts Spotify Podcasts Google Podcasts RSS Link Friday, October 9, 2020 Today’s headlines: Governor JB Pritzker is warning of painful budget cuts if the graduated income tax plan fails at the polls next month. In August, a tornado ripped through the Walnut Grove Vocational Farm in Kirkland. We get an update on how the farm is…
CARBONDALE — Drop, Cover and Hold On. Those are the directions for everyone taking part in the annual Great Shakeout Earthquake Drill next Thursday. Harvey Henson is a professor of geology and seismology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, in a part of the state where three seismic zones overlap — the New Madrid, Wabash…
Vice President Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris are debating in Salt Lake City. Their only face-off of the 2020 campaign comes with a wave of uncertainty with President Trump undergoing treatment for COVID-19. Follow live updates and fact-checks on the debate. Loading…
CHAMPAIGN – A Navy Sailor from Champaign who died in the USS Cole attack will be remembered in a ceremony next week. Back in 1999, terrorists bombed the ship as it was being refueled in Yemen’s Aden Harbor. Seventeen sailors died, including Engineman Second Class Marc Ian Nieto of Champaign. The ceremony will take place Naval…