UPDATE: Champaign County Executive Darlene Kloeppel said on Thursday that in-person public attendance at Thursday evening’s county board meeting will not be allowed, and all public comment would occur via online video conferencing, due to new government guidelines discouraging meetings of more than ten people. She added that if in-person attendance by county board members…
The next person to represent Illinois’ 15th Congressional District will be a woman from Coles County. Voters in Tuesday primary election selected Republican Mary Miller and Democrat Erika Weaver to run in November. With 95% of precincts reporting, Weaver received 16,777 votes, or 51.9% of the total. She received more than twice the votes of…
Four newcomers running for the Champaign County Board defeated incumbents and recent appointees in Tuesday’s Democratic primary. The winners include Emily Rodriguez of Champaign, who defeated county board chairman Giraldo Rosales in District 8, on a vote of 1,403 to 283. Rodriguez won 83% of the vote, according to the first unofficial tally from the…
URBANA – Actions taken to guard against the coronavirus are hampering primary election day in at least two Illinois counties, creating a shortage of election judges and closing some polling locations. Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons says more than 100 election judges have dropped out of Tuesday’s election, mostly due to fears of the coronavirus….
After being rejected by voters in 2018, a referendum asking voters to approve a one-percent sales tax for public school facilities and other expenses is back on the ballot in the March 17th primary election in Vermilion County. But the proposal does not have the support of officials in Danville. Voters in several Illinois counties…
Champaign County is among the 13 Illinois counties now reporting cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The patient is a Champaign County woman in her fifties. In announcing the case Sunday afternoon, the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District said she was tested for COVID-19 at Carle Hospital in Urbana, based on her symptoms…
Champaign County is moving three of its primary election polling places out of long-term care facilities to other locations, out of concern about the coronavirus. Angie Patton, chief deputy with the Champaign County Clerk’s office, says her office made the decision after conferring with officials at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District. But she emphasized that…
CHAMPAIGN – As early voting continues for the March 17 Illinois Primary, Champaign County is opening seven additional early voting locations on Monday, March 8, in Champaign, Rantoul, Tolono, Mahomet and St. Joseph. Two other early voting locations opened a week earlier on the University of Illinois campus. Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons says he…
URBANA – As the Champaign County Board considers closing the older of its two county jails, progressive Democrats running for board seats argue for making any new jail facility a smaller one. It’s generally agreed that the Champaign County Jail in downtown Urbana is dangerously run down. County Board Chairman Giraldo Rosales, a Champaign Democrat…
The Champaign County Board Facilities Committee reviewed the latest version of a jail consolidation plan Wednesday night. The revised proposal from the Champaign architectural firm Reifsteck Reid & Co. made a few changes from the version viewed by county board members last fall. It would reduce total inmate capacity by about 20 beds and…
Betsy Dirksen Londrigan lost to U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis by 0.8% of the vote in the 2018 election. Now, the Springfield Democrat is making a second run in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District, starting with a bid for her party’s nomination.
Concern about the coronavirus has affected the stock market. But so far, it hasn’t impacted Illinois’ economy, as measured by the University of Illinois Flash Index. The Flash Index was up by three tenths of a point in February, to 105.7, its highest rating in over four years. Any reading over 100 reflects economic growth…
Stefanie Smith says she’s running for Congress because issues she feels are important are not being considered in a meaningful way.
Darren Duncan is a seventh-generation farmer in Vermilion County, who said he wants to be a voice for the 15th District’s agricultural and rural communities in Congress.
A family physician from Douglas County said he’s running for Congress because of a “failure of leadership” he sees in Washington. Dr. Charles “Chuck” Ellington lives in Camargo, with his medical practice in Arthur. He’s also on the faculty of the SIU School of Medicine in Springfield, and holds a law license.