CHAMPAIGN — June is Pride Month, and LGBTQ+ folks and allies in Champaign are ready to kick off the month with a Drag Picnic taking place at West Side Park this Saturday. CJ Brown is the host and organizer of the picnic, as well as one of the drag performers taking the stage this weekend….
DECATUR – An estimated 2,000 friends, family and police officers filled a church in Decatur Wednesday for the funeral of Champaign Police Officer Chris Oberheim. He was killed last week while answering a domestic disturbance call. The funeral was closed to the public and the news media. But the public was encouraged to come out…
CHAMPAIGN – Champaign Police Officer Jeffrey Creel has been released from the hospital, after being wounded by gunfire during the domestic disturbance call, in which fellow Officer Chris Oberheim was killed. Meanwhile, a Decatur funeral home says Oberheim’s funeral will be held next week. Graceland-Fairlawn Funeral Home announced on its website that services will be…
CHAMPAIGN – A police processional escorted the body of a slain Champaign police officer from the Champaign county coroner’s office in Urbana to a funeral home in Decatur on Thursday. People lined the processional route in several locations, as the body of 44-year-old Chris Oberheim was taken to Graceland-Fairlawn Funeral Home. One of those locations…
URBANA – In a small room on the second floor of local drag king Spank Knightly’s house lies a homemade production space. It includes a green screen, lights clamped onto broomsticks that are taped onto chairs, and a prop he calls a “bleeding canvas” because it turns red when it comes in contact with water. Listen…
URBANA — Students at the University of Illinois rely on different resources that provide food when it is needed. One such resource is the “Everybody Eats” program at Bevier Cafe. Ricardo Lopez, a senior studying food science and human nutrition, said he experienced food insecurity during his sophomore year at the University of Illinois. He…
CHAMPAIGN – Champaign community leaders called for an end to gun violence Friday, a day when three more people were injured by gunfire in the city. “The gun violence has to stop,” said Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen at a city hall news conference, where she was joined by Police Chief Anthony Cobb and two other…
URBANA – Gov. JB Pritzker used local road projects in Champaign County as his backdrop Tuesday to announce the latest round of Rebuild Illinois grants. The governor’s actual backdrop was a lineup of heavy equipment at the Champaign County Highway Department building in Urbana. Standing in front of them, Pritzker listed the accomplishments of Rebuild…
DANVILLE – The house on South Buchanan Street had been a familiar site in Danville’s Rabbittown neighborhood for decades. But in recent years, it had been empty, its windows boarded up. Early one morning in April, a city employee operating a Caterpillar excavator knocked it down in a matter of minutes, while a second employee…
URBANA, Ill. – In recent weeks, India has seen a surge in positive COVID-19 cases. Hospitals are crowded and oxygen supplies have dwindled. As of Thursday, the Indian Health Ministry is reporting a record 412,262 new cases and 3,980 new deaths in the past 24 hours. More than 21 million people in India have been…
URBANA – For the second year in a row, Muslims in the Champaign-Urbana community are observing Ramadan in the middle of a pandemic. During Ramadan 2020, it was difficult to adjust the usual Ramadan traditions to the new norms set forth due to the pandemic, such as social distancing, says Waleed Jassim, president of the…
RANTOUL – The pandemic has led to an increased need for mental health support for children. In working to meet this need, one central Illinois organization is focused on providing support and guidance to parents and caregivers. Many mental health services available for children focus on helping only the child, says Ulanda Hunter, statewide director…
URBANA – Champaign County voters can once again use election drop boxes to send in their mail-in ballots for Tuesday’s local elections. The seven drop boxes in Champaign and Urbana were used during the November election. But local election officials say there was no state law authorizing their use in other elections. That changed last…
RANTOUL – Village officials in Rantoul have been hoping the Champaign County town’s new Family Sports Complex will attract new commercial development. Now they say a deal on the first such development is in the works. Rantoul officials say an affiliate of Chicago-based developer Core Acquisitions LLC is in the process of buying the vacant…
RANTOUL – There’s a three-way race for mayor in the village of Rantoul in northern Champaign County. But that’s not the only contest on the April 6 ballot for Rantoul voters. They will also be voting for candidates to fill every seat on the Rantoul Village Board. And for the first time, they will choose…