AMES, Ia. — In recent weeks, producers and hobbyists across the Midwest have been tapping their trees and making maple syrup. They were waiting for just the right conditions for the sap to run: temperatures above freezing during the day that dip below freezing at night. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s60/audio/2022/03/0316maplesyrupweb2.mp3 Listen to this story here. “This is kind…
Workers at the Starbucks Campustown location in Peoria are one step closer to having a union. Ballots for union election voting will be mailed to all employees on April 5, and counted on April 26. Workers say the process is moving faster than expected. Last week, attorneys for Starbucks conceded the company’s right to a…
DANVILLE – The Golden Nugget Casino is one big step closer to calling Danville home. On Thursday morning, all four members of the Illinois Gaming Commission voted “yes” to allow Danville Development to move forward with its plans to build and open a new casino. Danville’s casino application is the last one in the state…
MAHOMET — Two Champaign County residents affected by the Peoples Gas methane leak have filed the first class action lawsuit related to the incident. Meanwhile, Peoples Gas continues to maintain that methane levels at affected wells do not pose a danger. The lawsuit covers potentially thousands of people who live in rural Mahomet and Fisher. …
DANVILLE – The Illinois Gaming Board has invited casino developers to their Thursday, March 10 meeting to make a presentation about their application for a casino license. Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. announced the gaming board’s plans on Friday, February 25. A gaming board spokesperson confirmed the plans on Tuesday, March 2. Policy director Joe…
CHAMPAIGN – Cooks and custodians at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana say the univeristy rejected their proposal this week for stricter safety measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Dena Gary is a head cook at the University of Illinois and the president of the Champaign-Urbana chapter of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73. She and other…
CHAMPAIGN — Catalytic converters keep disappearing from Champaign-Urbana cars. The University of Illinois Police Department has already reported seven catalytic converter thefts in 2022. Why someone would steal them, though, is a bit of a mystery for local law enforcement. The metals in the devices are precious, for sure. Palladium, for example, fluctuated in value last…
URBANA – The state’s economy continues to grow at a good pace, according to the monthly Flash Index from the University of Illinois The Flash Index rose slightly in November, reading 105.5, compared to its October reading of 105.4. Any number above 100 shows economic growth. Economist Fred Giertz, who compiles the Flash Index for…
CHAMPAIGN — Champaign substitute teachers will now earn at least $140 per day – $30 more than they were making before. The Champaign Unit 4 Board of Education approved the raise on Monday evening, following a similar move from neighboring school boards. “We’ve reviewed our rates and determined that we are no longer competitive with…
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…
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…
PAXTON – Ford County has lost a weekly newspaper. When the Ford County Record closed last month, it joined more than 21-hundred other American newspapers that have shut down since 2005. But the Ford County Chronicle, a new paper launched just last year, still serves Ford County, providing a test of whether residents of the…
URBANA – With newspapers on the decline in Illinois, you may be wondering where to get quality news about communities across the Midwest. During the week of October 25-29, 2021, Illinois Public Media is asking “Who’s In Charge of The News?” In June, students at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism published articles and videos…
CHAMPAIGN — Sunlight and water power two new buses in the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District fleet. Champaign-Urbana is one of the first transit agencies in the country to adopt zero-emissions, hydrogen buses. “I’ve always been a big science fiction fan,” said the district’s managing director, Karl Gnadt. “Now, this isn’t quite Star Trek-level technology. But…
URBANA – After two months of slight declines in the rate of growth, the Flash Index to the Illinois economy rose in September to 106.0. The latest reading shows a sixth straight month of economic growth in the state. Illinois and the U.S. as a whole went through a recession induced by the COVID-19 shutdown…