UPDATE: All appointments for the January 12-14 COVID-19 vaccination clinics are full. The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District cites an “overwhelming response.” CUPHD says it will announce its next vaccination clinic via their website and social media, once they get an additional supply of vaccines. – JM 1/9/21 11:25 p.m. URBANA – Champaign County health officials
Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Dr. Ngozi Ezike are holding daily COVID-19 press briefings as cases and hospitalizations in Illinois reach record highs. Read and listen to the latest update from the governor’s office on new cases, phased re-opening and closings of different regions and the state’s ongoing pandemic response. You can watch the most recent
URBANA – At least 1,300 students plan to return to Urbana classrooms later this month, according to data shared during an Urbana District 116 Board of Education study session Tuesday night. School officials say their safety plans will be bolstered by access to a rapid COVID antigen test — known as the BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag
In her virtual classroom last fall, Erika Jimenez struggled to teach her third graders how to read an analog clock in English. In person, the lesson would have been challenging for the predominantly Spanish-speaking class. Over Zoom, the students were visibly frustrated. Some even cried. But those were just the students paying attention. Jimenez knows
PAXTON — The organizer of Paxton’s Grand Old Flag project hopes that 2021 is the year that their flag start flying. Denny Kingren has set the dedication ceremony for this coming Memorial Day. Listen to this story here. The Grand Old Flag’s 150-foot flagpole went up last summer, on the west side of Paxton-Buckley-Loda High
CHAMPAIGN – A rainbow flag, Black Lives Matter pins and a roll of toilet paper are among items Parkland College students recently ‘laid to rest’ in a time capsule featuring the events of 2020. Phi Theta Kappa, the Honors Society chapter at Parkland created the time capsule. The students buried the capsuled during a physically
It’s been a tough year for essential workers — nurses, first responders, grocery store workers. But among the hardest hit are agricultural workers, who have been working non-stop to keep food on our tables while struggling to make ends meet themselves. Organizations like the Farmworker & Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP) are trying to help by
Click here to read this in Spanish. As COVID-19 vaccines arrive in cities across the country, questions are pouring into our network of newsrooms about the vaccination process. People have concerns about side effects, when they will be eligible to receive it and the vaccine’s impact on immunocompromised people. As the national vaccination process begins, America Amplified
URBANA – The process of vaccinating the first few hundred hospital workers in Champaign County began Thursday. In the first shipment, Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana received 400 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for its staff. OSF Heart of Mary Medical Center in Urbana received 50 doses. Since doses are limited, hospitals are prioritizing
CHAMPAIGN – Small businesses have had to deal with an added expense this year, paying for supplies and equipment to prevent the coronavirus from spreading at their stores, offices and factories. Champaign, Urbana and Rantoul are offering state-funded grants to help with those new expenses. The grants can be used by small businesses in the
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Governor JB Pritzker announced more than $700 million in budget cuts this week for the current fiscal year. Pritzker says these cuts are just the beginning, and that he’ll need to work with the General Assembly on additional cuts of more than $1 billion. Illinois Newsroom’s Brian Moline spoke with Illinois Public
Wednesday December 16, 2020 Today’s headlines: Gov. J.B. Pritzker has proposed $700 million in cuts to this year’s budget to close a projected nearly $4 billion shortfall. All Illinois hospitals are expected to have doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to administer to their first wave of employees by next week. Medical workers in Peoria and
Tuesday December 15, 2020 Today’s headlines: Illinois received its first shipment of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine Monday. The University of Illinois still doesn’t have emergency use authorization from the FDA for its COVID-19 saliva test, but anticipates having it by January. Illinois public health officials reported 7,214 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, and an additional 103 deaths. Hospitals in Central Illinois are preparing to
When Gov. JB Pritzker observes COVID-19 vaccines administered at a Peoria hospital on Tuesday morning, he’ll be witnessing among the first COVID-19…
Friday December 11, 2020 Today’s headlines: Governor JB Pritzker’s administration is sending Illinois National Guard medical staff to assist with Coronavirus testing and screening at three of the state’s four veterans’ homes. The governor’s office last week announced the 50 counties in Illinois that would be first in line for vaccine distribution for healthcare workers, a demographic