Thursday, December 17, 2009.
[...]edited by: Douglas Welch,
Illinois Editor
I keep hearing that State's Attorney Julia Rietz will both meet with the Carrington family and release their report mid-morning today.
' [...]This story on the expected revival of the chronic criminal nuisance ordinance was in yesterday's NG, but I didn't see it until last night. There are two statements in here that are headscratchers - the first is from the Mayor:
"I think the general public understands that there is a' [...]
Palazzolo indicted:
The former executive director of the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District has been indicted by a Champaign County grand jury on seven felony counts stemming from his behavior while in office in 2006 and 2007.
State's Attorney Julia Rietz was attending a conference Friday and could not be reached for [...]
The Federal Lord Judge has finally signed off on the negotiated end to the Consent Decree.
The Champaign school district’s consent decree case is officially over.
Federal District Court Judge Joe Billy McDade entered an order Wednesday afternoon approving the proposed settlement agreement reached by the school district and the [...]
There is water at the bottom of the ocean:
A rural Paris woman who has been an assistant to Gov. Pat Quinn for six years has suddenly resigned from her position as Quinn's deputy chief of staff.
Carolyn Brown Hodge, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, resigned from the governor's staff Friday [...]
I was going to do a filing roundup, but Tom Kacich already did. Most notable is that no Republican filed to run against Sen. Mike Frerichs in the 52nd District.
Although Danville Republican Al Reynolds said last month that he intended to run for the 52nd District state Senate seat, [...]
The NG asked many of the questions that commenters on here were asking last week:
The details – such as how long payments in lieu of taxes would continue – haven't been determined. But Carle has a long track record of doing right by the community, Leonard and Wellman said.
"We' [...]
This will be our area's first contested open House seat since the 2001 redistricting.
Veteran Danville Alderman Michael Puhr on Friday filed petitions to run as a Democrat for state representative in the 104th House District....
Puhr, 54, has been an alderman since 2001. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2003. [...]
Monday, November 2, 2009.
Today is the last day to file nominating petitions for the February 2, 2010 Primary Election.
[...]From an op-ed by State Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago):
You would think that Chicago teachers, Mayor Richard Daley, churches and elected officials would care enough to work together to improve the system. But instead, the Chicago Teachers Union has figured out a way for teachers to not be evaluated on [...]
The Champaign school district needs to cut $2 million from its budget for each of the next two years, says its chief financial officer, Gene Logas.
Logas talked to school board members at a Monday night study session about his predictions for the district's finances for the next two [...]
I can't wait to see what Rex has to say about this:
Earlier, as Prussing was being challenged for a second term as mayor, her supporters wrote letters to the editor, bragging about Urbana's unusually vibrant economy.
"Urbana's financial scene is healthy enough it's been able to withstand the blow of [...]
Reliable sources tell me that today, the City of Champaign will release information about their "new" use of force policy, and will claim that the policy hasn't been substantially changed, was changed for accreditation purposes, and is nearly identical to the use of force policies used by the Urbana and' [...]
My wife says she remembers something about this being in the NG, but I don't:
In a meeting with Carle Foundation Hospital administrators late last year, Dr. Stratton demanded that they take action. She cited an outside audit that had found “major deficiencies” in 12 of 29 experiments being overseen' [...]
The long process moves forward:
Carle Foundation Hospital has offered to purchase Carle Clinic and its subsidiary, Health Alliance Medical Plans, for $250 million, according to documents filed with the state this week.
And if the deal is approved, a significant barrier to medical care now faced by needy and uninsured [...]
In the aftermath of last night's standing-room only crowd at the Champaign City Council meeting:
Speakers chide police at Champaign Council meeting:
Dozens of voices cried for changes by the Champaign City Council on Tuesday night in the wake of the Oct. 9 fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy.
Many people attending' [...]
In the least surprising development ever, UIUC Chancellor Richard Herman has resigned.
Speculation about Herman's future has been rampant since White announced Sept. 23 he would step down at the end of December. Former UI President Stanley Ikenberry will serve as interim president until a permanent replacement is found, likely' [...]
Today's News-Gazette:
Expecting a large crowd, city officials trimmed their agenda for the city council meeting Tuesday night.
Mayor Jerry Schweighart said the city expects people will come to the council meeting to talk about a shooting Oct. 9 that involved Police Chief R.T. Finney and Officer Daniel Norbits.
The' [...]
Three stories from the NG:
More questions, few answers in Champaign death
"Everybody is edgy. There are more questions than there are answers," said Champaign County NAACP President Jerome Chambers. "How do we stop our black boys from dying where the authorities are the ones in question?"
Activist Terry Townsend said relations [...]
Former Governor Jim Edgar today endorsed Sen. Kirk Dillard, his former Chief of Staff, in the race for Governor:
"I am proud to endorse Kirk Dillard for governor because his experience and leadership will help steer our state through its current budget and ethical crisis," Edgar said at news [...]
Monday, October 12, 2009. For those of you who have today as a holiday, enjoy it.
Blogging may be a little light today, as another project is going to be keeping me busy until the afternoon. :-)
Under a tentative plan, every one of the 27 county board members would be expected to attend the three meetings – committee-of-the-whole sessions on the first and second Tuesdays of the month and a full board meeting on the third Thursday.
One reason for the switch is to streamline' [...]
Champaign County Clerk Mark Shelden has been blogging like crazy over at his official blog, on issues affecting the clerk's office and our local election like universal registration. If you're an election processes junkie like me, just go here and start reading.
Today, he discusses:
Just how long is too [...]
Urbana Democrat Tom Betz reverses course and now seems open to supporting the concept of reducing the size of the County Board.
[I]n a memo to members of the county board's policy committee – which will discuss the proposal at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Brookens Administrative Center – Betz' [...]
Republican leaders are striking out in their recruiting efforts in the 52nd District, which includes nearly all of Vermilion County and most of Champaign County, including Champaign, Danville and Urbana.
"We continue to talk to folks," Champaign County Republican Chairman Jason Barickman said. "I'm still optimistic that we're [...]
Eric Thorsland is running as a Democrat for County Board District 1.
I am writing to let voters who live in District 1 of the Champaign County Board know that I will be running for the board in the 2010 election as a Democrat.
I will be on the primary ballot [...]
One of the interesting things about getting involved in a statewide campaign is learning more about Tom Roeser. I always knew about him, but never really paid attention to him, and figured that nobody else really did either. Now, I realize that people do pay attention to him, and [...]
Discovery in this suit could get a little messy:
Unit 5 School District deliberately misled the Urbana school district about former Colene Hoose teacher and convicted sex offender Jon White, according to an Urbana lawsuit filed against the local district.
In the civil action asking at least $1 million in damages, [...]
I thought this might be interesting, given Champaign Unit 4's current machinations to get out from under a Consent Decree:
A federal judge has ended the desegregation consent decree for Chicago's Public Schools, 29 years to the day after the federal government sued the district for discriminating against black and [...]
University of Illinois President B. Joseph White will resign today.
A few thoughts:
I believe Chancellor Richard Hermann will eventually resign as well. I hear Stan Ikenberry will be named Interim President while a search is conducted for a replacement to White. I think this has been coming for a while (i.e., I don't' [...]These little suckers were driving me nuts in Ford County last night:
The most talked-about (or rather, cursed-about) bug of the month, soybean aphids are moving out of the fields, and they're looking to lay some eggs.
They need to overwinter in buckthorn, an invasive shrub or small tree, to do' [...]
Tuesday, September 22, 2009.
[...]There was a hearing on Unit 4's Consent Decree yesterday:
One of the settlement provisions is the establishment of an equity committee, with a diverse group of community members, to review data on achievement, attendance, discipline and other areas that were covered by the consent decree. Several people were concerned' [...]
