Monthly Archives: April 2016
Read more about the article Despite yearly purge, “no-trespass” list remains longDarrell Hoemann/CU-CitizenAccess.org
The board listens to a report during a meeting of the Housing Authority of Champaign County board at their Champaign, IL offices on Thursday, December 18, 2014.

Despite yearly purge, “no-trespass” list remains long

Since the beginning of the year, the Housing Authority of Champaign County removed nearly 190 names from their “no-trespass” list — the largest mass purging of the list in the past five years. Still, about 540 names remain on the list, which is posted on the housing authority’s website.

Continue ReadingDespite yearly purge, “no-trespass” list remains long
Read more about the article Blighted Housing: Inspections fail to stem poor conditions for migrant farmworkersPhoto by Darrell Hoemann/Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
Workers rest outside at the Nightingale camp in Rantoul, Ill., after a day's work in July 2014. The migrant farmworker housing is located on the former Chanute Air Force Base. The Illinois Department of Public Health lists the camp’s maximum occupancy at 450 workers.

Blighted Housing: Inspections fail to stem poor conditions for migrant farmworkers

An ongoing investigation by The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting has found the oversight of migrant housing is a fractured and ineffective system despite decades of reforms.

Continue ReadingBlighted Housing: Inspections fail to stem poor conditions for migrant farmworkers
Read more about the article Blighted Housing: A look inside eight migrant farmworker ‘camps’Photo by Darrell Hoemann/Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
A bedroom for migrant farmworkers at the Nightingale facility in Rantoul, Ill., on July 29, 2014.

Blighted Housing: A look inside eight migrant farmworker ‘camps’

State inspection records highlight substandard conditions inside eight migrant farmworker housing sites.

Continue ReadingBlighted Housing: A look inside eight migrant farmworker ‘camps’
Read more about the article Blighted Housing: Visa program requires housing inspections for non-U.S. farmworkersPhoto by Darrell Hoemann/Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
A resident walks down a hallway inside the Nightingale migrant labor camp in Rantoul, Ill., in July 2014. Companies in Illinois received approval for only five H-2A workers from October to December 2015.

Blighted Housing: Visa program requires housing inspections for non-U.S. farmworkers

Hundreds of migrant workers come to the United States from Mexico and other countries with special H-2A farm visas, but they make up only a fraction of the total number of migrant farmworkers.

Continue ReadingBlighted Housing: Visa program requires housing inspections for non-U.S. farmworkers
Read more about the article Blighted Housing: Much of Missouri migrant farmworker housing left out of inspection programPhoto by Robert Holly/Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
Migrant farmworkers help plant, pick and process the food that ends up on kitchen tables. Under current Missouri policies, only housing for foreign migrant farmworkers with H-2A visas is required to undergo inspection.

Blighted Housing: Much of Missouri migrant farmworker housing left out of inspection program

The state and local agencies responsible for overseeing migrant farmworker housing vary from state to state. Here's a detailed look at how oversight works in Missouri.

Continue ReadingBlighted Housing: Much of Missouri migrant farmworker housing left out of inspection program
Read more about the article Bikes stolen on campus seldom recoveredDarrell Hoemann/CU-CitizenAccess.org
Matt Crosby, manager of Neutral Cycles, works on a bike by the map of bike thefts in the shop on campus in Champaign on Monday, March 28, 2016.

Bikes stolen on campus seldom recovered

If a bike is stolen from a University of Illinois student on the Urbana-Champaign campus, there is little chance the bike will be recovered. In fact, 95 bikes worth about $27,000 in total were reported stolen in 2015 and only 16 — about $3,600 worth — were recovered, according to university police.

Continue ReadingBikes stolen on campus seldom recovered