Foreman, 65, was instrumental in the creation of CU-CitizenAccess.org, persuading the Marajen Stevick Foundation to fund the online newsroom with $50,000 that was matched with $100,000 by the James L. and John S. Knight Foundation community news grant.
Campaign Finance
Rep. Bobby Rush’s family continues to benefit from campaign dollars
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A 2018 report from the House Committee on Ethics shows Democratic Representative Bobby Rush is still utilizing the federal campaign finance system to benefit his family despite following a 2016 questioning by the Federal Election Committee.
In 2016, the Federal Election Commission inquired into Rush’s campaign finance report due to vague categories of expenditures. Additionally, watchdog groups have questioned the large amounts of campaign money going to Rush’s family members.
FOIA guide: University of Illinois
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The University of Illinois almost always takes its allowed five business days to respond to a Freedom of Information Request and frequently asks for an extension of five days because of the sheer amount of volume of Freedom of Information requests.
FOIA Guide: Sample letter
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Here’s a sample FOIA letter to help you get started filing Freedom of Information Act requests.
FOIA guide: Local law enforcement
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There are four departments that work to police the Champaign-Urbana community. When requesting information, it is often beneficial to get the same data from each department in order to get the full picture
FOIA Guide: Municipal and city governments
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Look here for help for filing Freedom of Information Act requests with Champaign County, City of Champaign and City of Urbana.
Uncategorized
Homeowners pay for errors in outdated flood maps
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Chris and Barb Genzel have lived in the same house in Urbana for nearly 40 years and they say their house has never flooded.
“Behind our house is a farm at a lower elevation, and our house backs up to a drainage ditch. We knew we were never going to flood,” Chris Genzel said recently.
Uncategorized
How to track contributions to state and local candidates
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The Illinois State Board of Elections web site is packed with data on contributions to state and local candidates and on how those candidates spend their money. So we thought that CU-CitizenAccess.org would offer a quick tutorial in how to find that information yourself. First, go to the State Board’s Web site at http://www.elections.il.gov/ as shown in Figure-1. Figure 1Move your cursor towards the top middle and click on “Candidates” to get going. When you click on that, you will get this screen as show in Figure-2.Figure 2Move your cursor towards the middle of the page and click on “Campaign Disclosure”, located within the “Welcome Candidates” list.
Uncategorized
Despite training and inspections, keeping certified campus housing safe remains constant challenge
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For the past month, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been working to teach students what it takes to prevent fires as a part of a national campus fire safety initiative.
Nowhere are those lessons more needed than in the fraternities and sororities that routinely have dozens of fire-safety violations.
Uncategorized
High demand for help depletes funds for local veterans
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Unable to pay her rent after losing her job, Air Force veteran Anna Robinson turned to the Veterans Assistance Commission in Champaign County last year. She brought her bill to the commission’s office and received $744 in financial assistance that same day.
Uncategorized
Yellow placards go missing in first six months of new system
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Nearly two dozen restaurants in Champaign-Urbana have failed health inspections during the past three months. But most customers would not know that, despite new requirements that restaurants post results of their inspections.