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.
FOIA Guide: Sample letter
|
Here’s a sample FOIA letter to help you get started filing Freedom of Information Act requests.
FOIA guide: Local law enforcement
|
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
|
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Homeowners pay for errors in outdated flood maps
|
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
|
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
|
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
|
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
|
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.
From 1990 to 2010: Twenty years of extreme poverty in Champaign-Urbana
|
Extreme poverty is defined as those incomes that are less than half of the defined poverty income. The maps below look at extreme poverty in 1990, 2000 and 2010 in the Champaign-Urbana area using census data. In 1990, the census measured a poverty income for a family of four at $13,254. In 2000, the census measured a poverty income for a family of four at $17,463. In 2010, the census measured a poverty income for a family of four at $22,113.
Uncategorized
Fraternities and sororities fail inspections; Violations take months to fix
|
City safety inspectors find hundreds of fire hazards and safety violations in fraternities and sororities at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign each year, yet it can take months before some violations are corrected, inspection documents show.