Stories we have coming for Friday's newspaper include a disagreement over the direction of Big Broadband, sharp increases in unemployment rates and reports from the Big Ten football meeting in Chicago.

Local officials are trying to realize the full impact of the Big Broadband high-speed internet project in Champaign-Urbana, but there will be a $40 to $70 million cost to build it out to the entire community. Some local experts it's a risky proposition to work with a private company like Gigabit Squared on the buildout, and they'd prefer a public infrastructure, Patrick Wade reports.

It looks like the area has seen sharp increases in unemployment rates, probably due to seasonal factors. Don Dodson reports that the Champaign County rate increased from 7.1 percent in May to 9.1 percent in June, while Vermilion County went up from 8.9 percent to 10.5 percent.

And in Sports, it's hard to believe, but Illini football is just around the corner. The first game is September 1, and our Bob Asmussen and Loren Tate will have report from the Big Ten football meeting Thursday in Chicago.