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Board to assign middle schools
CHAMPAIGN – After Monday's Champaign school board meeting, parents of fifth-graders will know where their children are going to middle school next year.
However, according to district documents about middle school assignment decisions to be revealed at Monday's 7 p.m. school board meeting, officials have included yet another incentive in their plan to encourage parents to pick Stratton School, which has been consistently underchosen since it opened and now has fewer than half the students it was built to hold.
Charity care write-offs are up, hospital says
URBANA – Provena Covenant Medical Center says it is writing off more hospital bills for patients who can't afford to pay for their care since a new financial policy was adopted in June.
For the first eight months of the year through August, the hospital says, it gave away $1.9 million in charity care, compared to $1.75 million for all of last year and $1.72 million in 2001.
Officials, bar owners foresee fight over smoking ban
CHAMPAIGN – A local anti-tobacco coalition will propose next week that the cities of Champaign and Urbana adopt ordinances banning smoking in all restaurants, bars and workplaces.
But interviews with local officials and bar owners indicate the proposal could face significant opposition.
Buyback a big bill for county
URBANA – Champaign County employees cashing in unused accumulated vacation time collected another $161,000 in October, in what was likely the county's final vacation buyback opportunity.
Combined with the June vacation buyback, the program cost county government $300,000 during fiscal 2003 – a year the county has been struggling to keep its budget in the black.
Intel workers among big givers to university
URBANA – University of Illinois faculty research and the talents of its alumni have contributed to the success of one of the country's leading high-tech companies, Intel.
Now individuals at the company are contributing to faculty research. The co-founder of the company, Gordon Moore, and a group of UI alumni working at Intel are giving $1.5 million to the UI's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering for an endowed faculty chair.
Pupils receive accolades for academics
FISHER – Megan and Jena Unzicker enjoy sharing every spare moment with each other.
The cousins attend Fisher High School, hang out after school and work at the local International House of Pancakes. On Thursday, they got to share their academic achievements together in front of a raucous crowd.
UI Library launches fund drive
URBANA – The University of Illinois Library is kicking off a fund drive to raise $30 million to help preserve library materials, add to its collection, recruit new faculty and improve library facilities.
The announcement of the campaign was made at the UI Foundation's annual meeting today and at a dedication ceremony at the library to mark its 10 millionth volume.
Accessible home a snap to build for Carle
URBANA – Carle Foundation Hospital wants the community to see how easy it can be to build some badly-needed housing for people with disabilities.
So the hospital tore down an old, vacant rental house it owned in Urbana and is replacing it with a modular house that has been designed to be a model accessible home.
Changes proposed for zoning district
URBANA – The city administration is proposing several changes to the mixed office residential zoning district that includes large portions of Green and Elm Streets.
Some residents are concerned that the changes don't do enough to protect older houses in the corridor between campus and downtown that are vulnerable to being razed by developers and replaced with small apartment buildings.
A lifelong watch on sex offenders?
CHAMPAIGN – Amy Hammel-Zabin, a music therapist who has worked with sex offenders in several states, thinks more systematic monitoring of rapists and child molesters could help a whole generation from becoming victims of convicted sex criminals.
If a community would know who the sex offenders in the community are and where they are living, and if society could make sure they are not in a position to get at their victims, it would reduce the number of victims, Hammel-Zabin testified Wednesday at a hearing on proposed lifetime supervision of sex offenders.
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