New seven-day positivity rates: Douglas 14.9%, Ford 9.6, Iroquois 13.4, Piatt 8.3, Vermilion 14.7, UI campus 0.6, Region 6 12.1, state 10.4. ... Illinois reports 192 lives lost, following up its deadliest day of the pandemic with more grim news. Says Gov. J.B. Pritzker: “I look at it and I say ‘How can people not follow the mitigations watching the number of people who are passing away?'"
Carle CEO: Six months before there will be enough COVID-19 vaccine for everyone.
Douglas County: 28 new cases, 17th fatality (man in 90s). ... Ford County: Women in their 60s, 80s and 90s become the 20th, 21st and 22nd residents to lose their lives to COVID-19. ... Carle: 8 of 61 hospitalized in Urbana in ICU. ... State: 17.6 percent of existing hospital beds occupied by COVID patients.
A year after Illini kicker James McCourt’s 39-yard field goal stunned Wisconsin on homecoming, LAS students were invited to Memorial Stadium to try their luck at replicating the feat. Same spot, same direction, even same announcer.
This year's gingerbread displays at Einsten Bros. Bagels have a different, pandemic-influenced look.
Douglas County: 28 new cases, 17th fatality (man in 90s). ... Ford County: Women in their 60s, 80s and 90s become the 20th, 21st and 22nd residents to lose their lives to COVID-19. ... Carle: 8 of 61 hospitalized in Urbana in ICU. ... State: 17.6 percent of existing hospital beds occupied by COVID patients.
Chicago-born, Michigan-raised UI Dance Head Jan Erkert takes us on a virtual tour of her favorite places and spaces — from Erlanger House (where her future husband popped the question) to the basketball courts at Illini Grove (aka the department's makeshift dance floor this fall).
College football writer — and AP Top 25 voter — BOB ASMUSSEN breaks down the league’s 14 teams after the sixth week:
We asked Scott Dochterman, Iowa beat writer at The Athletic, for his thoughts on the Hawkeyes going into Saturday’s Illinois-Iowa game at Memorial Stadium in Champaign:
A year after Illini kicker James McCourt’s 39-yard field goal stunned Wisconsin on homecoming, LAS students were invited to Memorial Stadium to try their luck at replicating the feat. Same spot, same direction, even same announcer.
Seven-day positivity rates for area counties: Champaign 6.5%, Piatt 8.3, Ford 9.3, Iroquois 12.6, Douglas 14.3, Vermilion 15.2. ... Gov. J.B. Pritzker: As of Tuesday afternoon, the state expects a first vaccine shipment of 109,000 doses, enough for 54,500 people, in the coming days. Healthcare workers will be first priority, followed by residents and staff at long-term care facilities.
'It was a chance for me to relive some of the things that happened 30 years ago'
Mr. Huddleston will probably be best remembered for a fight he could not win: retaining Chief Illiniwek as the symbol of the University of Illinois.
Jordynn Huskisson received a police welcome back to Fisher on Monday afternoon after being crowned Little Miss of America over the weekend.
A daily question for the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District’s Julie Pryde:
Chancellor Robert Jones: 'We’ve been talking about this for several weeks, and if we’d had our druthers, it would have been operational by now.'
Many small-town Christmas celebrations have been scaled back due to the pandemic. Santa, however, is still making the rounds thanks to helpful fire departments.
Pritzker: “If there's any failure of procedure or wrongdoing, then that should be brought to the forefront and people should be held accountable."
Champaign County's 58th death of the pandemic is among 57 reported statewide Sunday. ... 12 of 70 COVID patients hospitalized at Carle Urbana in ICU. ... Region 6 seven-day positivity rate up slightly (11.9 to 12.0%). Of 21 counties in region, Fayette has highest rate (24.8%), Champaign lowest (6.9%, without UI tests factored in).
Illinois football beat writer Bob Asmussen is a voting member of The Associated Press Top 25 football panel. Here is this week's ballot:
Illinois had chance to shock college football world on Saturday, but COVID-19 had other plans
A daily question for the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District's Julie Pryde:
Bill Hensch is honored to serve as grand marshal at next weekend's parade in Sidney.
Vermilion County adds 106 cases, Piatt County 49. ... Region 6’s seven-day positivity rate — 14.6% eight days ago — is now 11.9%. … Of 29 Champaign County ZIP codes, only two see their active case counts grow Saturday, both just slightly — Mahomet (+3, 88 now active) and Broadlands (+1, 3). … Rantoul’s active total shrinks by 25 (to 74) on a day that active cases are down 120 countywide.
A crew from Fox Sports returned to Memorial Stadium on Saturday morning, not to call a pivotal Big Ten game but to pack up instead.
A daily question for the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District's Julie Pryde:
BOB ASMUSSEN, The N-G’s resident college football expert, is a voting member of the Associated Press Top 25
CHAMPAIGN — COVID-19 cases and deaths at long-term-care facilities continue to multiply.
Region 6's rate — 14.6% seven days ago — falls for seventh straight day. Of the region's 21 counties, Lawrence (22.2%) has the highest rate, Moultrie (7.4%) the lowest. ... 12 of 74 COVID-positive patients at Carle’s hospital in Urbana are in ICU. ... No reports coming Friday from Vermilion County.
Welcome to Year 5 of High School Confidential, an award-winning project made possible by aspiring student journalists from every corner of our circulation area.
CHAMPAIGN — You’ll still be able to sleep outside in a box for the 10th annual One Winter Night, but thanks to some pandemic-minded safety changes, your box won’t necessarily need to be in downtown Champaign.
We asked Cleveland.com beat writer and Salt Fork alum Nathan Baird for his thoughts on the Buckeyes going into Saturday’s Illinois-Ohio State game at Memorial Stadium.
On Saturday at Memorial Stadium, Illinois looks for its first win against Ohio State since the 2007 stunner in Columbus.
College football writer — and AP Top 25 voter — BOB ASMUSSEN breaks down the league’s 14 teams after the fifth week:
For more than a decade, the highly-successful Parkland College volleyball team has taken time around Thanksgiving to give back to the community.
Seven-day rates decline in Champaign County (8.9 to 8.6%), Douglas (13.0 to 11.8), Piatt (11.8 to 11.5), Region 6 (13.1 to 12.7), state (10.6 to 10.3). ... 12 of the 71 COVID patients at Carle’s hospital in Urbana are in ICU. ... 19 Champaign County residents hospitalized with COVID. ... UI campus seven-day rate remains 0.3%.
Among the lives lost: two men in their 80s and two men in their 90s in Champaign County; a woman in her 90s and man in his 70s in Vermilion County. For the pandemic, Champaign County has reported 52 coronavirus-related deaths, Vermilion 36. ... Piatt County reports 63 new cases over four days, 23 of them in Monticello. ... Wednesday's new daily case totals: 136 in Champaign County, 134 in Vermilion, 13 on UI campus, 9 in Ford.
'The UI System is also aggressively working to share the groundbreaking protocol and meet a surge of demand that has only grown since the program was first launched,' UI President Tim Killeen writes in a News-Gazette guest column.
A daily question for the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District's Julie Pryde:
Two recent wins have quieted the hot seat talk surrounding Lovie Smith, but our columnist says his status in 2020 was never really in question
Everything else about 2020-21 Illinois basketball season doesn't.
When real-estate agent Debby Auble began cooking meals in March for elderly people with various dietary restrictions, she thought she may be doing it for a few weeks. Eight months into the COVID-19 pandemic, she’s still at it.
Buy a pie, help a good cause.
Tuesday's new case counts: 103 in Champaign County, 86 in Vermilion, 26 on UI campus, 18 in Ford, 12 in Douglas. (Piatt County did not report). ... Seven-day positivity rates: Champaign 9.0%, Douglas 12.1, Ford 11.1, Piatt 11.8, Vermilion 14.5, UI campus 0.3.
Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike says that the latest word from federal officials is that the first shipment may contain only about 80,000 doses, or one-fifth of the 400,000 doses that state officials were expecting as recently as last week.
For now, the subject-to-change plans call for several districts — including Arcola, Mahomet-Seymour, PBL, St. Joseph-Ogden, Tuscola and Unity — sticking with masked-face-to-masked-face instruction when classes resume after Thanksgiving break. Among those circling Dec. 7 as a return to in-person learning: Monticello, Westville, Georgetown-Ridge Farm and Armstrong.
Illinois is a four-touchdown underdog with Justin Fields and No. 3 Ohio State coming to Champaign on Saturday
A daily question for the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District's Julie Pryde:
Plans are underway to distribute the first COVID-19 vaccine doses to health care workers in Champaign County next month.
Since we don’t publish a print edition on Thanksgiving, more than a pound of Black Friday advertisements (three insert packages) will be included in Wednesday’s News-Gazette.
Pritzker: 'Unless the Republican Senate gets a stimulus bill moving in December, Republicans will be putting a big lump of coal in the Christmas stockings of a whole lot of American families.' ... Ford County reports 69 new cases between Nov. 19-23. ... For third straight day, Region 6's seven-day rate decreased — from 14.0 to 13.7 percent.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike said the hospital workers set to receive the vaccine in the first rounds include staff who are not health care professionals, such as the cleaning and food staff: “A lot of those people in those jobs are our Black and Brown communities and so we are going to make sure that they are included in that first phase 1a."
“Thanksgiving hasn't happened yet. People can still change their plans and change the outcome. ... Please reconsider your plans and see if we can be part of the solution to decrease infections instead of part of the plan to increase them.”
Douglas County: Man in 80s becomes 15th to lose life to COVID-19. ... Champaign County: All but 3 of 27 ZIP codes (Broadlands, Longview, Sadorus) see rise in daily case counts. ... Region 6: 7-day positivity rate drops for second straight day, from 14.5% to 14.0%. ... Vermilion County: 54 new cases; 27 COVID-positive county residents hospitalized. ... Sunday state report: 92,437 tests, 10,012 cases, 76 fatalities, 11.3% seven-day rate.