Category Archives: Section

A “Pattern of Problematic Conduct”: Urbana Officer Tests Police Accountability (Full Version)

Posted on 08/27/2023 by Brian Dolinar

This story is part of a partnership, focusing on police misconduct in Champaign County, between the Champaign-Urbana Civic Police Data Project of the Invisible Institute, a Chicago-based nonprofit public accountability journalism organization, and Illinois Public Media. This investigation was supported … Continue reading →

333 total views

Posted in African American Women in CU, African Americans, BLM, Justice, Police, police accountability, Police Brutality, Police brutality, Policing, Racism, Section, Violence | Tagged police accountability, police brutality, police review boards, racism, Urbana police | Comments Off

Code Blue: Suffering through DWB in Rantoul

Posted on 08/27/2023 by Kevin Williams

This essay, submitted to the Rantoul Press in 2009, was never published. The author shares it now to give context to community concerns with policing in Rantoul in the wake of recent police shootings of young Black men. “You were … Continue reading →

1,102 total views

Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Champaign County, Justice, Police, police accountability, Police Brutality, Police brutality, Policing, Racism, Section, Voices | Tagged African Americans, Driving While Black, local community, police harassment, policing | Comments Off

The Kingfisher is Flying to Illinois

Posted on 08/27/2023 by The Kingfisher Task Force

In 2007 the UIUC Board of Trustees acknowledged the opposition of faculty, student organizations, and NCAA guidelines prohibiting the use of race-based mascots in intercollegiate athletics, and voted to eliminate “Chief Illiniwek” as the campus mascot. Tired of waiting for … Continue reading →

509 total views, 3 views today

Posted in Section, Students, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Voices | Tagged campus activism, mascot, UIUC | Comments Off

Another View of the Ukraine War

Posted on 08/27/2023 by Al Kagan

Readers will note that the Public i has recently published three articles about the Ukraine War. However, there are still more issues not yet fully addressed. “When two elephants fight it is the grass that gets trampled.” Swahili proverb The … Continue reading →

439 total views

Posted in Afghanistan, Corporate media, Eastern Europe, Foreign Policy, Imperialism, International, International, Latin America, Nuclear War, Peace movement, Section, Ukraine, War | Tagged Monroe Doctrine, NATO, nuclear threat, peace, Russia, Ukraine, war | Comments Off

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Posted on 08/27/2023 by Pat Simpson

For whom does the bell toll? These days it tolls for our children, gunned down in our streets and schools because of gun violence. And as if this were not enough, there are the child laborers among us and the … Continue reading →

836 total views, 5 views today

Posted in children, labor, Labor/Economics, Section, union soldarity, Worker Health and Safety | Tagged child labor, labor protections, solidarity, Whistleblowers, workers' health and safety, workers' rights | Comments Off

August/September Issue Back Cover

Posted on 08/24/2023 by Public i

226 total views

Posted in IMC, Section, UCIMC | Tagged UCIMC | Comments Off

US/NATO Proxy War in Ukraine: Continuity in US Foreign Policy

Posted on 07/18/2023 by Paul Mueth

The war in Ukraine is barbarous and awful beyond comprehension. The formula in the US media that the attack was unjustified is true, but its frequent corollary, that it was completely unprovoked, is not. This is Noam Chomsky’s and Daniel … Continue reading →

661 total views, 1 views today

Posted in Afghanistan, Foreign Policy, Imperialism, International, International, Ukraine, War | Tagged imperialism, NATO, Russia, Ukraine, US foreign policy, war | Comments Off

Frozen Conflicts, Flashmob Militants, and the End of the Gunpowder State

Posted on 07/18/2023 by Janice Jayes

Syria, Libya, Yemen . . . and now Sudan. Sudan has the unhappy potential to become the next of the intractable conflicts that have unfolded over the past decade. These multisided struggles involving a cocktail of militaries, militias, and mercenaries … Continue reading →

461 total views

Posted in Africa, Foreign Policy, International, International, Middle East, Section, Violence, War | Tagged foreign policy, Middle East, Sudan, the state, violence, war, warlords | Comments Off

Anti-Abortion Centers Mislead People at Their Most Vulnerable

Posted on 07/18/2023 by Julie Laut and Celia Barbieri

Reproductive justice: the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities. This past January, on the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, SisterSong … Continue reading →

392 total views

Posted in abortion rights, Feminism, Healthcare, Reproductive Justice, Section, Voices, Women, Women, wonen's rights, Youth | Tagged abortion rights, anti-abortion, feminism, reproductive justice, women's rights | Comments Off

Profiting Across the Autism Spectrum

Posted on 07/18/2023 by Seth Lerner

Driving through north Champaign last winter I noticed a new business in a strip mall near Denny’s. At first, I assumed it was some sort of sports store due to the all-caps signage: “TOTAL SPECTRUM.” But this was not a … Continue reading →

274 total views

Posted in Corporations, health care, Healthcare, Mental Health, Section | Tagged autism, for-profit health care, health care, mental health | Comments Off

Diesel Therapy

Posted on 07/18/2023 by Shamar Betts

The odyssey of Urbana resident Shamar Betts continues. Betts was arrested for authoring a Facebook post at age 19 in the wake of the George Floyd murder in 2020. He was sentenced to four years in federal prison and charged … Continue reading →

570 total views

Posted in African American, African Americans, BLM, incarceration, Justice, Prisoners, Section, Voices, Voices of Color | Tagged African Americans, Black Lives Matter, incarceration, US Marshals | Comments Off

UIUC GEO Wins a Progressive Contract

Posted on 07/18/2023 by Essam A. B. Elkorghli

Graduate workers across the US have been hard-hit by the skyrocketing inflation induced by federal mismanagement of monetary policy that is being felt by all too many working-class people. The laughable wage increases that were “handed” to many low-paid workers … Continue reading →

Posted in labor, Labor/Economics, Public Universities, Section, Students, union soldarity, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Voices | Tagged bargaining, campus labor, Campus organizing, GEO, UIUC, union solidarity, unions | Comments Off

Carbon Capture, Illinois’ Biggest Coal Fired Power Plant, and the Prairie Research Institute

Posted on 07/18/2023 by Andrew Rehn

Carbon capture has become the divisive hot topic in Illinois climate policy over the last year. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) included substantial subsidies for carbon capture that have created an industry gold rush looking to build and operate carbon … Continue reading →

409 total views, 3 views today

Posted in Climate crisis, Environment, Environment, IL, Section | Tagged carbon capture, climate change, energy, environment, pollution | Comments Off

Silence and the Continuing Legacy of the US Invasion of Iraq

Posted on 05/01/2023 by Janice Jayes

The twentieth anniversary of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq slid by with an encore performance of the arrogance that characterized the invasion itself. In 2003 that arrogance disregarded inconvenient international norms as easily as it disregarded the Iraqi victims … Continue reading →

1,128 total views, 1 views today

Posted in Foreign Policy, Imperialism, International, International, Middle East, Remembering, Section, World-wide death and suffering | Tagged imperialism, Iraq invasion, Memory, US foreign policy | Comments Off

Should Ukrainians Surrender for World Peace?

Posted on 05/01/2023 by Richard Esbenshade

The February 24 one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine saw no respite for either the volunteer and professional Ukrainian troops or the civilian population. The Russian-occupied territories in eastern and southern Ukraine and the areas along the military … Continue reading →

756 total views

Posted in Eastern Europe, International, International, Politics, Section, Ukraine, War | Tagged Eastern Europe, peace, the Left, Ukraine, war | Comments Off

The Lavenders: Past and Present Queer Journalism in Champaign-Urbana

Posted on 05/01/2023 by Public i

On February 23, UCIMC Executive Director Miriam Larson hosted a virtual conversation with representatives of two generations of activists in Champaign-Urbana. Mary Lee Sargent, former director of Parkland College’s Women’s Studies Program (now residing in New Hampshire), was one of … Continue reading →

427 total views

Posted in African Americans, Feminism, LGBTQ, Media, Section, Voices, Women, Women, wonen's rights | Tagged feminism, Illinois activism, local independent media, women's rights | Comments Off

Faculty and Staff Strike at Eastern Illinois University

Posted on 05/01/2023 by Public i

Eastern Illinois University University Professionals of Illinois (EIU UPI, IFT Local 4100) members went on strike on April 6, after more than a year of fruitless bargaining, which forced faculty and staff to work without a contract since September, 2022. … Continue reading →

452 total views, 1 views today

Posted in Labor, Labor/Economics, Section, union soldarity | Tagged campus labor, public university labor relations, unions, workers' strike | Comments Off

Slaves—Our Ancestors

Posted on 05/01/2023 by Mrs. Marilynn Dean Cleveland

We give praise to those who came before us, fighting for the right to be free. Who were they? They are our ancestors, who suffered unendurable pain. Pain, from the snake-like whip that mutilated their flesh as it bit into … Continue reading →

403 total views, 2 views today

Posted in African American history, African American Women in Champaign-Urbana, African Americans, Arts, Local Arts, Section, Violence, Voices, Women | Tagged African American history, African American women, local African American voices, local arts, Slavery | Comments Off

Growing Up “Unlucky”: Putting a Human Face on Bureau of Labor Statistics

Posted on 05/01/2023 by C. Owen

Numerous options for employment abound in our small metropolitan area nestled amid the farmland of eastern central Illinois. From warehouses to food establishments to car repair shops, job seekers have many a choice for offering their time and effort. Yet, … Continue reading →

624 total views

Posted in African American history, African Americans, Economics, Labor, Labor/Economics, Racism, Section | Tagged economic racism, economics, inequality, Labor, unemployment | Comments Off

Rescuing the Embarras River

Posted on 05/01/2023 by Brenda A. Koenig

Tucked into the southwest corner of the University of Illinois’s Urbana-Champaign campus, just beyond student housing and mostly hidden by roadside grasses, a ditch runs along a solar farm and through research farmland. This is the humble beginning of the … Continue reading →

518 total views

Posted in Environment, Environment, Section | Tagged environment, Illinois nature, pollution, water | Comments Off