Author Archives: Brian Dolinar

Although it was 2008 when off-duty Champaign police detective Lisa Staples was caught driving drunk in an unmarked squad car, only recently were police reports describing the incident obtained. Many were outraged when Staples was given a lighter punishment than … Continue reading →

ON MARCH 4TH, 2010 several organizations on the UIUC campus and people across the country gathered to “march forth” for a National Day of Action to Defend Public Education. At UIUC, more than 300 came together for a spirited rally … Continue reading →

On December 4, 2009, Cheyenne-Arapaho artist Edgar Heap of Birds gave a talk at the YMCA on the University of Illinois campus for the closing of his “Beyond the Chief” art exhibit. He spoke publicly for the first time about … Continue reading →

About 25 people, including several youth and their parents, showed up at the Champaign County courthouse on November 12, 2009 for a juvenile hearing of the other 15-year old involved in the police shooting of Kiwane Carrington. Police had originally … Continue reading →

CHAMPAIGN POLICE SAY it will take a month for an investigation into the “officer- involved shooting” of Kiwane Carrington, an unarmed 15 year-old African American youth. There has been an outpouring of support for young Kiwane from friends and family. … Continue reading →

ONCE AGAIN, RACIAL PROFILING numbers were released by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) with no coverage in the local media. When I notified a journalist for the News-Gazette of the latest figures, he told me they covered the story … Continue reading →

On Saturday, June 6 at 10 a.m., a memorial was held at the federal courthouse in Urbana to correspond with the funeral of Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas and similar memorials that were held across the country. On Memorial … Continue reading →

A press conference was held at the Independent Media Center on June 25, 2009, where community leaders spoke out about the police shooting of Toto Kaiyewu, a medical student from Carbondale. When Kaiyewu, who is black, was passing through Villa … Continue reading →

A PRESS CONFERENCE WAS HELD at the Independent Media Center with the family of Oluwatofunmi Kaiyewu, a 23 year-old medical student who was killed by police on April 6, 2009. This bizarre series of events began in the former “sundown … Continue reading →

IN NEGOTIATIONS THIS SUMMER, Patrick Thompson and Martel Miller arrived at a settlement in a civil suit against local authorities claiming their civil rights had been violated when eavesdropping charges were leveled against them in 2004 for videotaping the police. … Continue reading →

THE JOURNEY MADE by Richard Wright from son of a Mississippi sharecropper to internationally-known writer is a classic American success story. Born September 4, 1908, Wright would have been 100 this month if he had lived this long. Describing in … Continue reading →

Stories of those being exonerated are becoming increasingly common, with wrongly convicted men and women being released from prisons in the United States at a rate of approximately one each month. Many of these exonerations have come after the DNA … Continue reading →

Upon the recommendation of Assistant State’s Attorney Rob Scales, Judge John R. Kennedy agreed to a sentence of 100 hours community service for Brian Chesley. Chesley was convicted by an all-white jury of obstructing and resisting a peace officer. On … Continue reading →