Category Archives: Section

Feb./Mar. Issue Front Cover

Posted on 02/25/2025 by Public i

THE PEOPLE FIGHT BACK!  326 total views,  9 views today

 326 total views,  9 views today

Posted in Front Cover, LGBTQ, Section, Trump | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Feb./Mar. Issue Front Cover

Unleashing the Brownshirts

Posted on 02/25/2025 by Janice Jayes

This article, lightly edited for style, was previously published on January 28, 2025 in the News-Gazette as a “My Turn” guest column, under the title “Echoes of William Shirer’s Berlin Diary.” Used with permission. One of the first acts of … Continue reading →

 107 total views,  1 views today

Posted in Antisemitism, Politics, Section, Trump, Violence, White Nationalism, Xenophobia | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Unleashing the Brownshirts

The Real Influencer Threats in Central Illinois

Posted on 02/25/2025 by C. Owen

What Happened November 5? The headlines stated that the swing states might go blue, carried by women angry over the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, or by Latinos who would not hand their states to racists like Donald Trump, … Continue reading →

 152 total views,  1 views today

Posted in Feminism, Immigrants, LGBTQA, Politics, Racism, Reproductive Justice, Right-wing Libertarianism, Section, Tax policy, Trump, Voices, White Nationalism | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on The Real Influencer Threats in Central Illinois

ACLU Warns U of I to Respect Free Speech

Posted on 02/23/2025 by Jane McClintock

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois recently sent an open letter to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign warning administrators that new guidelines surrounding “expressive activities” are having a chilling effect on student expressions of free speech. Despite UIUC’s … Continue reading →

 120 total views,  1 views today

Posted in Censorship, Climate Activism, Environment, Gaza, Section, Students, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Voices | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on ACLU Warns U of I to Respect Free Speech

Hidden in Plain Sight: Herbicide Drift in Illinois

Posted on 02/23/2025 by Prairie Rivers Network

This summer, after more than six years of traveling around Illinois looking at herbicide damage, Prairie Rivers Network (PRN) released Hidden in Plain Sight,  a report that is the culmination of our research. The report found that trees are dying, … Continue reading →

 108 total views,  1 views today

Posted in Environment, Environment, Section | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Hidden in Plain Sight: Herbicide Drift in Illinois

Hope Village: The North End Community Speaks Out

Posted on 02/23/2025 by Melinda Carr and Jackie Curry and Darleen Bailey

The north-end community acknowledges that Champaign-Urbana is facing a growing population of homeless individuals. We fully understand the need, and benefits, of the Hope Village development. We realize it is vital that empathy be shown for the homeless and a … Continue reading →

 137 total views,  3 views today

Posted in African American, African Americans, Community, homeless, Local Resources, Section, Urbana, Voices, Voices of Color | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Hope Village: The North End Community Speaks Out

Monetization of Reading Endangers Books-to-Prisoners Programs Across the Country

Posted on 02/23/2025 by Janice Jayes

There are about thirty Books-to-Prisoners programs across the US that provide free books to the incarcerated, but changes in regulations and technology practices are threatening their future. While these changes are not specifically book bans, they will directly affect the … Continue reading →

 373 total views,  74 views today

Posted in incarceration, Nonprofit, UC-IMC | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Monetization of Reading Endangers Books-to-Prisoners Programs Across the Country

The Promise of IndyMedia

Posted on 02/22/2025 by Feven Merid

This article was originally published in Columbia Journalism Review on November 22, 2024. It has been shortened to fit and lightly edited for style. At the end of November, 1999, when the World Trade Organization met at the Washington State … Continue reading →

 100 total views,  2 views today

Posted in Corporate media, IMC, Nonprofit, Section, UC-IMC, UCIMC | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Promise of IndyMedia

Preparing for the Knock on the Door: Community Responses to the Threat of Mass Deportation

Posted on 12/28/2024 by Janice Jayes

Across Champaign-Urbana immigrant assistance organizations, schools, and local governments are worried but actively planning for the next administration. Eight years ago they underestimated Donald Trump, dismissing his vitriol as mere campaign posturing. This time they know that the incoming president … Continue reading →

 447 total views

Posted in Immigrants, Immigration, Refugees, Sanctuary movement, Section, Trump | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Preparing for the Knock on the Door: Community Responses to the Threat of Mass Deportation

The Democrats’ Debacle: The Path Forward for the Left

Posted on 12/28/2024 by Grant Chassy

  Buckle up—it’s happening again. Donald Trump will be president of the United States on January 20, 2025. The next four years will be a constant struggle, as we fight to retain the meager rights and supports we currently possess … Continue reading →

 928 total views,  5 views today

Posted in Economy, Elections, Gaza, Inequality, Politics, Politics, Section, Supreme Court, Trump | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Democrats’ Debacle: The Path Forward for the Left

Local Organizers Share Winning Strategies with Weary Residents

Posted on 12/28/2024 by Elizabeth Sotiropoulos

As the Champaign-Urbana community considers how we’ll navigate a second Trump presidency, we can learn from the organizing that led to local ballot victories this past November. The massive effort that made these ballot wins possible holds part of the … Continue reading →

 207 total views

Posted in Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Middle East, Police, Politics, Section, Trump | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Local Organizers Share Winning Strategies with Weary Residents

Safer For Who?

Posted on 12/26/2024 by Dua Aldasouqi

For many community members, Tuesday night means Champaign City Council (CCC) night. The council chambers are the spot to be! Dozens of diverse community members show up to ask our elected officials to endorse a resolution that includes 1) a … Continue reading →

 179 total views

Posted in Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Middle East, Peace movement, Politics, Section | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Safer For Who?

The Pretrial Fairness Act at One Year: Success but Lots More to Do

Posted on 12/26/2024 by James Kilgore

In September of 2023 a mysterious journalistic force bombarded our county with hysterical pseudo-newspapers under the banner Chambana News. Though they took the form of an advertising sheet from Walmart or Menard’s, they were actually a classic example of disinformation, … Continue reading →

 359 total views

Posted in IL, incarceration, Justice, Politics, Section | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Pretrial Fairness Act at One Year: Success but Lots More to Do

Hide and Seek with Public Safety

Posted on 12/23/2024 by Chris Evans

On the Illinois Public Media’s Dialogue radio program from September 12, 2024, Urbana Police Chief Larry D. Boone said, “My philosophy is you hide nothing from the public. The days of that type of policing are gone by the way of the dodo … Continue reading →

 203 total views

Posted in Police, police accountability, Policing, Section, Urbana | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Hide and Seek with Public Safety

The Negro/Black Cultural, History, and Art Museum of Urbana

Posted on 12/23/2024 by Mrs. Marilynn Dean Cleveland

I would like to see this museum established here in our town of Urbana for the purpose of educating our people, especially our Black children: to teach them about our history and what Black people have contributed to this country, … Continue reading →

 476 total views,  2 views today

Posted in African American history, African American women, African American Women in Champaign-Urbana, African Americans, African Americans, Arts, Local Arts, Racism, Remembering, Section, Voices, Women | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Negro/Black Cultural, History, and Art Museum of Urbana

ADM’s Carbon Sequestration Leaks Demonstrate Why We Need to Protect the Mahomet Aquifer

Posted on 12/23/2024 by Lan and Pam Richart

How the Story Broke  On September 13, 2024, E&E News by Politico broke a shocking story about an underground carbon dioxide (CO2) leak six months earlier at Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM)’s much-lauded carbon capture and storage facility in Decatur, IL. After only … Continue reading →

 533 total views,  2 views today

Posted in Climate crisis, Environment, Environment, Section | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on ADM’s Carbon Sequestration Leaks Demonstrate Why We Need to Protect the Mahomet Aquifer

Invest in Humanity, Not Handguns: Reject the Public Safety Sales Tax

Posted on 10/18/2024 by Grant Chassy

 Champaign County government placed a question on this November’s general election ballot requesting a tax increase. The so-called public safety sales tax, a proposal that would double the current 0.25-percent sales tax levied on purchases in the county, would generate … Continue reading →

 512 total views

Posted in Champaign County, county goverment, Economics, Police, police accountability, Policing, Tax policy | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Invest in Humanity, Not Handguns: Reject the Public Safety Sales Tax

Urbana Activists Want More Police Oversight, but Local Laws Hold the Civilian Review Board Hostage

Posted on 10/18/2024 by Farrah Anderson and Sam Stecklow of Invisible Institute

This story was originally published by Invisible Institute and IPM Newsroom on July 8. A full version of this article can be found on ipmnewsroom.org and publici.ucimc.org. Ricardo Diaz joined the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) in 2011, hoping … Continue reading →

Posted in Police, police accountability, Police brutality, Policing, Section, Urbana | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Urbana Activists Want More Police Oversight, but Local Laws Hold the Civilian Review Board Hostage

Mob Action Charges Against Activists for Pro-Palestinian Encampment at UIUC

Posted on 10/18/2024 by Brian Dolinar

As students are returning to university campuses, we are seeing signs of continued support for Palestinians who are enduring an onslaught by Israeli military forces. Here at the University of Illinois, the first week of classes students chalked “DIVEST” on … Continue reading →

 466 total views

Posted in Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Middle East, Police, Policing, Section, States'Attorney, University of Illinois | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Mob Action Charges Against Activists for Pro-Palestinian Encampment at UIUC

Assange, Press Freedom, and the Story from Down Under

Posted on 10/18/2024 by Paul Mueth

The Julian Assange case is incredibly multifaceted, extending over many years.The root of course is the need for transparency regarding the actions of the powerful. The World War I–era Espionage Act is a major impediment to an open and just … Continue reading →

 227 total views

Posted in International, International, press freedom, Section, subversion | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Assange, Press Freedom, and the Story from Down Under