The employment and housing crisis has impacted central Illinois workers and there is an urgent need for working class solidarity based on two different situations.

Autumn Glen, an apartment complex in Rantoul, Illinois made news in March when the municipally owned electric company cut power to a number of apartments for non-payment of bills. As community activists mobilized to aid the tenants, it was discovered that many tenants paid utilities as an extra fee in their rent. However, the landlord was not using the money to pay the bills. Despite these tenants dutifully paying their rent, the City threatened eviction within 36 hours originally. The City quickly extended the deadline to three days after receiving notice that the landlord never notified the tenants about the potential evictions. After being confronted with applicable state law that required a 10-day notice for potential eviction, the City was successfully pressured by concerned citizens to work out an agreement to receive payment from the landlord (a company of investors located in California) and keep many residents in their homes.

Action Alert! Help Pass the Medical Marijuana Bill in Illinois Senate! Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) is once more asking you to
take action to help Illinois join the 13 other states that currently allow
the seriously and terminally ill to use medically prescribed marijuana to
alleviate their pain and suffering when other forms of medication fail.
Suffering patients have already waited for years and cannot afford further
delay.

This position begins in mid-July of
2009 and is funded through the AmeriCorps CTC*VISTA program (Community
Technology Center * Volunteer in Service to America).

♫

FREE JOB FAIR AT UC-IMC
202 S. Broadway Ave., Urbana 61801
(Old Post Office Building at Lincoln Square at the corner of Broadway & Elm)

April 27 & 28
7:00 p.m.

Through Champaign Consortium, UC-IMC is hiring youths, age 14 - 24, for several Summer positions. 
Come to the job fair to learn about the available opportunities at the IMC as well as pointers for looking for a job in general.

On April 9, members of the Campus Antiwar Network, Iraq Veterans Against the War, and the International Socialist Organization joined forces for a third annual protest against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruitment session at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  However this year, students and activists were stunned by their victory when the CIA canceled the session at the last minute, shamed by our tactics which exposed the Agency’s dark history of assassinations, political sabotage and torture. 

There was an important victory Thursday night, February 19, 2008, for those fighting for reform of the criminal justice system in Champaign County. By a unanimous vote, the Champaign County Board appointed the Citizens Advisory Committee on Jury Selection.

This committee is made up of citizens, board members, and local criminal justice officials. It is intended to address the racial disparities documented to exist in Champaign County. For several years the Courtwatch study conducted by the League of Women Voters has shown that while African Americans make up 60% of defendants, they represent 5%-6% of the jury pool.

The 16 members of the committee include: Pius Weibel, Matt Gladney, Presiding Judge Thomas Difanis, State’s Attorney Julia Rietz, head Public Defender Randall Rosenbaum, Courts Administrator Roger Holland, Joan Miller of the League of Women Voters, Aaron Ammons, Patricia Avery, William Brown, Lorraine Cowart, Brian Dolinar, Deloris Henry, Barbara Kessel, Jenny Putman, and Patrick Thompson.

This February 6, 7 and 8th, the Urbana Champaign Independent Media Center (IMC) will be hosting the IMC Film Festival (www.imcfilmfest.org). This three day celebration of the art of cinematography will highlight local and independent artists and kickoff monthly IMC Film Nights.  It will also be a chance for local and independent filmmakers to share their work and connect with other artists, community members, and organizations.

We are advertising widely within the artist and art-supporting communities.  The IMC also has a wide support base of almost 600 different community members and volunteers.  We anticipate a strong turn-out for this event.

Works by local and regional filmmakers will be featured, with submissions coming from Chicago, St. Paul, Iowa City, and Champaign-Urbana.

The IMC Film Festival will be open to all, FREE of admission charges.

Here we have part 1 and part 2 of our footage taken on day 3 (MLK Day), enjoy!

Just before the November 2008 elections, a few people at the IMC started talking about a road trip to Washington, DC for the presidential inauguration - a trip we would especially want to make if Barack Obama won the election, there was enough local interest in making the journey, and we could find group transportation.

The motives were fairly simple: to witness the crowds and celebrations (or protests) in our nation's capital while also documenting citizens' reactions and perspectives. As winter progressed, we decided this would also be an opportunity for the Independent Media Center to represent the Urbana-Champaign community and to produce a video diary that we could send home for everyone who could not join us. This is a glimpse - unfettered by mainstream media - into our experiences traveling across country, meeting new and old friends, having light-hearted and serious discussions, and being part of a massive crowd for a historic event in a historic city.

You have to admit the Crisis in Springfield (or is it The Crisis in Chicago?) is, at the very least, entertaining. Sometimes watching recent events unfold in BlagoGate is like watching an old grainy, black and white, televised prizefight straight out of the comic-book 50’s.

Every politician in the United State's of America, every television and radio program, every pundit and every survey poll says to the arrested Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, resign from office immediately and go straight to jail. If Blagojevich should try to appoint somebody for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barak Obama; forget it, no one on earth will accept the appointment. Pow! The Golden Gloves Governor is pummeled back into his Chicago home.

A common reaction to our Governor's latest legislative maneuverings (the governor has promised that at trial, we will see there was clearly no wrongdoing on his part - if we would just quit closing in on him and give him some space.) has been sprinkled with a fairly consistent belief that the Governor's arrest comes as no surprise.

2008-11-17

Facing the cold and the wind protesters gathered in opposition to Proposition 8 on November 15, 2008 in Champaign/Urbana Illinois. Standing on the four corners of Green and Wright street participants shouted “Stop the hate. Stop the hate. Separate the church and state.” People carried signs proclaiming “Love knows no gender” and “You don’t have to be gay to believe in equal rights.”

One of the event organizers Brooke Elliott, President of L-Cubed (Ladies loving Ladies) said, “We are here today because prop 8 was passed in California which will put a ban on gay marriages and everyone has a right to marry.” According to Elliott the event is also a way for Champaign/Urbana to show support for protests taking place across the nation.