On March 4th, 2010 several organizations on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus and people across the country gathered to “march forth” in a National Day of Action to Defend Public Education. At UIUC, more than 300 came together for a spirited rally on what turned out to be the first sunny day of the new Spring.

The march began at the Alma Mater statue with a dedication to the Native American peoples who “granted” the land on which this land grant university was built. Miriam Larson led a modern-day adaptation of the classic Woody Guthrie song: “This land is your land, This land is my land, From Illinois to California, From Minnesota to Arizona, Land grants were made for you and me!”

The NTIA just sent out an official press release announcing that the infrastructure part of the broadband proposal submitted by a coalition of the two cities and the University is going to receive $22.5 million in federal funds for a fiber-optic infrastructure rollout.

Note that the SBA (Sustainable Broadband Adoption) and PCC (Public Computing Centers) parts of the proposal were rejected for Round 1 funding, so this increases the importance of submitting a strong application for those components for Round 2, in order that the infrastructure being contructed can be successfully utilized by the citizenry. The cities have 30 days to decide whether to accept the award.

Project description from the NTIA press release below:

Marvin Reeves (pictured on left) and Mark Clements (right) visited Champaign-Urbana on Wednesday night, Feb. 24, 2010. They spoke on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and on the topic of "Lynching Then/Lynching Now" as part of a national tour sponsored by the Campaign to End the Death Penalty. An audience of some 60 people filled a room in Gregory Hall.

Freed from prison in October 2009 after 21 years, Marvin Reeves spoke about how he was framed for murder by the testimony of an inmate in jail for burglary. His co-defendant Ronnie Kitchen made a false confession after being tortured by Sgt. Jon Burge of the Chicago Police Department. Reeves has since been awarded approximately $200,000 as compensation.

Mark Clements was sentenced to life without parole as a juvenile and was released in August 2009 after serving 28 years in prison. He spoke about the need to end the harsh penalities handed out to juveniles. He was also tortured into making a false confession by Chicago police who later worked alongside Sgt. Burge.

The Black History Month issue of the Public i is out on stands now featuring an article by Michael Burns on the history of the Douglass Center. Also in this issue is an interview with Deborah Thomas, at whose home Kiwane Carrington was killed. There is an article on all-white juries by Jan Kruse. The GEO's Kerry Pimblott writes about ensuring that higher education is publicly accessible. The Public i's own Belden Fields writes a satirical aritcle comparing the NYPD to the Champaign Police Dept.

BD

Illinois Public Media General Manager Mark Leonard announced today steps the organization’s leadership will take to address ongoing budget concerns and ensure that Illinois Public Media is sustainable in a new financial and technological environment. Changes include:
 
· Elimination of nine staff positions

· Phasing out the weather department, resulting in the elimination of in-house forecasts for WILL Radio and WILL-TV. Weather reports and severe weather coverage will continue, provided by regular radio staff using National Weather Service information.

· A change in format for WILL-FM, which will become a dual-format radio station April 1, adding news programs from National Public Radio to its classical music line-up, while expanding classical music on the weekends and retaining its locally produced music programs

· Shifting WILL-AM staff responsibilities to provide more in-depth coverage of local issues, informed by outreach projects in the community

· Addition of three staff positions, including a Web developer, in critical areas or areas with potential for revenue growth

Re-posted from SmilePolitely.com.

Above is a screenshot from http://timeline.chambana.net/, the Kiwane Carrington Timeline, a website which communicates a timeline of events and documents pertaining to the Kiwane Carrington incident. The website is a joint project of the U-C Independent Media Center and Smile Politely, and is being released to the public for the first time this morning. From the site's About page:

This site is intended to be a permanent home for documentation, articles, reporting, and discussion regarding the death of Kiwane Carrington and the investigation and events that followed.

Items are arranged in a timeline format for ease of use and linear clarity. You will notice that many documents are concentrated on and around October 9, 2009, when the incident occurred.

FULL SCHEDULE WITH HIGHLIGHTS

The IMC is pleased to announce our second annual IMC Film Fest!  This celebration of the art of cinematography will once again highlight local and regional artists, giving them an opportunity to share their work and connect with other artists, community members, and organizations.  We’ve received a record number of submissions and expect a big turn out this year!

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2010
Healthcare: Local and Global Perspectives
On Friday night, we will open the festival with a discussion on the healthcare system, touching on both local and global aspects of this complex and timely issue.  The UCIMC has close ties the Gesundheit! Institute (http://www.patchadams.org/), a non-profit organization founded by Patch Adams in 1972.  Several IMC members work closely with the project and we now have an AmeriCorps serving at the UCIMC who is working directly with Patch and Gesundheit!  Don't miss the opportunity to view global healthcare systems from a new perspective:

"Clownin' in Kabul" (Directors Enzo Balestrieri & Stefano Moser, 2002) will show from 6:00pm - 6:55pm

Please post a comment if event details are incorrect or if you have an event to add!

2/1

Quench Series
Queer Qualifications: Disclosing LGBT Involvement
Illini Union, Rm 323, 12-1pm

Knit & Craft Nite
St. Jude Catholic Worker's House, 6pm

2/2

AEMS 2010 AsiaLENS Screenings:
Up the Yangtze
Spurlock Museum, 7pm

"Out in the Silence"
Etc Caf, Wesley Foundation, 7pm

Bike Project
Women & Trans Night
Feb 2, 6pm

From: Lawyers Against The War [mailto:law@portal.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 7:11 AM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Subject: ICC Complaint Against Bush, Cheney et al

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST BUSH, CHENEY, RUMSFELD, TENET, RICE AND GONZALES; INTERNATIONAL ARREST WARRANTS REQUESTED

Champaign, U.S.A./The Hague, Netherlands (19 Jan 2010). -- Professor Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, U.S.A. has filed a Complaint with the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (I.C.C.) in The Hague against U.S. citizens George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice, and Alberto Gonzales (the “Accused”) for their criminal policy and practice of “extraordinary rendition” perpetrated upon about 100 human beings.  This term is really their euphemism for the enforced disappearance of persons and their consequent torture.  This criminal policy and practice by the Accused constitute Crimes against Humanity in violation of the Rome Statute establishing the I.C.C.

The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (IMC) is proud to announce that it will host the second annual IMC Film Festival during February 5, 6, and 7, 2010, and is now accepting submissions! This celebration of the art of cinematography will once again highlight local and regional independent artists, giving them an opportunity to share their work and connect with other artists, community members, and organizations.

Filmmakers are invited to submit their works by filling out the attached Submission Sheet (attached in word and in pdf format) and following those instructions.  As well, the IMC Film Festival is open to all – free of admission charges! SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS NOW FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2010, 5 p.m.

Here is the link to the IMC Film Fest 2010 website:http://production.ucimc.org/node/17105
And you can check out films from last year's event at: http://production.ucimc.org/filmfest2009.

In order for communities to survive and thrive in a world full of
technology, they need to build a new model of tech support. This model
should focus on democratizing technology - on disseminating, copying
and distributing tech knowledge among everyday computer users.

This model may start with a central location to help users with their
computers, but cannot end with that single source of
knowledge. Communities must develop a "critical mass" of tech
knowledge among community members in order to control their own lives
in a technology-dependent world.

The IMC Computer Help Desk is up to this challenge. The
Urbana-Champaign community has had a deficit of realistic personal
computer support options since Prairienet faded away.

When a user calls, emails or walks in to the IMC Computer Help Desk
they will not be talked down to or misled. Further, the IMC Computer
Help Desk will not perform any repair or maintenance for
anyone. Instead, the support technicians at the Help Desk will help
users solve their own problems. The Help Desk can help fix almost any