On April 21, 2010 some 40 to 50 people gathered in front of the Swanlund Administration Building for an event billed "Take back YOUR Campus Rally". The gathering was organized by Students for Chief Illiniwek (SFCF), the Orange and Blue Observer, and Illini Against a Mascot as a response to SFCF Freedom of Information Request findings showing the UIUC administration scrambling to articulate a post-mascot era policy regarding the display of their copyrighted property. The entire Pro-Mascot rally is now available at http://www.iresist.org/

Champaign City Manager announced that Officer Daniel Norbits, who shot and killed Kiwane Carrington, has been suspended for 30 days. This is the maximum suspension that can be enforced according to the police union contract. The justification was that Norbits "failed maintain control of his weapon." The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police promptly responded, saying that Norbits was now the "victim" in the case.

See the attached pdf for the full reports.

BD

Here's Champaign Mayor Jerry Schweighart at the Tea Party in Champaign on April 15, 2010.

The Mayor says about Obama, "I don't think he's American, personally," and denies the existence of the President's birth certificate.

BD

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 other DUI cases in Champaign County. But the public was kept from knowing the extent of her intoxication or the embarrassing details of her arrest. This case and others have led to a campaign for more harsh drug and alcohol testing for Champaign police officers.

In March 2009, I sent a FOIA request for police reports on the Staples case to the Illinois State Police. Notorious for their denials of public information, the state police summarily denied my request. After new FOIA legislation took effect in Illinois on January 1, 2010, I re-submitted my request. Now forced to obey the law, the state police handed over their records.

The 5th Illinois Coalition for Justice Peace and the Environment Conference, "Connecting and Communicating"

April 9 & 10, 2010 will feature Alexander Cockburn as Keynote speaker at the Independent Media Center • 202 S. Broadway, Urbana, IL 61801.

The PUBLIC is WELCOME.

The Illinois Coalition for Justice Peace and the Environment invites you to join us as we celebrate our 5th annual conference in the town where we began, Urbana, Illinois.

This year we come together to forge new connections and to explore new ways to communicate with each other as we meet the challenges of a movement seemingly drawn down while injustice, war and environmental degradation rage on. Yet, in four years ICJPE has grown to include over 160 member groups.
We are led by the activism of an extremely talented group of activist/speakers who will guide us in our presentations: Connecting and Communicating, Transforming Empire, Transforming the Land and finally Transforming Social Relations. Join us.

Conference Details:

Friday Fri, April 9, 2010
Keynote Address from 7:00pm - 9:00pm:

The Champaign City Council is deciding at their meeting on Tuesday at 7pm whether to accept $22.5 million federal grant already awarded to the two cities and the University for creating jobs and building internet connectivity in our community. If you support the deployment of a municipal broadband network in Champaign-Urbana, please consider contacting your city council member to express your support of the plan. Attached is a .doc file containing contact information and a sample correspondence. Whether or not Champaign accepts the grant funds has a strong bearing on whether federal stimulus money under the Broadband Opportunities Program will be used to create jobs in both Champaign and Urbana or provide essential services to underserved parts of our community. Our acceptance of this money also has a strong bearing on the viability of our round 2 funding proposal for community centers, libraries, and schools.

IMC brings three free events for Open House on March 13

Urbana, IL March 7, 2009:

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