The ribbon cutting for a new community garden in southeast Urbana took place on a sunny Saturday afternoon, September 8, 2012. Created by the Lierman Neighborhood Action Committee, it is part of the “Let’s Move” campaign launched by First Lady Michelle Obama to create community gardens in cities across the country.

Located at Washington and Lierman, the garden is at the center of a neighborhood which has been in the local mainstream media for its stories of robberies, shootings, and drug dealing. The garden is a sign that some members of the community are beginning to take control of their own destiny.

A protest was held before the board meeting of the Housing Authority of Champaign County (HACC) on Thursday, August 23, 2012 by those questioning plans to demolish Bristol Place, a largely African American neighborhood on the North End in Champaign. This comes on the heels of the demolition of two public housing units, Dunbar Court and Joann Dorsey Homes, also largely comprised of black residents. Local authorities have ambitions of eliminating all signs of poverty, while failing to address the basic needs of those less fortunate.

One item I want to emphasize is that because of a law titled TOSCA-Toxic Substance Control Act, only the Federal govt has jurisdiction on this decision. I think that state level action is important merely to raise the level of awareness and activism on the issue.
Phil Bloomer acting on behalf of Tim Johnson, will be at the Prairie Rivers Network gathering at their office Sat afternoon. It wold be great if a number of people would attend a raise the issue of the underground river in our area.

Another issue that can be raised is the fact that PCB's are not listed as toxic material in the Illinois regs. I can't understand why this would be the case. I did find out that the biggest "user" of PCB's as a wood preservative is the US Military. Pallets and ammunition boxes are purposely treated with PCB's. One wonders whether Scott Air Base is where this might be done.

After months of stalling, the city of Champaign has finally released documents about the incident on June 5, 2011 when a 20 year-old African American man, Brandon Ward, was choked in the back of a squad car by white officer Patrick Simons. While five officers have been disciplined, not one has been suspended for a single day. Nevertheless, it is a sign of the shake-up taking place in the Champaign Police Department.

The Ward case created a storm of controversy in November 2011 when Champaign city officials announced that they had seen video of a black youth being abused by police. It occurred around 2:30 a.m. at 4th and Green streets after the bars had closed. Video of the incident was anonymously leaked at the Independent Media Center website, ucimc.org, and has received nearly 15,000 hits to date.

Poet laureate of Alburquerque Hakim Bellamy performed Saturday night, July 28, 2012, at the Grassroots Media Conference at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center.

BD

The national Grassroots Radio Conference is taking place this year at the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. The conference comes on the heels of recent legislation opening up markets for low power radio stations across the United States. On Friday, July 27, a day of panels took place about how people could set up community radio stations. 

There were panels of information sharing with people telling stories of how they had successfully produced community radio in their own home towns.

There was also a poetry workshop held by local poet and host of SPEAK Cafe Aaron Ammons.

The keynote address was given by Joe Torres, co-author with Juan Gonzalez, of News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media.

It was 96° in the shade, but a large crowd came out on July 19, 2012 for a showing of union solidarity. The Campus Labor Coalition―including AFSCME, SEIU, GEO, AAP, and CFA―held a rally at the Alma Mater on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and then marched across the quad.

The rally was partly to show support for workers in the local AFSCME union who have repeatedly been stalled by university negotiators and are still waiting for a fair contract. The university sites the state budget crisis, while top administrators go on getting paid inflated six-figure salaries. Despite several recent scandals that have forced campus leaders to resign in shame, they have been given golden parachutes by their colleagues. Those at the rally held signs that read “The U of I Isn't Broke, It's Broken!”

Illinoisans in the areas of Chicago and Urbana-Champaign are invited to apply to be part of a unique program offering a free college liberal arts course to adults living on low-incomes, complete with college credit.

The Odyssey Project, a program of the Illinois Humanities Council in partnership with the Clemente Course in the Humanities, is a free college-level introduction to the humanities, founded on the conviction that engagement with the humanities can offer individuals a way out of poverty by fostering habits of sustained reflection, critical thinking, and skilled communication.

Classes are offered in literature, philosophy, history, art history, and writing, taught by faculty members from top institutions including the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and DePaul University. In partnership with the Bard College Clemente® Course in the Humanities, students may receive up to six units of college credit.