The Champaign County Board is considering a proposal to spend $20 million on new jail cells. They claim the current downtown jail, built in 1980, is beyond repair. The Board plans to pay for the new jail cells from the public safety sales tax which brings in about $4 million per year.

We say the Board, rather than spending $20 million on jail construction, should focus on investing in preventative services that will keep people out of jail and prison, things like youth job training, mental health centers, substance abuse treatment and re-entry programs for people returning home from prison. Click the title to add your name to the growing list of people who support investing in prevention instead of detention.

"To: The Champaign County Board We the undersigned oppose the Champaign County Board's proposal to spend $20 million on new jail cells. We believe the Board should spend this money funding preventative programs that will keep people out of jail and prison."

SIGN THE PETITION NOW: http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/6220/c/1340/p/dia/action3/common/public/?act...

On Wednesday, April 17, there will be a meeting with Dr. Alan Kalmanoff at 6:15 p.m. at the Urbana Free Library (210 W. Green St.).

Dr. Kalmanoff is the Director of the Institute for Law and Public Policy (ILPP), the firm hired by Champaign County to conduct a needs assessment regarding the county jail and related criminal justice issues. Dr. Kalmanoff has been interviewing people and gathering data for his assessment since November. This meeting will be an opportunity to hear some of his findings and to present your concerns to him in person. Come and be heard!

For more information contact: briandolinar@gmail.com or carolammons@gmail.com

As a new building on campus is being named after Maudelle Bousfield, the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Illinois, a public housing complex named after Joann Dorsey, black community activist in Champaign during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, has been torn down. One woman came from the black upper-class, the other from the working-class, yet they both should be recognized for their contributions.

Pioneer Educator, Maudelle Bousfield    

These two community dialogues will address what even the Obama administration has admitted is a failed War on Drugs. It is also part of our local campaign to oppose a proposal for an expansion of the local jail, which is full of victims of the Drug War.

Thursday, Feb. 28, Levis Faculty Center (919 W. Illinois St., Urbana)

Friday night, March 1, Salem Baptist Church (500 E. Park St., Champaign)

5:30-8:30 p.m. both nights

Keynote Speakers:

Neill Franklin, former narcotics officer and executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

Clifford Thornton, anti-Drug War activist and co-founder of Efficacy.

Organized by Citizens with Conviction (CWC), and Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice (CUCPJ).

Co-sponsors: Salem Baptist Church, Urbana Human Relations Committee, MAS (Muslim American Society), UC Friends Meeting, ACLU, Breakfast Club, GEO, Planners Network, Educations Justice Project, U of I Department of African American Studies.

The POC Zine Project curates a traveling POC zine exhibition, has established an archive, cultivates digital platforms that share POC zines and provides grants, tools and events for zinesters.

The tour stopped in Urbana last year, along with 14 other cities. Hosted by the UC-IMC Librarians group, the POC Zine Project brought it's awesomeness to central Illinois.

Read more: http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/01/nia_zine_piece.html

Have something to say? An issue or kind of music you are passionate about? Thanks WRFU's new tower, now you can reach all of Champaign, Urbana, and Savoy through WRFU 104.5 FM, a community radio station located in the Independent Media Center in downtown Urbana. The next free training will be held on Tuesday, January 8th at 6 PM. Contact rfu@lists.chambana.net or 344-8820 to sign up.

WRFU 104.5 FM will be down the next couple of days. We are installing a new tower next to the UC-IMC building which will greatly increase our signal when it is all finished (hopefully Wednesday Nov 28 at the latest.)

We appreciate all our listeners and hope you will bear with us as we fulfill our long-term goals of making WRFU 104.5 FM an important part of the Urbana-Champaign community and surrounding areas.

There is a video being worked on documenting the progress and ultimate installation of our new tower. If you have taken photos or video recorded the installation process and would like to have your footage included in a video to be shown on Urbana Public Television, please contact Dane Spudic at danespudic@gmail.com

In November 2005, WRFU 104.5 FM's original antenna was installed on the roof the UC-IMC building. That antenna is coming down today to be cleaned and installed on the tower.

Here's a photo-video that documented the process of installing the original antenna back in November 2005 (about 20 seconds into the photo-video the UC-IMC building as it used to look 7 years ago comes into view):

Dear Community Members:

The purpose of this communication is, first, to provide information about an incident that allegedly occurred at the Independent Media Center where one of our staff members was arrested and charged with criminal sexual assault and, second, to assure all users of the IMC (renters, volunteers, participants in meeting and events scheduled there, and others) that our Board and staff are undertaking actions to guarantee your health and safety.  The IMC has long been and will continue to be a safe and welcoming place.

Most have heard about the unmanned aerial vehicles, or “drones,” that the U.S. government has been flying over Pakistan and Afghanistan dropping bombs aimed at suspected militants and all too often killing innocent civilians. Increasingly, smaller versions of these planes are being purchased by police agencies, border control, and homeland security to use domestically. Rather than carrying weapons, they are outfitted with cameras allowing them to become an all-seeing eye in the sky.