Update on Newspaper Availability

The local paper wasn't the only newspaper affected by the change in ownership at the News-Gazette last month. National papers that used to be delivered by the same service have yet to find a new delivery service option. WILL had an earlier explanation of the issue:

National newspapers are now harder to find in Champaign-Urbana. The local paper, the News-Gazette, stopped delivering those papers to homes and newsstands earlier this month...

But the News-Gazette, which has distributed the Times and three other national newspapers in Champaign-Urbana since taking over from the defunct C-U News Agency in 2015, is no longer doing so. James Berbutes, circulation director for the Community Media Group, says they dropped the distribution contract when they took over the paper in early November. Under the contract, the News-Gazette had been distributing the New York Times, USA Today and the USA Today Sports Weekly, the Chicago Tribune and the Wall Street Journal and its sister publication Barron’s. The News-Gazette’s new publisher, Paul Barrett, did not respond to a request for comment...

The halt in distribution has also affected the Urbana Free Library and Champaign Public Library and their patrons. Champaign Public Library Adult Services Manager Tricia Duzan says “there have been frustrations expressed” by patrons who came to the library regularly to read the Times, Journal, Tribune and USA Today.

That full article here. The Champaign Public Library appears to be in the same situation as it was last month when it first issued this notice to patrons:

We are now receiving the Wall Street Journal and USA TODAY again, starting today. They are being delivered with the day’s mail rather than before the library opens. We will work at getting them on the shelves as soon as possible. (Thank you, US Postal Service!)

The Chicago Tribune is not delivering in our area at this time. We are trying to find a way to continue to carry it, but don’t have a solution yet.

We do have The New York Times on our shelves—we have a subscription that comes in the mail several days after publication (the Metro edition). Until a new same-day delivery service is available in our area, we will not be receiving The New York Times on the day of publication.

In the meantime, you can read newspapers for free online using your library card.

That notice is available in full here.

A few days ago, Tom's Mailbag answered a couple questions on this issue with an update that things still haven't improved much for folks looking for a physical paper:

The outlook isn’t good for the return of daily home delivery of national/regional newspapers like the Chicago Tribune, New York Times and USA Today — unless an entrepreneur steps up to resume the business.

Bob Cicone, the circulation director at The News-Gazette, said he hasn’t heard of any local businesses that would take on the distribution of the other newspapers, which includes not only home delivery but circulation to stores, hotels and libraries.

Your best bet to get the newspapers now is to call their individual circulation departments and see if you can get delivery by mail, or to sign up for a digital subscription.

As for the local libraries, the Champaign Public Library is getting “day of” copies of the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. It is getting the New York Times, but several days late. It is not getting any copies of the Chicago Tribune.

More at the full Mailbag article here. In related news, there was a recent article by Tom Kacich reviewing the News-Gazette's history through competitions, mergers, highs and lows over the last 100 years earlier this month here. 

Marijuana Legalization and Technicalities

There have been a lot of helpful guides and explanations of how the legalization of marijuana in Illinois at the first of the year may still have a hitch or two for those who wish to partake. WILL had a helpful Q&A interview on basics like public consumption not being allowed:

Essentially, you will not be able to openly consume outdoors and in public any more than you can alcohol. So, you have to be in an establishment so there will be some dispensaries that will be allowed to have a consumption area and there will be existing retail tobacco stores along the lines of hookah lounges and cigar bars that will also be able to add marijuana to their ability to consume.   There are a lot of worries about people walking through big huge puffs of smoke outside and that is not allowed. There is no public consumption drawn into the bill.

And on state penalties:

If you're over the legally allowed limit, and if you are under age, so this is only legalized for people over the age of 21. And so there are penalties for underage consumption and there are penalties for (possession) over the  legally allowed limit. This is still illegal federally. So, on federal property, there can still be absolute bars to being able to consume in those places.  We have to be very wary. So yes, this is for the most part at this stage right now in the beginning, private. [Under the law, minors cannot be incarcerated for marijuana convictions.]

That full interview and radio segment available here. A more straightforward legal rundown was put out by WILL yesterday here. WCIA had a shorter overview here with a video segment. Tom's Mailbag had an explanation dispelling concerns about purchase monitoring locally or by the State here. Local police are, of course, still warning against driving while under the influence of this or other drugs.

Illinois State Police have tried to dispel rumors that legal marijuana purchases will affect one's Firearm Owner ID (FOID) card eligibility or affect one's right to own or posses firearms:

State and local police say purchasing legal marijuana will not have any impact on your ability to own or possess a gun in Illinois.

Social media posts claim that marijuana dispensaries will be checking IDs of customers and then turning that information over to the state… which will then use that as a basis to revoke FOID cards. But a state police spokesperson says buying marijuana legally will not be used to take away a FOID card, although someone could lose the card if it’s shown they are addicted or a “habitual user” of any drug, including pot.

State police also say it’s illegal for dispensaries to collect or store personal information about recreational cannabis users.

From a WMAY blurb here. The rumors to the contrary have been in local media such as this WCCU article and this one from WAND.

As the News-Gazette pointed out on Sunday, employers are still allowed to set their own drug policies and can enforce them regardless of the legal changes. They go through a great deal of local government employers, from school districts to local government agencies that have maintained their restrictions on marijuana use. Excerpt:

Some employers will consider off-duty marijuana use none of their business unless it interferes with an employee’s job performance.

Some plan to continue zero-tolerance and drug-free workplace policies that include drug testing.

“Employers are very concerned about safety in the workplace,” said Jay Shattuck, executive director of the Employment Law Council of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce.

Illinois employers struggling with how to handle the coming of legal recreational marijuana come Jan. 1 should pay attention to these two things, he said: The policies they set for their employees with respect to marijuana use should be both reasonable and non-discriminatory.

Full article with a lot of information here. So far the two local dispensaries are prepared for a busy first of the year. The News-Gazette had details on their plans on giving priority to medical card holders, hours, etc:

Both local dispensaries are preparing for a crowd and lines at the door.

“I’ve been told that people plan on camping out,” said Brendan Jolly, an employee at NuMed, 105 E. University Ave., U.

If you’re a later riser, Sunnyside, the new name for Phoenix Botanical at 1704 S. Neil St., C, will remain open until 10 p.m. on New Year’s Day. NuMed Urbana will stay open until 6 p.m.

Purchases at both dispensaries will be on a cash-only basis, their owners said. And medical marijuana customers will have first priority for the available supply.

That full article here.

The cities where the dispensaries are, Champaign and Urbana, have generally aligned their marijuana laws with reduced fines and consumption rules (more on that at a recent Cheat Sheet post here). The News-Gazette had an update since that post on Champaign ensuring that it's fines would remain local ordinance violations as opposed to a State offense with a risk of jail time:

Two weeks before recreational marijuana becomes legal statewide, city council members signed off on updates to the city code to bring Champaign’s cannabis ordinances in line with Illinois law.

“It doesn’t make anything unlawful that is not unlawful under the state law,” Champaign Assistant City Attorney Kathryn Cataldo said.

If the city had removed the ordinance violations related to cannabis, penalties — such as for underage use — would have become state criminal offenses.

This allows police officers to issue ordinance violations instead, which come with a fine but no jail time.

That full article here. Smaller towns (such as Savoy) have opted to prohibit dispensaries in their jurisdictions. Unincorporated areas in the County were a point of contention in Environmental and Land Use Committee meetings (Cheat Sheet post on that here). Eventually the County Board sent the issue back to the ELUC committee to hammer out a compromise that would allow flexibility away from towns that wanted to maintain a prohibition in their area. There was coverage of County Director of Planning and Zoning John Hall's compromise plans in the News-Gazette earlier this month:

What he plans to send back to the committee to consider will be a change in the county zoning ordinance that would, essentially, prohibit marijuana businesses within the mile-and-a-half zones of communities where these businesses aren’t wanted.

The other major part of the proposed compromise would be allowing marijuana businesses in unincorporated areas that are within a mile and a half of cities and towns that plan to allow those businesses to operate, Hall said. But, he said, the county’s regulations in these particular unincorporated areas would need to match those established in the communities they surround.

Since this would require a change in the county zoning ordinance, Hall said, it would have to go through the Environment and Land Use Committee and the proper public hearing process before the Zoning Board of Appeals to give the public a say.

The article, available here, goes into the potential timeline and the relative slow speed of the application process on why there isn't any concern of a dispensary popping up in the mean time.

I still haven't heard any updates on a set date and details on the public event being planned by Parkland College Police on marijuana legal issues announced at the Champaign Community Coalition. When I get more information on that I'll be sure to share it.

County Candidate Information

The Cheat Sheet has been updated with the latest candidate information I could find for County government offices. The information so far is preliminary and I still have to dig up additional contact information and figure out what's going on with District 9 race and which candidates are running for which seats. I didn't see a ballot order draw for this one, so I'm not sure what to make of three listed candidates and two seats up for grabs in the district.

A full listing of primary candidates was released by the County Clerk here.

The News-Gazette had a wider area listing of candidates here.

Requests for vote-by-mail ballots have already begun. More information on that here.

Our Elections page has been updated here.

Candidate information has been updated on the individual district pages (listed under "Members") and the county wide office page:

• County Board District Maps to find your district and county board members.
• County-wide offices page.
• Judicial races information.

You can also use the County Clerk's lookup tool to find your representatives here.

Your Sample Ballots / Your Voter Registration Information (available here when posted): https://www.champaigncountyclerk.com/elections/voter-information

Also, another reminder that the County is still recruiting election judges from WCIA. That blurb also links to a brochure and training manual for prospective judges.

County Updates

There's been quite a bit of County government news and updates the last couple weeks. This post highlights and links to more information on:

• December County Board Meeting
• County Treasurer backlog and criticisms

In other County government news (click to jump to these items)

• Election Judge recruiting
• Sheriff's Office lawsuit
• State taxing changes that may benefit local government budgets
• The latest Long Range Transportation Plan

The December regular County Board meeting had a report from the Ad Hoc IT Planning Committee with its analysis and recommendations for the County's information technology organization and infrastructure. The report is available at the 43:30 mark on the live streaming link here for now (I'll update when December board meetings are available on the County Clerk's YouTube channel here).

Most of the meeting revolved around concerns with the County Treasurers office, its backlog, staffing issues, and continued difficulties with the new computer system. The News-Gazette had an overview of the issue earlier this month. Excerpts:

Champaign County Executive Darlene Kloeppel has hired an outside accounting firm to help the county treasurer’s office get caught up on a backlog of work.

Kloeppel said she’s using money from her own office’s budget this month to hire the firm of CliftonLarsonAllen to reconcile all 2019 monthly bank statements...

According to a memo Kloeppel sent to the county board earlier this month, work delays in the treasurer’s office have been noted since mid-year.

For example, she said, the deputy director of finance in the county executive’s office wasn’t receiving enough information to prepare monthly financial reports and begin the budgeting process for 2020, and the county auditor’s office was noticing delays with posting revenues.

Hiring the CPA this month to reconcile bank statements was the latest of several steps that have been taken to help the treasurer’s office move forward, according to Kloeppel.

More at the full article here. The full County Executive's memo is available in the Agenda Packet from the Committee of the Whole earlier this month (page 30 of the packet, page 33 of the PDF document) here. It lays out in detail the various problems and attempted resolutions over the past several months.

During public participation of the County Board meeting (at the 17 minute mark in the live streaming link) Vic White, superintendent of Prairieview-Ogden School District highlighted the unusual delays in flow through payments from the County. He complained that he still can't get any answers about the delay. Andrew Larson, superintendent of Unit Seven Schools, also reiterated the financial issues and bond complications the Treasurer's backlogs are causing. He also complained about the need for better communication. He was skeptical of some of the excuses in local news and explained that he has lost confidence in a few of the County offices since the election.

Throughout the meeting, Republicans raised concerns about the Treasurer's backlog and demanding to know the current state of the County's finances. Concerns were raised about grants eventually being put at risk for the Regional Planning Commission (a central hub for services and programs in local government).

A lengthy discussion about the Treasury issues took place during the discussion of the Auditor's second resolution under other business. Member Goss began with technical budget questions for Auditor Danos, but the explanations of the delays only heated up the questioning until the Auditor passed the questions on to Treasurer Prussing herself. She repeatedly explained the staffing problems again, which Goss blamed on poor management. Other Republicans and even Democrat Dillard-Meyer questioned the hold up with pass through payments to the schools. The Treasurer repeatedly blamed problems with the new DEVNET system, a point person for DEVNET being on vacation, and an appeal to her record of saving taxpayer money. This only raised more questions and confusion along the way.

Something notable in its absence was any kind of defense from other Democrats on the Board. On an earlier resolution Member Stohr had complimented the County Clerk's office for its wise use of taxpayer funds, while noting criticisms of other offices may have merit.


Other County Government News:

The County Clerk's office is recruiting for Election Judge's from today's News-Gazette:

Champaign County has 125 election judges signed up for training to work for the March 17, 2020, primaries and needs 350, according to Angela Patton, chief deputy in the county clerk’s office...

Polling places need both Republicans and Democrats serving as election judges, and Champaign County is particularly in need of more Republican judges, Patton said...

Champaign County pays its election judges $200 a day on election days, with hours expected to run from at least 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Judges staffing early voting places are paid $13 an hour, Patton said.

More at the full article at the News-Gazette eEdition here (subscription). More details from the Champaign County Clerk's website here.

The Champaign County Sheriff's Office is facing a lawsuit over a pat down during traffic stop earlier this year. From the News-Gazette last week:

A 27-year-old woman is suing the Champaign County sheriff’s office and accusing a deputy of a highly intrusive pat-down search.

In her five-count federal lawsuit, Wylesha Ayres alleges that her Fourth Amendment right against an unreasonable search was violated and that it inflicted on her “humiliation, degradation, emotional pain and suffering.”...

The sheriff’s office declined to comment, but in its formal response to the lawsuit, it denied that the officers improperly touched Ayres, that they didn’t provide a basis for the search and that they didn’t have reasonable suspicion.

Full article here with a lot more information, details, and web cam footage of the incident available.

Changes to State laws on gas and sales taxes could provide more money to the County and other local government soon. The News-Gazette had coverage on the gas tax increase effects on the County's transportation budget here. WCCU had coverage of how the on-line sales taxes should begin to effect local government bodies here.

And finally, the Regional Planning Commission had a video presentation for their latest Champaign-Urbana Urbanized Area Transportation Study (CUUATS) Long Range Transportation Plan with various visions of improved transportation and projects in the area's future. Video link here. Additional information and another video on the planning process are available in the Executive Summary here on the RPC website. A full overview of the Long Range Transportation Plan itself is available here.

Ag Trade Deals and Education Events

Local agricultural news the past couple weeks included updates on the NAFTA/USMCA trade agreement and local educational events. There was also a recent Farm Economic Summit locally as well as a few upcoming events early next year related to agriculture and education. Coverage and links for the economic summit are below. WILL had a couple articles on the USMCA passage. First with reaction from the Illinois Farm Bureau:

llinois Farm Bureau President Richard Guebert said Tuesday the new U.S. trade agreement with Canada and Mexico will make two of the state's top export markets even stronger.

“We are just ecstatic,” Guebert declared. “Between corn and dairy products, fruits and vegetables, cheeses, you name it, we’ll send it to Mexico and or Canada.”

Illinois farmers exported $2.8 billion in goods to Canada and Mexico in 2018. According to the Illinois Farm Bureau oilseeds and grains led the way at $796 million. The bureau said Illinois exported $660 million in corn to Mexico, which accounted for about 30% of the state’s global corn exports last year.

Guebert said the Farm Bureau lobbied for the trade deal after what he called a "tough" year for farmers, due partly to the trade war with China which has shrunk U.S. export markets.

More at that full article here. The 21st Show also discussed the impact and had an interview with an trade economist here. Excerpt from the show description:

House Democrats and President Trump agree that a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico is good for our economy. With Illinois being the third largest agricultural exporter in the nation, what will that mean for farmers in the state?

Illinois exports about $28 billion worth of goods to Canada and Mexico. A lot of those are agricultural goods grown on Illinois farms. Illinois is the third largest agricultural exporter in the nation. This means changes to the trade agreements the United States has with other countries will directly affect the thousands of Illinois residents who work in the agriculture industry for better or worse.

More at the segment link here and the full show link here. The News-Gazette's latest Crop, Stock & Ledger article had coverage from the Farm Economic Summit:

It was noted by the speakers that 2019 has been a year full of surprises and the agriculture community still does not know all the effects this may have for crop production and demand in the future. While a “Phase One” Trade Agreement has been signed with China, its details have not been released. What will be the ramifications of this trade agreement as well as the other trade agreements going forward for U.S. agricultural trade around the world? The final crop yield totals and quality of the late harvested crops are still not known, so this is another variable.

That full article available at the eEdition here (subscription) and includes additional information on program deadlines, tools, and variables. It also highlighted the first of upcoming educational events, this one in January:

The Illinois Specialty Crop Conference (ISCC) will be Jan. 8-10 in Springfield. This engaging conference is hosted by Illinois Specialty Growers Association in partnership with University of Illinois, Illinois Farm Bureau and Illinois Department of Agriculture...

For more information and to register, go to the Illinois Specialty Growers Association website: specialtygrowers.org/iscc.

There was more information on the upcoming events in February in a separate Crop, Stock & Ledger column earlier this month in the News-Gazette:

Extension specialists from the UI will present research information on critical crop production issues at four regional Crop Management Conferences.

The East-Central Illinois Crop Management Conference is Feb. 4 at the iHotel.

Register at https://go.aces.illinois.edu/IL2020CMC.

More on tap in February

A final event to put on your educational calendar is the 2020 Soil and Water Management Webinar on Feb. 20. Risks and solutions to such topics as extreme weather, irrigation, groundwater and loss of topsoil and nutrients will be discussed. Certified Crop Advisors can receive 4.5 hours in Soil and Water Management CEU’s by attending this webinar, which will be conducted at multiple Extension offices across the state, including Bloomington and Decatur.

More at the full article in the eEdition here (subscription). More information and a link to on-line registration on the Soil and Water Management Webinar here. The News-Gazette had additional coverage of the recent Farm Economic Summit this week:

The past two years, and 2019 in particular, have been a wild ride for farmers.

“So many unusual events occurred in 2019,” said Scott Irwin, an agronomist at the University of Illinois.

He spoke Friday at the annual Illinois Farm Economics Summit about “all the turmoil with the trade story with China” and “the weather.”...

And despite the wild ride, net farm income overall in the U.S. is forecasted to increase in 2019, according to the USDA...

He said weather and related issues were big factors in income, as well as government policy, such as the aid package and the trade issues.

Full article available here. Slideshow presentations from the event and more information are available from the summit website here.

Champaign County Community Coalition 12/11

The Champaign County Community Coalition's (quick Cheat Sheet overview post) December meeting had some important announcements. For folks who have a difficult time making it to the monthly meeting on a weekday in the middle of the work day, the facilitator, Tracy Parsons announced that the meetings will be recorded and available to watch on-line and through public television beginning in 2020. He also announced an update to their website was on its way as well.

A representative from the United Way announced during introductions that Parsons was going to be recognized with an award as a Difference Maker for his work with the community, especially through the Community Coalition. Also during introductions Don Owens, former District 116 superintendent of Urbana Schools, noted his interim role leading the Champaign-Urbana Area Project following Patricia Avery's retirement (more on Avery's long service to the community in today's News-Gazette subscription eEdition here). Later he highlighted the CUAP's new location at the old Urbana Post Office with the Independent Media Center.

In the police chief updates there was a stark contrast between the campus police departments and the city departments. The campuses are both heading into spring break and only had a couple updates. UIPD highlighted the recent arrests related to two unprovoked attacks on campus (more on that from the Daily Illini here). Parkland Police are planning an educational event on marijuana legalization to help the community understand the changes and avoid misinformation. The date hasn't been finalized yet. The Community Coalition is looking for input on conversations to have on marijuana legalization as well, to help address various related equity and reentry issues locally.

Urbana's update involved one shooting that appeared to revolve around a love triangle as opposed to the other youth gun violence trends that have been devastating this year. Champaign's police chief noted that in a 24 hour period in the last month they had several incidents where seven people were shot. He noted that there had been 97 shooting incidents so far this year, emphasizing that this is a record amount and definitely not normal.


In other coalition priority updates:

The Youth Assessment Center (information links and previous Cheat Sheet update here) updated the coalition on its work, including a preliminary introduction to their Moral Recognition Therapy (MRT) work. They plan on doing a full presentation on MRT to the coalition at a future meeting. They encouraged people interested in seeing what the YAC does to visit their new location and see for themselves. More information on MRT here.

The Champaign County YMCA had a presentation updating the coalition on its youth development partnership. Topics included its summer swim school program which will have a two week swim instruction with bus services and basics (towel/swimsuit/etc) available for free to qualified 2nd-5th graders. The program is an ongoing collaboration between the Community Coalition, Unit 4, the owner of Jimmy Johns and the YMCA. They quickly highlighted some other programs the YMCA is working on. More information is available at their website and most recent program guide.

Reverend Willie Comer highlighted his midnight basketball program through the Youth for Christ organization (the News-Gazette had an interview earlier this year on that here).

Ms Hindes and several Centennial High School students explained their Peace Pilgrimage project that is raising funds to send students to a non-violence training clinic at the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta, GA next year. Their website is https://peacepilgrimage.org/, their GoFundMe page is here, and they have links to media interviews with more information on their webpage here.

The Community Violence Response Task Force had a presentation as well as its own meeting after the Coalition meeting. I'll be doing a separate post on both soon.

The 2020 Census is hiring and increased its rates locally to attract more applicants from $15.50/hour to $20.50/hour. The representatives at this meeting had a table and were encouraging anyone interested to apply, noting flexible hours and the age requirement being 18 years old by the time one is sworn in on the 1st of May. In related local Census news, rural census preparation was recently covered in an article by WILL here.

Next meeting information from the Coalition website:

The next Community Coalition Meeting will be on Wednesday, January 8th, 3:30-5:00 PM at the Holiday Inn Champaign, Conference Center, 101 Trade Center Drive, Champaign (Formerly Hawthorne Suites)

County Updates

The lottery for candidate order on the upcoming primary election ballots was held yesterday and the County's seriously aging IT infrastructure was highlighted. First, the News-Gazette had coverage of the ballot order lottery:

In each of those four races — for Champaign County circuit clerk and three county board seats — there were two Democratic candidates who came to the clerk’s office on the same day, at the same time, during the filing period to run in the primaries next year.

As a result of the lottery, names on the Democratic primary ballot for the following four offices will be listed in this order:

— Circuit Clerk: Robert Burkhalter, followed by Susan McGrath.

— County board District 6: DeShawn Williams, then Charles Young.

— County board District 8: Giraldo Rosales, then Emily Rodriguez.

— County board District 10: Connie Dillard-Myers, then Mary King.

Full article here. WCIA also had a short blurb here. For more information, including studies on ballot order effect, Mother Jones had an excellent article here that explains how the effect varies for low information versus high information (e.g. presidential) elections. From their cited study:

Across all twenty-four contests, the effect is invariably positive and, with two exceptions in runoff elections, statistically significant. The smallest effects are found in high-profile, high information races: the Republican primary for U.S. Senator, which featured the incumbent, John Cornyn; the governor’s race, which featured long-time Attorney General Greg Abbott; and Land Commissioner, which featured well-known political newcomer George P. Bush. In these races the ballot order effect is only one or two percentage points.

Larger estimates obtain for most “medium-profile, medium-information” races such as Comptroller, Railroad Commissioner, or the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator. Most of these fall in a fairly tight band that ranges from three to five percentage points. Estimates are even larger in the low-profile, low-information judicial elections, generally ranging from seven to ten percentage points. Overall, the ballot order effect tends to be larger in contests that receive less attention and in which voters are likely to know less about the candidates on the ballot.

For a close local primary race without major controversies or attention, ballot order can make a serious difference. That full article here.

WILL had coverage on some of the serious problems with aging information technology at the county. Excerpts from what is, frankly, a logistically dire technology situation:

For city and county governments, maintaining infrastructure applies to buildings, roads and vehicles. But in recent years, that list has increasingly included information technology. In Champaign County, local officials are trying to come to grips with what they need to keep their IT up to date.

Champaign County’s director of IT, Andy Rhodes, got started with the county’s computer systems in the 1980’s. Back then, IBM’s AS/400 platform (later rebranded as the IBM System i) was new, and some of the software running on it was custom-made for the task at hand. Today, Champaign County still relies on a version of the AS/400 and those custom-made programs, and the one county employee who knows the programming language they’re written in. He's the county's senior business applications developer, Bill Simmering. Rhodes introduced him at the first meeting of a special county board IT planning committee...

There is money identified for some of the projects in Champaign County’s new IT plan. Those are the ones in the new county budget that starts in January 2020. They include financial software, the county’s oldest, dating back to the 1970’s. That’s one of the software packages running on the AS/400, which is itself slated for replacement in a couple of years by a new version of the same platform. Andy Rhodes, the IT director, says there aren’t many software packages suited to their needs being made for the AS/400 these days, but Champaign County still needs it to run the old software. And as long as the county needs the AS/400, they’ll need Bill Simmering, who’s expected to be available in retirement, to help out  on a part-time basis.

Full article here.

Harvest Updates in December

In agricultural news, there have been some updates on harvests going into December as well as a new statewide coalition to assist veterans getting started in farming. Most recently, WCCU had a blurb and video segment recently with an update on area harvests:

By December, crops across the state are usually fully harvested but due to a wet spring, some farmers are still in the process of harvesting.

They're not alone as farmers in Illinois still have about 10% of their crops to go, which they attribute to a record late planting season.

"I don't think we hardly planted any corn past the first day of May in 20 or 30 years. We planted a lot of corn at the end of May and one field the first of June. That's really late for us in this area," said farmer Garry Niemeyer.

From 2014 until 2018, the average percent of corn harvested by the week of December 1st is 100%.

Link to that blurb and video segment here. The week before, WCIA had an update with a couple farmers who had already completed their harvest:

For a long time, farmers used Thanksgiving as a marker for when they wanted to be finished with harvest. But with the unpredictable weather this season, many of them tried to finish a lot earlier.

Most of them are. Now they’re all putting the finishing touches on their fields to prepare them for next year. Some say the outcome of this harvest was surprisingly good...

While the outcome – or yield – is lower than last year’s past, it’s something farmer Lin Warfel says he can live with because of how prosperous the last 10 years have been.

“About 15% less than average, and the last 10 years, really good average, last two years were really really good, set records, and we’re down from the records,” said Warfel...

Now the wait begins to see what they’ll make from what they sell, but the waiting game won’t end until next summer.

Full article with additional interviews and information, including trade issues and federal offsets here. The Illinois Farm Bureau had their news affiliate with a wider overview recently on their webpage:

Better luck next year? Harvest to spill over into 2020
...
Issues with poor field conditions and low test weights also continue to be compounded by high crop drying demands and tight propane supplies, which eased in recent weeks at some locations due to emergency deliveries...

So, what’s left to run through the system to complete the 2019 harvest? Based on the most recent USDA crop estimates, approximately 1.4 billion bushels of corn and 137 million bushels of beans remained in the field as of Dec. 1.

In the Midwest, 7% of corn in Illinois and Indiana and 8% of the crop in Iowa was unharvested Dec. 1. The harvest delays are more severe to the north and west with a dire situation unfolding in North Dakota, where just 36% of corn was harvested as of last week after that region was hit with another major snowstorm. 

Full article here.

In other news, WCIA had a recent blurb on the announcement of an Illinois statewide chapter of the Farmer Veteran Coalition, which describes itself as a "nonprofit organization assisting veterans–and currently serving members–of the Armed Forces to embark on careers in agriculture." The announcement came at the Illinois Farm Bureau's annual meeting. A lot more information and details and links are available from the FarmWeekNow story here. Excerpt:

The resources include information about programs the veterans may not be aware of, [Retired Army Reserve Maj. Amy Hess] noted. [National Farmer Veteran Coalition President Gary Matteson] added the coalition also has a fellowship fund which has distributed more than $2.5 million in small grants of up to $5,000. Grants may be used to add a new process, build fences or to expand a farming operation...

Matteson emphasized the Farmer Veteran Coalition is “aggressively ecumenical” with representatives from all types of agriculture, all sizes of farms, different farm organizations, and conventional and organic agriculture. “We insist on that broad representation,” he said. “Our goal is to help them be the best at whatever they want to be.”

More at that article here and the coalition website here.

County Board and Jail Followup

I had some updated information and links from the November County Board meeting (agenda here) and some additional coverage of possible jail consolidation issue at that meeting and in additional Daily Illini coverage. The full video of November's regular County Board meeting was posted earlier last week (previous County Board updates and coverage here). Some highlights from the video include:

• A drainage district commissioner explaining continuing ramifications of the local property tax delays at roughly the 15 minute mark
   
• County Treasurer Laurel Prussing proposing equalizing a part of the tax code to prevent higher fees on the lowest incomes at around the 18 minute mark.
   
• Carol Ammons' presentation on criminal justice reforms (at the 21 minute mark) to avoid the need for jail expansion and provide better outcomes for the community. In the presentation she cites the Champaign County Criminal Justice Assessment: Final Report from September 2014 by the Institute for Law and Policy Planning. It, as well as many other local criminal justice reports are available here from the Champaign County League of Women Voters website.
   
• The debate on marijuana zoning regulations (at the 59 minute mark) in unincorporated parts of the County ended in a suggestion for compromise and sending the issue back to the Environment and Land Use Committee towards proposing a compromise plan. The suggestion is that it would address concerns about dispensaries in smaller communities that oppose them without blocking other types of production and business that could benefit them.
   
• and debate on the County employee rules on cannabis (at the 1:50 mark) which also ended with a compromise proposal with a sunset provision to hash out the policy further in the first half of 2020.

Both compromises were proposed and pushed by Pranjal Vachaspati who also announced his resignation at the end of the meeting. He has new employment out of Boston and will be moving there.

The Daily Illini also had coverage on the problems facing the Champaign County jails this week. From their reporting:

County officials are bringing more attention to the failing and out-of-date conditions of Champaign County’s jails. The downtown jail’s old construction has led to severe deterioration: electronic locks to doors opening seemingly randomly, leaks from the roof, cockroach infestations and a lack of recreational space.

Leah Taylor, member of the Facilities Committee on the county board, said she visited the downtown facility two months ago.

“It’s honestly something out of a horror movie,” Taylor said.

There are two jails in Champaign County: the downtown facility, which opened in 1980, and the Satellite Jail, which is located in Urbana and opened in the mid 1990s, according to county Sheriff Dustin Heuerman.

The downtown facility building is facing more damage, but both are said to lack in rehabilitative programs and recreational spaces that allow inmates to exercise and de-stress with activities.

More at their full coverage here. 

NAACP of Champaign County Updates

At this month's local NAACP meeting, a lot of upcoming events and local government topics were highlighted (including the fact that there will be no January General Body meeting for the county NAACP). Most pressing is an upcoming Unit 4 school board meeting that the county's ACLU and NAACP chapter are going to be attending to address ongoing racial disparities on December 9th. More on that from the C-U Local Cheat Sheet post here.

Local violence issues touched upon included the recent shootings involving minors, including the recent shooting of a 10 year old child and the community response. The NAACP had a representative at the most recent community violence task force meeting occurring at the same time as the group's General Meeting. More coverage on that meeting is available from WCIA here. Upcoming meetings were also announced on the Champaign County Community Coalition's facebook page:

Just a heads up that our Community Violence Response Task Force will be holding December's meeting in the evening to be more accessible to community members.

Please join us December 11 at 5:30 p.m. (after the Coalition Meeting) at the Holiday Inn, Champaign at 101 N. Trade Center Dr.

Further updates available form their facebook page here or their website here. The family has been overwhelmed, but has a Pastoral liason and a contact point for more information on helping the Roberts family find safe accommodations and other needs while Decari recovers. From information given to NAACP members:

Because the family has been overwhelmed and need things streamlined Pastor Johnson from Mt. Calvary is serving as the family's liaison and as Pastoral support.

He has included out Community Violence Response Team in this process so that we can be of help (and help coordinate the help).

Currently, the family is spending most of their time at the hospital or a hotel (because of the safety issues).

There list of currently identified needs are listed below.

If you or a group that you work with can help out in anyway please email : Samyra Leonard who is organizing and putting together a master list of what help is coming and where are the the unmet needs.

Samyra.a.leonard@gmail.com

There biggest needs are financial to support their move and safety.

On other issues of violence, there was also some discussion on Urbana's approval of expanding its Student Resource Officer program (also discussed in this Cheat Sheet post on school board updates here). Concerns ranged from experiences with the school-to-prison pipeline to positive experiences kids and parents had with some Student Resource Officers locally.

Other upcoming events in January:

• There will be no NAACP General Meeting in January!

• In cooperation with the local Baha'i Faith organization, is a True Justice Workshop on January 5th and 12th (more information coming soon to their website here). 

• January 9th at the Champaign City Building and City Council Chambers, the NAACP will be co-hosting an event on working on criminal justice issues locally. State Representatives Carol Ammons will be attending.

The rest of the meeting included program updates, reports, and committee appointments. All of the time and effort that goes into organizing and staying involved in the local community.

More County Updates

There were a few other items outside of the County Board Updates posted earlier worth pointing out, including candidate petitions, MTD grant funding, Chambana Proud, and apartment companies complaining to the Board of Review. First off, it's filing time today for candidates in Champaign County. From the News-Gazette last Friday:

The Champaign County Clerk’s Office will begin accepting petitions for candidates running for countywide offices in 2020 at 8 a.m. Monday.

Petitions can be brought to the clerk’s office at 1776 E. Washington St., U, through 5 p.m. Dec. 2 — with the exception of Nov. 28-29, when it will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Filings will be accepted for countywide offices up for election next year, including auditor, circuit clerk, recorder, state’s attorney and coroner, plus five county board seats and precinct committeemen.

More details at the full blurb here and the County Clerk's website here. The MTD is getting a boost in grant funding towards its expansion project. The Daily Illini had an overview here with links to more coverage and information:

U.S. Representative Rodney Davis announced Wednesday that the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District has been awarded more than $17 million in grant money from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Buses and Bus Facilities Grant Program for the Illinois Terminal Expansion Project.

The $25 million Expansion Project is just one part of a $250 million project in downtown Champaign called “The Yards,” which will include a 175-room hotel, convention space and a possible hockey arena for a Division I Illinois hockey team, according to The News-Gazette.

In a press release, Davis praised the award and the benefits the partnership with developer Core Spaces will bring to downtown Champaign.

More at the full article here. Additional coverage from WILL here and an overview of "The Yards" project from Smile Politely here. Smile Politely also highlighted a new collaboration called "Chambana Proud." Excerpt from the press release:

Chambana Proud, a joint collaboration with Visit Champaign County, the Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, and You’re Welcome CU, officially launched at ChambanaProud.com to bolster pride among residents of the area...

Following the initial launch of this campaign with Weiskamp Screen Printing, Reifsteck and McCrory plan to bring these designs into local shops and destinations bringing in visitors. Long-term, they expect to add more designs available on multiple items from canvas bags to mugs.

Additionally, Chambana Proud will continue to find ways to create community ambassadors, seeking input from what residents love about Chambana, to ultimately creating an ambassador program that helps recruit and welcome newcomers to the area.

More at Smile Politely here.

Earlier this month there was also some coverage by Tom Kacich about apartment building owners raising complaints about appraisal rates to the County Board of Review. From the News-Gazette two weeks ago:

Ever-growing apartment construction in Champaign-Urbana is increasing vacancy rates and depressing monthly rents, according to apartment building owners who have filed property assessment complaints with the Champaign County Board of Review.

Although most of the recent apartment construction has been focused around the University of Illinois campus, the assessment complaints come from owners of properties away from the Campustown area...

In any case the new construction is sure to increase the local apartment vacancy rate now estimated at 10 percent or more.

Raymond Timpone Jr., owner of the Stratford Apartment in downtown Urbana, told the board of review that an 18 percent increase in his development’s assessment was unjustifiable.

Full article available here.

County Board Updates

It has been a busy month for the Champaign County Board and its committees. First, the latest from the News-Gazette's coverage of the most recent County Board meeting:

The cost of running Champaign County government services will rise 5.5 percent next year.

The county board on Thursday approved a $129.6 million budget for 2020, with the increase tied largely to higher personnel and services costs...

In other business Thursday, the board declined to take action on a controversial ordinance prohibiting marijuana businesses in unincorporated areas of the county. Instead, it sent the ordinance back to committee to work out a possible compromise.

The board also approved a cannabis, drug and alcohol use/abuse policy for county employees in anticipation of the legalization of recreational marijuana starting next year. Under an amendment, the policy is a temporary measure that will expire June 1, 2020.

More details and information at the full article here. WILL had additional coverage of the marijuana regulation at the Board meeting here. Excerpt:

Champaign County board members will take another look at whether to allow or prohibit cannabis businesses in unincorporated areas --- with an eye toward a possible compromise.

The Champaign County Board split along party lines in its debate over whether to ban cannabis businesses in rural areas. Democrats from Champaign and Urbana opposed the ban, while the county board’s mostly rural Republicans said their constituents don’t want a cannabis dispensary nearby...

The county board voted to send the cannabis issue back to its Environment and Land Use Committee (ELUC for short) for reconsideration. The committee, meeting on November 7 with one Democratic member absent, had produced tie votes on a proposal to permit cannabis businesses and another to prohibit them.

Eisenmann, fellow Republican Jim McGuire and Democrat Connie Dillard-Myers voted against the move to send the issue back to committee. But ELUC’s Republican chairman, Aaron Esry, says a compromise might be possible.  

Full WILL article and radio segment here, which also includes a brief note that member Vachaspati resigned at the end of the meeting due to a new job in Boston. The video of the meeting isn't up yet this morning, but should be available here at the County Clerk's YouTube channel soon. Videos of the Environment and Land Use Committee (ELUC) and the County Board's Committee of the Whole meeting (what is the COW?) are already available at the video link as of last week.

The ELUC meeting on 11/7 (agenda here, video here) had extended discussions from either side of the marijuana issue in unincorporated County areas. Early in the meeting, this drew some public questions from one citizen of a smaller town concerned about the topic (jump to that discussion here). Typically there is no back and forth Q&A for public participation, but the rules were suspended in this instance. The discussion helped clarify some basic questions on what these new marijuana rules would mean and where they would apply. On the first item, there was further discussion by the committee (jump to the video of that discussion here) for and against a compromise direction for the full County Board. The vote on the language to ban it came later with an additional brief discussion (jump to video here).

In the end, both marijuana policy votes failed in ties. The ban policy moved on to the full board without recommendation. The reason the ban went on to the full board as opposed to the other policy was explained by Chair Esry and Mr. Hall, head of the Zoning Department, in the video here. Essentially they were introduced using different processes. The full County Board, as mentioned above, sent it back to ELUC for further work for a compromise policy.

The Committee of the Whole (agenda here, video here) had a budget overview with details on what the County Board voted on and approved at the regular County Board meeting mentioned above (budget overview PDF available here and on pages 137-155 of the agenda packet).

The COW also had a presentation on the Public Safety Tax that, while also delving into the financial situation of debt and projections, also included discussions on how that funding might be used towards public safety projects such as jail consolidation, jail programs, and possible implementation of Racial Justice Task Force recommendations. County Board member Fortado highlighted a few things she'd like to focus on, including a research person in place. She explained in further correspondence on this point:

The researcher position was a RJTF report recommendation, and we advocated for it to get implemented, because it seemed like getting that done could help drive some of the other recommendations.  But it is a first small step, there remains a LOT of work to be done implementing what is outlined in that report.  I firmly believe those recommendations should be front and center in any conversation about Criminal Justice in our community, and we as a Board need to keep working towards the goals outlined in the study...

To follow up, they just finished the interview process the data analyst should be on board soon.

Video of her commentary in the Public Safety Tax overview discussion starts here.

Farming Updates: Moisture Levels Race Cold

A few weeks ago, The 21st Show on WILL had interviews with farmers around Illinois with updates on harvest delays after rains and flooding caused a late start and prevented some planting earlier this year.

They cover everything from how relying on crop insurance still leaves them in a bind for financing and loans next year to why continued high moisture levels are preventing them from being able to harvest and store corn. The delays mean they're caught between corn with moisture levels that are still too high and the potential for an early snow that they need to harvest before.

It covers quite a bit and was pretty understandable for the lay person without an Ag degree. Excerpt from the description:

This spring, the Midwest was drenched with historic rains. Most areas in Illinois got between 6 and 20 inches more than usual. That’s according to the office of the Illinois state climatologist.

That wet weather has left many farmers across Illinois still feeling the effects this harvest season.

The USDA says as of last week, only 23 percent of Illinois corn had been harvested. A year prior, we were at 70 percent.

More at the WILL article here and the full audio segment here.

WCIA had an update this weekend on the current harvest in light of the early snows this month:

Record low temperatures hit Central Illinois. Some farms have to make changes to keep business afloat. “The cold’s come a little bit early this year,” said Megan Reynolds of Prairie Fruits Farm & Creamery. “We went very quickly from autumn normal seasonal weather to very very cold. Something we’re more likely to see in January typically,” said Maggie Taylor, Owner of Delight Flower Farm. Maggie Taylor is the owner of Delight Flower Farm. They grow cut flowers for places like grocery stores and farmer’s markets. She says the cold slowed down some growth and construction on the farm. She says they’ll be okay. “But I know a lot of the conventional farmers around us are really effected,” said Taylor.

Data from the USDA said corn harvested for grain was at 71 percent. That’s compared to 96 percent this time last year, and soybean harvest was 87 percent complete. That’s down from 94 percent last year. Prairie Fruits Farms is also feeling the impact of the cold.

Full blurb here. The overall picture was already looking fairly grim according to the Farm Bureau a few weeks back:

Farm Bankruptcies Rise Again
Chapter 12 Filings Increase 24% Compared to Year-Ago Levels
USDA currently projects farm income in 2019 to reach $88 billion – the highest net farm income since 2014’s $92 billion, but still 29% below 2013’s record high. In addition, nearly 40% of that income – some $33 billion in total --  is related to trade assistance, disaster assistance, the farm bill and insurance indemnities and has yet to be fully received by farmers and ranchers (Is Farm Income Really Up?)...

With record-high debt, and more farmers extending their repayment terms, it should come as no surprise that Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies remain elevated. Data from the U.S. Courts reveals that for the 12-month period ending September 2019, Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies totaled 580 filings, up 24% from the prior year and the highest level since 676 filings in 2011. For the third quarter of 2019, Chapter 12 bankruptcies decreased slightly to 160 filings, down 2% from the previous quarter. 

More at the full Farm Bureau page here, including data and map breakdowns by State and region.

For some happier local farming news, there was a great article on local farmers donating their time and efforts for harvesting crops for the United Way of Champaign County from the News-Gazette here.

Previous Cheat Sheet Farm Update post: Rain Delays and Trade Wars

Sixth Circuit Race Updates

[Correction: This post has been updated and corrected to note that Cherie Kesler is running for the Jones vacancy, not the Difanis vacancy. More race information was also added.]

This is a followup on the last Sixth Circuit race Cheat Sheet update on the three open seats (more information on the Sixth Circuit on our Judges page). The last post had some specific information on the competitive Democratic Party primary for the Champaign County judge seat from Judge Jones' retirement (and being vacated by the appointed Judge Jason Bohm to run for the district-wide seat). Below is an update on the Republican Primary candidates. Bohm who is running for the full circuit seat currently held by Judge Difanis who is retiring. Cherie Kesler who is running for Champaign County vacancy being created by Bohm. And Judge Jeffrey Geisler who is running for another district-wide seat (being vacated by Judge A.G. Webber). From the News-Gazette's Tom Kacich a couple weeks ago:

Gifford Republican Sami Anderson, running for the Sixth Judicial Circuit judge nomination against Judge Jason Bohm, has dropped out of the race. They were vying for the position currently held by retiring Judge Tom Difanis,.

“It’s just too much,” she said. “Running in 2017-2018 (in which she lost the Republican primary to Judge Randy Rosenbaum) and then volunteering on Roger Webber’s campaign and then going right into this campaign, it’s just a lot.”

Anderson marched in parades as recently as Labor Day but recently decided to quit the race.

“I think the first time you run, you have a different way of thinking about it. You’re excited; you think it’s going to be great,” she said. “The second time you run, you know what’s coming, and that’s a lot different.”

Anderson she hasn’t committed to supporting Bohm — “I’m not that far along yet,” she said — but won’t be supporting any Democratic candidates, even though she said more female circuit judges are needed.

More at the full article here. Cherie Kesler has recently announced a run for the seat Bohm is vacating (which confusingly is referred to as the Jones vacancy due to the seat having been initially opened up by the retirement of Judge Michael Jones in 2018). From the News-Gazette:

A local attorney has formally announced her candidacy to become a judge in Champaign County.

Over the weekend, Cherie Kesler, 42, of rural Mahomet said she will be a Republican candidate for resident circuit court judge in the March 17, 2020, primary. She hopes to get the post to succeed retired judge Michael Jones.

Kesler has connections all over Champaign County. After attending Yankee Ridge school in Urbana and Holy Cross School in Champaign, she graduated from St. Joseph-Ogden High School in 1995. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, lives in rural Mahomet and has her law office in Savoy.

That full article here. WAND had coverage of the retirement of Circuit Judge A.G. Webber and Judge Jeffrey Geisler's interest in running for that vacancy here.

Macon County Presiding Circuit Judge A.G. Webber has announced he is retiring.

Webber said he will not seek retention in office at the end of his current term in December 2020.

He was elected to office in 2002 and retained in 2008 and 2014...

Judge Jeffrey Geisler told Webber he intends to run for the seat. "Jeff is a great judge, and I couldn't be more pleased," Webber said.

Full blurb available here.

For more News-Gazette coverage on Judge Difanis retiring in hopes of Judge Jason Bohm taking over the district-wide seat in 2020 click here. The News-Gazette also had a overview of Judge Bohm after he was appointed to the county-wide seat in 2018 here. Excerpt:

A central Illinois federal prosecutor with civil law experience has been named as Champaign County’s newest circuit judge...

A 2003 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, Bohm has been a federal prosecutor in the Central District of Illinois for nine years — four in the Springfield office and the last five in the Urbana office.

For the last two years, he’s been doing mostly appellate work but prior to that handled anti-terrorism cases as well as fraud, guns and drugs. The latter three are typical assignments for most federal prosecutors.

After earning his law degree, Bohm clerked for the late Donald Stohr, a federal judge for the Eastern District of Missouri in St. Louis, for two years before getting a job at the prestigious Chicago firm of Sidley Austin LLP. He was there from 2005 to 2008 handling securities-fraud litigation.

Full article with additional information here. More background on the appointment process Bohm was selected by for his current seat is available here (applicants) and here (process) from the News-Gazette. For more information on the Sixth Circuit and current races, see the Cheat Sheet's Judges page.

Staying Warm

The Champaign County Emergency Management Agency had an update last night on the C-U Warming Center hours:

In Champaign County there is a dial 211 phone directory for services (more information here). Champaign has a list of emergency shelters, including the C-U Warming Shelter, here. The full list includes emergency shelters for a variety of needs, but below is the warming shelter information excerpt (note the time change from the Champaign County EMA above):
Daytime Warming Centers

The Phoenix Daytime Drop-In Center
Provides a year-round drop-in center and winter daytime warming site for those in our community that need a place to be. Hours of operation are Tuesday through Friday from 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Additional hours may be added when daytime temperatures drop below 10° and are based on volunteer manpower.
Location:  70 E. Washington St., Champaign (the former TIMES Center)
Contact:  217-819-4569
Website:  cuathome.us

Salvation Army Stepping Stone Program and Daytime Warming Center
The Stepping Stone Program will house men, women and families who present as homeless and who commit to working the program. Capacity is limited, so agencies must contact the Program Manager before referring. The Salvation Army Red Shield Center on Market Street also serves as a daytime warming center Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Location: 2212 N. Market St., Champaign

Other Daytime Warming Options
Other locations to stay warm include public buildings during normal business hours (i.e. federal, state, local government buildings, libraries, etc.). 

More information from the full listing here. WCIA had a segment on local shelters and expanded hours:

Homeless shelters are preparing for the steep drop in temperatures this week. C-U at Home says they are expanding their hours Monday. Because it is Veterans Day and other places might not be open, they wanted to have a safe place for people who need to warm up.

Austin’s Place says they are staying open one hour later than they usually do. The co leader for Austin’s Place says they are ready but weren’t anticipating the cold. Austin’s Place and C-U at Home are planning to have a year round shelter starting November of next year. They’re hoping to gain support of community donors to make that happen.

Blurb and video segment available here. More information on C-U at Home here, and Austin's Place here or their facebook page here. More coverage form the News-Gazette on the plans for 24/7 shelter options next year from an article last month here. The United Way also has some additional listings for winter services in its most recent guide available here.