Thursday, February 3, 2022

County Courthouse Updates and Weather Closing

The high likelihood of extreme winter weather over the next couple days has led to closings across the area, including government facilities and even the Champaign County Courthouse. IllinoisNewsroom has a list of area closings and cancellations on their website here. Excerpt from the News-Gazette coverage of the Courthouse closing here:

Heuerman reminded motorists who do get stuck in drifts that their vehicles may not be towed right away.

“It is important that those who do not need to be out stay in,” he said, adding that the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency will be working with first responders to help coordinate response to emergency calls for service.

Presiding Judge Randy Rosenbaum said he alerted judges and their clerks on Tuesday to begin rearranging schedules. Anyone with court hearings for Wednesday or Thursday is advised to stay in touch with their attorneys about rescheduling.

More at the full blurb here. In other recent Courthouse news, the ban on electronic devices at the courthouse is changing. From the News-Gazette earlier in January:

The Illinois Supreme Court has decided to enter the 21st century and allow the general public to bring cellphones and other portable electronic devices into county courthouses.

The high court is leaving the choice up to individual counties. Champaign County has opted to embrace the change, reversing a 10-year-old ban...

Phones will be allowed in Jan. 18, giving the sheriff time to get signs ready and court security officers up to speed on the dos and don’ts of cellphone usage.

That full article here. WCIA had a full overview of the rules going into effect here with a link to Presiding Judge Rosenbaum's order on "Portable Electronic Devices (PEDs)" here

WCIA also had a comparison to other County courthouse rules under the changes here.

The Circuit Clerk's information on visiting the Courthouse still has the prohibition listed, however (as of February 2nd):

Prohibited Items

By order of the Champaign County Sheriff, the following items cannot be brought into the Courthouse:

  • Electronic devices of any kind (cell phones, tablets, laptops, smart watches, eReaders)

That information appears to be out of date, but is available on the Circuit Clerk website here.


In other Champaign Courthouse news:


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