Republican Women of Champaign County

The local county GOP announced a new group meeting today named and for the Republican Women of Champaign County. The group hopes to help support Republican women running for GOP political offices, but also connect Republican women to campaign activities and organization tools. Men can be members, but they can't be on the governing board or have an organizational vote. They hope to become federated with the state level Illinois Federation of Republican Women which would open up more avenues to share resources and funding opportunities.

Today's meeting was led by Linda Yoakum (also president of the state level IFRW) and Republican Mayor of Savoy Joan Dykstra. They introduced themselves and explained the purpose and mission of the group before introducing their guest speaker, Andrew Minik, the RNC field director for Illinois' 13th Congressional District. He talked about his previous work with Turning Point USA on campus and how he went from being asked to be a treasurer for the group to a couple years later being heavily involved in Republican politics and working for the RNC.

The presentation was split up talking about being on the "front lines of the culture war" on campus and the political struggles faced by conservatives contending with generally more liberal University culture from students to the administration and some of the colleges and staff. He explained the importance of canvassing and the human factor of getting out the vote. On that much local partisans can certainly agree. Reaching out and talking to people and getting to know their concerns and needs is the most effective way to help turnout.

A lot of the discussion was geared towards the federal congressional race between Republican incumbent Rodney Davis and Democratic challenger Betsy Dirksen Londrigan, but down ballot races such as the County Board races and coordinating to help get information out in canvassing about them was also raised. Republican Richard J. Montgomery, candidate for the County District 6 seat against Democratic primary winner Mike Ingram was there. The guys from the Champaign County Voter Alliance were there as well and let me know that Montgomery has a Questionnaire in on their candidate guide, so I'll have updates coming soon.

Overall the women of the group appeared very passionate and excited to take on the Democrats in the ground game of the upcoming midterms. In this often purple county within a contested congressional district, it appears that both parties are very activated and ready to put in the work.

There's an event for some of the Democratic Party candidates for county offices tonight in Savoy tonight at 6:30pm (event details here). If you're wanting to get involved on either side there are endless opportunities to get involved with your favorite candidate or any number of local conservative and progressive organizations as we approach November. They're already knocking on doors across the various districts!

Vote by Mail requests are available from the County Clerk now (no reason needed). For more information on candidates, check out the non-partisan Champaign County Voter Alliance candidate guide for candidates on the ballot here in Champaign County.

One Step Closer to Solar Farms

Following up on the previous step: Another Step Towards Solar Farms and a post on a Solar Farm Tour. The next step will be a vote at the full county board later this month. From the News-Gazette today:

Champaign County Board committee OKs zoning change for solar farms
Solar farms could soon become a reality in rural Champaign County.

On Thursday night, the county board's Environment and Land Use Committee voted 4-0 to recommend amending the zoning ordinance to allow photovoltaic solar farms on certain agricultural properties. The amendment that was approved would require solar-farm companies to provide a letter of credit covering the eventual costs of decommissioning solar farms no longer in use.

Photovoltaic solar energy produces power by the use of cells that generate electricity when struck by light.

Similar to a wind farm, establishment of a PV solar farm would require a special permit from the Champaign County Board that is only allowed in AG-1 and AG-2 agricultural zoning districts.

The full county board will consider final approval of the ordinance amendment on Aug. 23.

In the event that the proposal passes, the first solar farm public hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 30.

Full article here.

Service Organizations and New Locations

Rosecrance and the Regional Planning Commission's Youth Assessment Center have been on the move. Rosecrance has a substance abuse treatment center coming soon that will replace the current facility. From the News-Gazette today:

Rosecrance aims to open new treatment center in December
A new residential and outpatient substance-abuse treatment center with a detox unit will open in late December in northwest Champaign.

Rosecrance, the Rockford-based mental-health and substance-abuse treatment system, bought the former PASS Program building at 2302 Moreland Blvd. and plans to open its new central Illinois recovery center there in December, Rosecrance President and CEO Phil Eaton told The News-Gazette on Thursday.

Rosecrance has been offering services in this area since acquiring two Champaign-Urbana mental health and substance-abuse treatment agencies, starting with the former Community Elements in 2016 and the former Prairie Center at the start of this year.

Rosecrance's current residential treatment facility at 122 W. Hill St., C, will be closing when the new building is ready to open, Eaton said. That building was sold to Green Street Realty, which plans to redevelop it into apartments.

More details at the full article here. The Youth Assessment Center is highlighting successes at its new location. Also from the N-G today:

Youth Assessment Center touts success stories at new location's open house

The Champaign County Youth Assessment Center has been up and running at its new west Champaign location since April. But now, with all the equipment plugged in and the welcome mat out front, officials are taking time to celebrate some success stories.

The center provides services to troubled kids in an attempt to keep them out of court and prison. Thanks to a $50,000 donation from Jimmy John’s founder Jimmy John Liautaud, its rent at 2011 Round Barn Road is covered for three years.

“What we’re excited about are our partnerships that we are continually growing with the police departments and with the school districts, especially,” said coordinator Jonathan Westfield, a former Champaign police officer. “But we’re also looking to branch out to a lot of the community organizations that work with juveniles, and we can better provide access to these services that they have.”

More details, including a success story available at the full article here.

Nursing Home Sidewalk

As part of the Nursing Home sale, a few odds and ends and housekeeping tasks will pop up, including plans for a sidewalk as part of requirements for the City of Urbana. The County will be required to build the estimated $300,000 sidewalk by summer 2020, but will likely get it done next year. From the News-Gazette on Wednesday:

County board panel OKs first step in adding sidewalk near nursing home
The Champaign County Board is taking the first steps toward building a sidewalk to serve people walking to the Champaign County Nursing Home and Brookens Administrative Center.

In May, the board agreed to sell the financially challenged nursing home to Extended Care Clinical LLC and Altitude Health Services Inc., both headquartered in Evanston, for $11 million.

But in order to have the property available for sale, a plat revision needed approval by the city of Urbana.

As part of that revision, the city requested that the county build a sidewalk along Art Bartell Road between South Lierman Avenue and East Main Street, according to county Facilities Director Dana Brenner. The county agreed to the request.

On Tuesday night, the facilities committee voted 6-0 to recommend hiring a civil engineer/architect to plan the sidewalk.

More at the full article here.

Climate Change and Crop Yields

The Daily Illini recently highlighted and followed up on a press release from the American Agriculturalist on climate change and its affects on crops. From the Daily Illini last week:

Farmers adapt to changing Illinois weather patterns
The corn yields in Illinois are increasing at a rapid pace, showing a trend towards an increase of two bushels an acre per year due to changes in Illinois weather trends and temperatures, said Eric Snodgrass, atmospheric sciences professor at the University.

“We are actually getting more annual precipitation coming in the form of big rainfall events. We on average receive here in Illinois about 40 inches of rain a year; we’re starting to see that more of those 40 inches of rain are coming from big events, followed by longer dry spells,” Snodgrass said.

According to the press release, the percentage of rainfall occurring in very heavy events has increased dramatically over the past 55 years, especially in the Northeast. Illinois’ heavy rainfall has increased by 37 percent...

On average, the nighttime temperature has warmed up about a degree to a degree and a half.  Snodgrass said this could pose a problem, but the changes are not yet substantial enough to really affect crop yields.
Farmers are already adapting to these changes. Snodgrass said to help mitigate the effects of increased heavy rainfall, they use a technique known as field tiling, which utilizes a corrugated plastic under the fields to let the excess water drain out of the soil. However, not all of the changes might be harmful towards crops.

“Changes in temperature are actually very beneficial. We used to not plant the crop in Illinois until May, or the middle of May. Now we can plant our crops in the middle of April, end of April,” Snodgrass said. “And the earlier we plant them, the bigger and better, the higher the yields are.”

More at the full article here. Press release information here.

Housing Authority and Police Communication

The Housing Authority of Champaign County is having pizza and police meetings for residents to ask questions and find out more about communicating their needs to law enforcement. From WCIA yesterday (video segment available at link):

Perfect pairing: Pizza & Police
Authorities say community policing is a two-way street. It means, if you're not telling them where you need police, they might not be there.

Police held a meeting at the Housing Authority of Champaign County Monday.

People who live in public housing had a lot of questions and concerns, but they'd never called any in. Officials say that's part of the problem and they hope it changes.

A.J. Johnson says it's happened to everyone who lives in Washington Square at one time or another.

"When I come in at night, when the sun goes down and I'm coming in, I'm aware that there's someone behind me."

He's never reported it to police, but plenty of people have reported it to CCHA, which manages the building.

"We've been out in the community, talking to our clients and one of the concerns was safety."

Thus, CEO David Northern, Sr., says Police and Pizza was born. He organized the lunch to introduce residents to police and answer their questions.

"The big takeaway of today is the importance of communication."

"They want to see us in the area more and we didn't know that, so we're going to be here more."

Full article here.

County Board Changing More and More

[UPDATE: Today on the front page of the News-Gazette the Democratic party's infighting over this District 6 seat was laid out. This included the leadership struggles revealed between the outgoing Chairman of the County Board and the county party chairwoman (more on that here). They're revisiting accusations of racism and corruption within the party as we approach the midterm elections in a county that's critical to getting out the vote for candidates up and down the ticket. Volunteers are already braving hours in the heat to knock on doors for their favorite candidates hoping to help get more folks to the polls this November.

Champaign Dems pick man passed over for District 6 seat as November candidate
...
On Monday, Douglas said it came as “a little bit of a surprise” to learn that the county’s Democratic precinct committeemen picked Young to represent the party on Nov. 6.

Douglas hoped to be considered as a candidate for the seat beyond Nov. 30 but said she didn’t know the slating meeting took place last month.

It’s local Democrats’ second show of support this summer for Young, a retired education historian at the University of Illinois.

He was led to believe he was in line to take Hartke’s seat after precinct committeemen chose him in a vote on May 17. But a few days later, Democratic county board Chairman C. Pius Weibel announced he wouldn’t recognize the selection, pointing out that the short notice given for that meeting — 48 hours — violated the bylaws of the county party’s central committee and left several of the elected precinct committee members unable to attend.

That led Maryam Ar-Raheem, chairwoman of the county Democratic Party, to express in a letter her frustration over what she called Weibel’s repeated attempts to dictate how she performs her duties.

Young sat out the June 10 re-vote that went Douglas’ way. The night she was seated, he had strong words for Weibel “and his sneaky Democratic colleagues and friends,” saying: “Your political process of voting with the new female candidate that you always wanted is illegal, unconstitutional, a scam, a hoax and a dishonor to the entire” party.

More at the full article here. So far the Democratic side of the ballot for the two District 6 seats appear to be Mike Ingram (running for Pattsi Petrie's current seat after he won the primary against her) and Charles Young (running for Josh Hartke's old seat, currently held by Tracy Douglas appointed to finish his term after he resigned and moved from the area). On the Republican side: Richard J. Montgomery will be running against Mike Ingram, and a yet to be determined party nominee will be soon selected to go up against Charles Young.]

Tom Kacich noted today that the County Board is changing more dramatically than simply embracing an County Executive form of government. The County Board that will institute this new form of government will be overwhelmingly new due to the many seats changed recently. From the News-Gazette today:

Tom Kacich | Turnover plaguing Champaign County Board
...
Since the current board was given the oath of office in December 2016, nine of its 22 members have resigned.

The latest, in the last month, are Democrats Robert King and Shana Jo Crews and Republican Brooks Marsh. All three have moved or are in the process of moving out of the county.

They join Democrats Chris Alix, Josh Hartke, Matt Hiser and Republicans Gary Maxwell, Diane Michaels and John Jay, who have left the board for various reasons.

Michaels, for example, moved from the county board to become county auditor.

Marsh had replaced Jay, who resigned for health reasons in February 2017, so County Board District 1 has seen a lot of turnover in the last two years.

And it will continue with at least four more members — Democrats C. Pius Weibel and Pattsi Petrie and Republicans Jack Anderson and Max Mitchell — leaving the county board after the November general election...

That's happening at the same time the county government switches to a new structure with a newly elected, powerful county executive taking over in December. The executive, a new office created by voters in 2016, will be either Republican Gordy Hulten or Democrat Darlene Kloeppel.

More at the full article including concerns by the outgoing Democratic Chair, C. Pius Wiebel about the loss of institutional knowledge that could make navigating these changes even more difficult. Speaking of that dramatic turnover, we will be updating the information on County Board and office seats, elections, and candidates as we can. The latest information is on the right hand side for each district (under the "Members" menu on mobile) including tools, links and maps to see who represents you and your district. The County Executive and other County Office races appear pretty well set, but we'll add more information such as forum links and candidate questionnaire responses.

Check out the Champaign County Voter Alliance's Candidate Guide for even more races and information on Champaign County ballots!


[Updated. Originally posted 8/5/2018 at 1:06pm.]

The Week Ahead: 8/5 - 8/11

For more information on the County Board meeting from last month, check out this Cheat Sheet post with local coverage and a write up: County Board 7/19

Other Events:

There are a lot of political campaign and organizing events popping up. Check out your preferred candidates and you will likely see campaign, canvassing, or voter registration events in the area. Many are using facebook to more easily share event information and reminders. Check out the Champaign County Voter Alliance's preliminary general election candidate guide to see who is running. We'll be updating County race information from the primary election to the general soon.
 
Groups that crossover with Racial Justice Task Force recommendations meeting this week:

Champaign Human Relations Commission August 6th at 5:30pm. More information on City of Champaign meeting times here. This commission recently reaffirmed its recommendation to the City Council that they remove the exemption to their housing discrimination protections as recommended by the RJTF.

The Champaign Community Coalition meeting, this Wednesday, August 8th at 3:30-5pm at the Champaign Public Library, it is likely to be again focused on the uptick of gun violence in our community. There is certain to have a lot of overlap with criminal justice issues and key players from law enforcement, activist, and social service communities there.

Build Programs Not Jails meets Wednesday, August 8th at 7pm at the Independent Media Center. Meetings are every other Wednesday at 7pm at the IMC.

At last month's City of Champaign Study Session of the City Council, the reentry housing issue was raised during public participation (a full write up of the meeting is here and video here). This is following up on the preview of that discussion at the City Council meeting here: Reentry Housing Issue. The News-Gazette had a couple articles following up on the meeting linked on the Cheat Sheet here.

County Calendar:

The week kicks off on Tuesday with the Labor/Management Health Insurance Committee. It deals with benefits issues for County Staff which is probably mostly interesting to County Staff. I don't have a link to the agenda and previous meeting minutes yet. (Previous meeting agenda along with earlier meeting minutes here.)

The Facilities Committee later that same day deals with County facilities maintenance and projects. More information can be found in the meeting agenda packet, including previous minutes to get an idea of what they do.

Thursday has a meeting of the is the Environment & Land Use Committee, which deals with environmental issues and how land is used within the County's jurisdiction. This week they will be looking at revised rules for solar farms after a preliminary vote last month. More at the agenda packet here (additional details start on package page 33, or page 35 of the PDF file).

The Highway & Transportation Committee meets at the Highway Building and oversees the Highway Department which "bears responsibility for preparing plans, specifications and estimates for County bridges and culverts and supervising construction of same. The Department also supervises the construction and maintenance of all Champaign County highways. In addition, the Department keeps records of contracts, purchases of materials, machinery, etc. and administers the County Motor Fuel Fund, County Bridge Fund, State & Local Bridge Fund and Township Motor Fuel Tax Fund."

The full 2018 schedule is on the Calendar page and the County page. The regular County Board meetings are back to Thursdays until next holiday season.

If you're curious about learning more about how your county government works, it's easy enough to live stream a meeting or go in person: Attend a Meeting.

*Meeting is broadcast live on Comcast Public Access and at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/champco1776

Where is Brookens?

Brookens Administrative Center
1776 East Washington Street
Urbana, Illinois 61802-4581
Phone: 217-384-3772

After 4:30 the Washington Street side Parking Lot is Closed See Maps for the North East Parking Lot Access

Chris Stohr Appointed to 2nd Seat

Champaign County Democratic Party may have added to the previous appointment disagreements in filling one of two of the recent vacancies on the County Board. Last time it was a contentious appointment where there were accusations of racism and a disagreement on weighting and representation that changed the internal party vote (more at Douglas Chosen for District 6 - UPDATEx5 and the News-Gazette coverage of the fallout at the following County Board meeting). It's hard to say how much last night's appointment process stemmed from the previous fallout or may exacerbate it. From the News-Gazette today:

Dems give Champaign County Board member who lost primary 2nd chance
In March's primary, Urbana residents voted Chris Stohr off the Champaign County Board when his term expires in November.

Thursday evening, his fellow Democrats gave the 69-year-old a second chance.

In a 32-minute meeting held behind closed doors at the Urbana Free Library, a divided group of Democratic precinct committeemen slated Stohr for the November ballot for District 10.

The district has two seats — the one Stohr lost to Tanisha King-Taylor in March's primary and the one made available last month following the resignation of Robert King.

So, if King-Taylor beats her Republican opponent, David Weisiger, on Nov. 6, she could be seated alongside the man she defeated eight months earlier.

More details at the full article here, including about how not even the Democratic chair of the County Board was informed of the meeting. He expressed surprise that the public wasn't notified of the meeting. The article explains that the wife of former County Board member Robert King had advocated for diversity in the choice while supporting another contender for the appointment, Cedric Stratton.

Robert King's wife, Angela King, called on committee members Thursday to consider the political newcomer.

"We have been here in this community for seven years, and when we first moved into District 10, we were the only family of color on the block," she said Thursday. "We saw the power of having representation from people of color at the table. I want this group to consider slating another person of color for District 10. I think that's extremely vital.

"I look around this room, and it is mostly white people. I hope you understand the importance of continuing having representation that is different from what historically has been at the table."

Robert King, it should be noted, was the chair of the Justice & Social Services committee prior to his announced move and resignation. He had been working with local community to help facilitate the Racial Justice Task Force recommendations.

Clerk Discusses Election Security

Gordy Hulten, the outgoing County Clerk, had some updates about election security in the County and the State, along with some tips for voters as we approach 96 days to the election. That WDWS interview is available here.

Vote By Mail requests will be available to everyone who wants one next Wednesday, August 8th. "State law allows anyone to vote by mail without excuse" and no longer requires some specific reason (e.g. planning on being out of town) to request.

On election security efforts over the summer, he emphasized that the recent Mueller indictments were "just allegations" and the feds are alleging that Russia hacked the voter registration records, but not that they changed any voter registrations. They didn't hack ballots or results.

He differentiated what he calls "election meddling" from "election hacking" compared to headlines in the media that use the terminology "election hacking" more broadly. Election meddling, as he sees it, involves spreading disinformation about candidates or issues by your uncle or malicious actors. He argued there's nothing much his office can do about that other than encourage people to be careful where they get their information from. He asked that people be smart information consumers.

Election hacking is something he defined as attacks on the voting systems themselves. He pointed out that Champaign County uses paper ballots and tabulators. The tabulators have an "air gap" and never connected to the internet or systems connected to the internet. The results on thumb drives are kept separated. He called the movement of data a "sneakernet" which is just the physical movement of data by staffers in sneakers.

He warned of exaggerated or misinformation about the election and dangers to their registration. He pointed out that we have same-day election registration options and paper ballots in end-of-the-world scenarios. He encouraged people to check their registration is up to date (e.g. most recent address), but that election systems here were well defended. He pointed out that his office is in constant contact with the State Board of Elections, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI for security updates and information.

The full interview is available here. Hulten is a candidate for County Executive this election. More information on the candidates vying to replace him here.

Brooks Marsh Resigns

County Board member Brooks Marsh has resigned effective immediately according to the County Clerk this morning. He is a Republican who was representing District 1 who has stated that he will be moving. The Clerk had previously announced he had withdrawn as a candidate for re-election to the seat. The News-Gazette had a bit more on it today:

GOP Champaign County Board member resigns ahead of move
...
Marsh was chosen by precinct committeemen in April 2017 to serve out the term of John Jay, who retired from the board that February. District 1 includes much of the northwestern quadrant of the county, encompassing Mahomet, Fisher, Seymour, Dewey and Foosland.

Champaign County Republican Party Chairman Mark Ballard said officials will soon choose a replacement for Marsh. Ballard said the hope is that person would finish his term on the board and be a candidate in November. There are currently no other hopefuls vying for the seat.

Marsh’s move will bring the number of county board vacancies to three, after Democrats Robert King and Shana Jo Crews resigned last month.

More at the full article here. Updates as I get them on Democrats replacing their vacancies.

Blood Needed

Local blood supplies are low for those interested and able to donate. Blurb from the News-Gazette yesterday:

Community Blood Services again calling for more donors
Community Blood Services of Illinois is asking all eligible blood donors to step up after the blood-donation rate dipped in recent weeks.

Current inventories are sufficient to meet patient needs, but it will take more donations to avoid a shortfall in August, the agency said. All blood types are needed.

In the local area, Community Blood Services is the exclusive blood and blood-components supplier to Carle Foundation Hospital and OSF Heart of Mary Medical Center in Urbana, and has donor centers in Urbana, Danville, and Mattoon, the agency said.

Potential donors can make an appointment by calling 800-747-5401 or find more information at bloodcenterimpact.org.

Tularemia Alert

From the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District's facebook page:

TULAREMIA ALERT!
1. If you find a dead animal in your yard or at a park, DO NOT TOUCH IT, call CUPHD and we will pick it up.
2. Wear tick protection when outdoors;
3 Do not mow over dead animals;
4 Do not handle wild animals;
5 Cook wild game meat thoroughly before eating and use gloves when handling the animal and preparing the meat
for cooking;
6.Take any pet with symptoms of tularemia to the veterinarian

August 1, 2018 Update
Public Health Alert in Champaign-Urbana-Savoy Area
A cat in Champaign and a rabbit in Urbana were recently diagnosed by the University Of Illinois College Of Veterinary Medicine with Tularemia. Additionally, there were reports of other rabbits found dead in the Urbana neighborhood. This indicates presence of this disease in the area.

F. tularensis bacteria can be transmitted to humans via the skin when handling infected animal tissue. Many animals have also been known to become ill with tularemia including rabbits, muskrats, prairie dogs and other rodents. Domestic cats are very susceptible to tularemia and have been known to transmit the bacteria to humans.

Cats may develop a variety of symptoms including high fever, mouth ulcers, depression, enlarged lymph nodes and anorexia. Infection can also occur when hunting or skinning infected rabbits, and by inhaling dust or aerosols contaminated with F. tularemia bacteria. This can occur during farming or landscaping activities, especially when machinery (e.g. tractors or mowers) runs over infected animals or carcasses.

The clinical manifestations of human infection with F. tularensis range from asymptomatic illness to lifethreatening.

Typically patients with tularemia present with abrupt onset of fever, chills, headache and malaise
following an incubation period of two to 10 days. Additional signs and symptoms may be observed depending on the site of entry.

For more information on Tularemia visit https://www.cdc.gov/tularemia/

Suspect or confirmed cases of tularemia should be promptly reported to the local health department.
To reduce the chance that a person would become infected, they should:

Wear tick protection when outdoors;
Do not mow over dead animals;
Do not handle wild animals;
Cook wild game meat thoroughly before eating and use gloves when handling the animal and preparing the meat for cooking;
Take any pet with symptoms of tularemia to the veterinarian;

If you have any further questions or concerns please contact Awais Vaid, Director of Planning and Research, Champaign-Urbana Public Health District at 217-531-5360 or email avaid@c-uphd.org.