Urbana News

Champaign County's unemployment rate fell to 6.5 percent in April, while Vermilion County's unemployment dropped to 8.9 percent, according to state figures released Thursday.

Champaign County Board members Thursday night approved spending about $304,000 on repairs and maintenance to the exterior masonry walls at the downtown Urbana courthouse.

Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing is challenging an Illinois law that gives Carle Hospital tax-except status for their charity work - providing medical care and services at discounted or no cost to thousands of people.

U.S. Army veteran Mat Jasieniecki poses in the veteran's lounge at the Illini Union on the University of Illinois campus May 10, 2013, in Urbana.

Academic senate leaders at the University of Illinois have unanimously reaffirmed their position on the former symbol of the campus: Keep Chief Illiniwek in the past.

Oculus has made two significant additions to its team, bringing software architect Tom Forsyth, formerly of Valve, and robotics scientist Steve LaValle on board.

The University of Illinois observatory is a National Historic Landmark because of pioneering work done there in the early 1900s by astronomer Joel Stebbins to record the brightness of distant stars.

Area residents will have an opportunity to safely dispose of their unwanted or expired medications 24 hours a day, seven days a week beginning Friday.

A pair of orphaned bobcat kittens is being cared for at the University of Illinois Wildlife Medical Center and they may have made a long trip to get there.

A Mansfield man who admitted stealing from his employer for years will have to pay more than $1 million in restitution and back taxes.

Danville police are asking the public for help in solving a shooting early Tuesday morning on the city's east side that left a Chicago woman dead and injured two men.

Mayor Laurel Prussing is continuing to take a strong stand against a state-mandated property tax exemption for Carle Foundation Hospital, and she plans to ask for support from local lawmakers.

City administrators on Monday night presented to council members a balanced budget proposal with no major changes from last year, but they say it is the next few years that present the greatest risk to city finances.

The city's tentative survival of the Great Recession will be a key theme of Mayor Laurel Prussing's budget message on Monday afternoon, but now she says Urbana faces an "even bigger challenge." The Urbana City Council will begin its review of the city budget when it meets tonight at 7 p.m. in the Urbana City Building, 400 S. Vine St., after ... (more)

New developments could be on the horizon, including a couple of multi-million dollar projects.

A Mahomet man who admitted that for years he secretly took lewd pictures of young girls in his home and recorded women in restrooms and dressing rooms faces decades in federal prison.

Commencement speaker Leonard Pitts Jr. describes his graduation experience as Parkland president Thomas Ramage listens during Parkland College Graduation in Foellinger Great Hall at Krannert Center for Performaing Arts in Urbana on Friday, May 17, 2013 .

A color guard brings the colors forward at the Champaign County Law Enforcement Memorial Day observance, the Champaign County Courthouse in Urbana on Friday May 17, 2013.

A University of Illinois student from Colombia who admitted he possessed child pornography last year faces up to 3 1/2 years in federal prison when he's sentenced in September.

To see how the Internet sales tax would affect small businesses, we need only look at Illinois.