Champaign County | featured news

Today is Friday, May 31, the 151st day of 2019. There are 214 days left in the year.
Today's highlight
On May 31, 1962, former Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was hanged in Israel a few minutes before midnight for his role in the Holocaust.
On this date
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Are Relay for Life events still going on in the local area this year?

Q: Are Relay for Life events still going on in the local area this year?
A: The annual walk/fundraiser for the American Cancer Society is still around, but it's been scaled back in terms of hours and the number of relay events. Some counties' relays are undergoing a restructuring.

In this week's edition of our feature spotlighting area religious leaders, staff writer Tim Mitchell talks with Chase Hilgenbrinck, assistant chaplain at St. John's Catholic Newman Center on the UI campus.

Pro soccer fans remember him from his days as a defender for Chilean national champion Ñublense Diablos Rojos and Major League Soccer's New England Revolution.

Work on the state-of-the-art structure, which is expected to produce 8,000 tons of animal feed annually, is expected to wrap up by September 2020.

CHAMPAIGN — Construction will begin Monday on a long-awaited University of Illinois feed mill to replace the aging structure on St. Mary's Road.

Randy Ashman, the district's athletic fields and ground services manager, estimated that Jeff Kaufman Field could be back in playable condition around late June.

URBANA — The Urbana school district's insurance provider will cover the cost of damages at Yankee Ridge Elementary's baseball field after Sunday storms knocked down trees and crushed some of the fencing.

The Reproductive Health Act repeals the state's law regulating abortion procedures and replaces it with a reproductive-health measure that both backers and detractors agree would be the most liberal in the nation.

By REBECCA ANZELranzel@capitolnewsillinois.com

The man accused of kidnapping and killing UI visiting scholar Yingying Zhang was also in the Peoria courtroom for the 35-minute hearing.

PEORIA — Four days before his federal kidnapping trial opens, Brendt Christensen appeared Thursday in court in Peoria as attorneys for both sides were briefed on procedures for jury selection.

This one was in the 500 block of Chandler Street. Two of four shootings over Memorial Day weekend were also on Chandler Street, but several blocks north in the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

DANVILLE — Police are investigating the third shooting this week on Chandler Street.

By GRANT MORGANgmorgan@capitolnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD — A bill requiring school districts that teach sex education to give a fuller definition of sexual consent is on its way to the governor.
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Wayne Yeary, 24, was arraigned Thursday on a charge of residential burglary filed in October. It alleged that Yeary entered a home on County Road 400 E in rural Fisher between Sept. 15 and Sept. 25, intending to steal.

URBANA — A Rankin man accused of entering his employer's home is due back in court next month.