by Check CU | Dec 19, 2022 | Latest Articles
The Urbana City Council once again unanimously voted to move discussions of Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) contracts into a secretive closed session room. Some members of the public who attended tonight’s Council meeting, many of whom attended specifically to...
by Check CU | Nov 8, 2022 | Latest Articles
Some Champaign County residents had to wait up to three hours to cast their votes this evening. Hundreds of voters were made to wait at the University of Illinois Union Building polling location in Urbana. About six hundred feet in length, the line snaked through...
by Check CU | Aug 30, 2022 | Latest Articles, Uncategorized
Urbana, Illinois City Administrator Carol Mitten and Human Rights and Equity Officer Carla Boyd have both made strong efforts to deny and conceal discrimination complaints, especially complaints against City employees On August 30th, 2022 a Hearing Body of the Urbana...
by Check CU | Aug 8, 2022 | Latest Articles
Champaign, Illinois City Council member and licensed attorney Tom Bruno At the July 26th, 2022 meeting of the Champaign City Council, local attorney and Council member Tom Bruno made some blatantly false legal claims regarding the Illinois Open Meetings Act (OMA). A...
by Check CU | Aug 7, 2022 | Latest Articles
On June 7th, 2022 James Quisenberry said that three no votes to a motion on the day prior appeared to be illegal collusion by City Council members Urbana, Illinois Council member James Quisenberry arrived at a strange conclusion at a City Council meeting in early...
by Check CU | Aug 7, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Mayor Diane Marlin became visibly upset at a recent Council meeting after Council members did not unanimously approve her list of a dozen City officials. The list was presented for a Council vote on June 6th and included two year appointments to...
by Check CU | Aug 7, 2022 | Latest Articles
Just over two months ago, Urbana Interim Chief of Police Richard Surles released a statement which revealed that more than ten percent the City’s police officers were looking to apply to the Illinois State Police (ISP). Check CU sent a Freedom of Information Act...
by Check CU | Aug 2, 2022 | Latest Articles
The Evanston, Illinois City Council went into closed session last night to discuss the potential appointment of Carol Mitten (currently City Administrator for Urbana, IL) to their vacant City Manager position. The Council’s conclusion: We don’t want her. ...
by Check CU | Jul 31, 2022 | Latest Articles
At an Urbana, Illinois City Council meeting, City Administrator Carol Mitten attempts to justify the City’s use of language in their job application process designed to warn certain individuals from applying Despite endless publicity about offering opportunities for...
by Check CU | Jul 29, 2022 | Latest Articles
The Evanston Police Department is imposing police misconduct complaint requirements that quite clearly violate Illinois State law. The complaint forms and related policies and procedures contain provisions that require the complainant to sign a sworn affidavit,...
by Check CU | Jul 29, 2022 | Latest Articles
Check CU is investigating Carle Health business practices in Champaign, Illinois. We have received tips regarding unethical business practices including abusive treatment of patients, deceptive billing, scheduling practices designed to overbill, and charging for...
by Check CU | Jul 28, 2022 | Latest Articles
The City of Evanston, Illinois is refusing to fulfill a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records of sexual misconduct within the Parks and Recreation Department – a scandal involving female lifeguards and other beach workers that has amassed intense public...
by Check CU | Jul 28, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana City Administrator Carol Mitten (right) yells at Check CU reporter Christopher Hansen (left) for attempting to audio record an official Urbana City Council meeting. Urbana, Illinois City Administrator Carol Mitten showed flagrant contempt for the people’s right...
by Check CU | Jul 27, 2022 | Latest Articles
Octapharma Plasma representative Kerry Clish (center) is appealing the business type designation of “clinic”, arguing that plasma centers are not similar to other types of clinics. The North Carolina plasma collection business Octapharma Plasma, Inc. has...
by Check CU | Jul 27, 2022 | Latest Articles
Evanston, Illinois Mayor Daniel Biss made a notable and concerning declaration earlier this month. Biss argued that the City’s search for a new City Manager needed to be as secretive as possible in order to attract a better applicant pool. Though the City...
by Check CU | Jul 26, 2022 | Latest Articles
Rantoul, Illinois Village Attorney David Wesner and Police Chief Tony Brown are not only concealing police misconduct records, they are asking the court to overturn public records laws that have existed for over four decades A Champaign County judge denied an attempt...
by Check CU | Jul 24, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois City Administrator Carol Mitten and past City Attorney James Simon have spent part of their careers ensuring that discrimination complaints are never processed by the City After Urbana, Illinois City Administrator Carol Mitten unlawfully overthrew the...
by Check CU | Jul 22, 2022 | Latest Articles
A number of residents attended the July 18th Evanston, Illinois City Council meeting to speak about the hiring of a new City Manager. After multiple attempts to hire a new City Manager have failed over the past year or more, it seems Evanston officials are...
by Check CU | Jul 21, 2022 | Latest Articles
Just weeks after seeking a two year extension to her position as Urbana City Administrator, Carol Mitten plans to resign and take a City Manager job for Evanston, Illinois Urbana, Illinois City Administrator Carol Mitten is planning to resign her position to take a...
by Check CU | Jul 11, 2022 | Latest Articles
Ward 5 Alderwoman Chaundra Bishop was one of four Council members who voted in favor of the County’s jail expansion The Urbana, Illinois City Council voted 4 to 3 tonight to approve an expansion of the Champaign County satellite jail by more than fifty percent...
by Check CU | Jul 11, 2022 | Latest Articles
The Urbana, Illinois City Council unanimously reappointed Anthony Allegretti and Tony Rice (left top and bottom) to the Civilian Police Review Board, despite repeated past misconduct while serving on the Board On June 27th, 2022 the Urbana, Illinois City Council voted...
by Check CU | Jul 11, 2022 | Latest Articles
On July 5th, 2022 the Urbana, Illinois City Council was presented with a plan for expanding the Champaign County jail, which resides within the City limits. The jail expansion plan would be expensive, and it would increase the total number of jail beds from 141...
by Check CU | Jul 11, 2022 | Latest Articles
County Board member Jim McGuire tours the Champaign, Illinois County jail On Tuesday, July 5th, the Urbana Illinois City Council Committee of the Whole voted to send a County jail expansion plan forward to the July 11th meeting for a final vote. The proposed...
by Check CU | Jun 22, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois City Attorney was reappointed by the City Council for an additional two years The Urbana, Illinois City Council has opted to reappoint David Wesner as City Attorney, despite his reputation for getting municipalities into legal trouble with dubious...
by Check CU | Jun 22, 2022 | Latest Articles
At a cost of more than $330,000, Urbana, Illinois City Administrator Carol Mitten was appointed for an additional two years The Urbana, Illinois City Council has opted to reappoint the same, often unpopular, City Administrator, Carol Mitten, for an additional two...
by Check CU | Jun 6, 2022 | Latest Articles
(Image from the last publicly broadcast meeting of the Urbana, Illinois Civil Service Commission on March 30th. Traci Nally, Thomas Betz, Elizabeth Borman, Femi Fletcher.) The Urbana, Illinois Civil Service Commission held a meeting on May 25th in a room on the...
by Check CU | Jun 6, 2022 | Latest Articles
A City Council member in Urbana, Illinois made a concerning declaration at a recent City meeting: Councilwoman Shirese Hursey alleged that the utilization of the Zoom conferencing platform by the City for public meetings during COVID attracted “blatant racism”, and...
by Check CU | Jun 5, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Interim Chief of Police Richard Surles says that officer shortage could cause “significant operational challenges” According to a statement issued by Urbana, Illinois Interim Chief of Police Richard Surles on June 2nd, more than ten...
by Check CU | Jun 5, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois City Attorney David Wesner Members of the public are still waiting to hear an explanation from Urbana, Illinois City Attorney David Wesner in regards to his erroneous legal guidance on an Open Meetings Act (OMA) issue. Nearly a year ago, Wesner...
by Check CU | Jun 2, 2022 | Latest Articles
A private security team from AGB Security Service will police the downtown Champaign, Illinois area for the summer A team of private security guards hired by the City of Champaign, Illinois have arrived to patrol the downtown area during busy hours for the rest of the...
by Check CU | Jun 2, 2022 | Latest Articles
Tracy Chong (author of CU Perspective) interviews a Flock Safety employee as he installs a license plate reader at the intersection of Windsor & Galen in Champaign, IL Residents of Champaign have likely started to notice the dozens of automatic license plate...
by Check CU | May 25, 2022 | Latest Articles
Interim Police Chief Richard Surles (bottom left) and Interim Deputy Police Chief Matt Bain (bottom right) have continued the effort led by recently resigned Police Chief Bryant Seraphin (bottom center) to reduce police oversight in Urbana, Illinois (photo taken at...
by Check CU | May 25, 2022 | Latest Articles
On April 14th, 2022 Check CU reported that the Urbana, Illinois Police Department (UPD) had ceased use of force review in September of 2021 – immediately after getting their new Fraternal Order of Police contract pushed through City Council. New records acquired from...
by Check CU | May 23, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin has been flip-flopping her position on Open Meetings Act (OMA) compliance in regards to public input. On July 6th 2021, Marlin claimed that allowing remote public input, as the City Council had been doing for more than a year, would...
by Check CU | Apr 24, 2022 | Latest Articles
A second Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit has been filed this month against the City of Urbana, Illinois and the Urbana Police Department. The complaint, filed on behalf of Check CU Founder Christopher Hansen on April 14th, alleges the following: The...
by Check CU | Apr 17, 2022 | Latest Articles
Rantoul Police Chief Tony Brown, Sergeant Jerry King, and Officer Jose Aceves approach resident Wendell Golston after Mayor Charles Smith called for him to be removed for speaking too long. The April 12th meeting of the Ranoul Village Board almost turned into a...
by Check CU | Apr 16, 2022 | Latest Articles
A lawsuit filed last week alleges willful and repeated violations of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by several public bodies in Champaign County. The City of Urbana, the Village of Rantoul, and the Champaign County State’s Attorney’s Office are...
by Check CU | Apr 15, 2022 | Latest Articles
Village of Rantoul Illinois Officials: Village Clerk and FOIA Officer Janet Gray, Village Administrator Scott Eisenhauer, Village Attorney David Wesner, Police Chief Tony Brown Rantoul, Illinois Village Officials appear to be more concerned with finding ways to deny...
by Check CU | Apr 14, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Police Chief Bryant Seraphin (now resigned) and Deputy Chief Richard Surles (now Interim Chief) present to the City Council on increased police use of force at the August 23rd, 2021 Council meeting The Urbana, Illinois Police Department appears to...
by Check CU | Apr 13, 2022 | Latest Articles
More than eleven months into their four year terms, the Urbana, Illinois City Council has finally agreed on a set of goals to work toward during 2022 and 2023. After a number of failed attempts, the Council finally voted to approve a list of goals at their April 11th...
by Check CU | Apr 13, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois City Officials appear to be more concerned with finding ways to deny and delay public records requests than they are with providing the actual records. The City routinely takes months to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from...
by Check CU | Apr 12, 2022 | Latest Articles
Police Chief finalist Angela Coonce (right) speaks to members of the public at an open house on March 29th. Amber Oberheim (left) presses Coonce on distinctions between short-term and long-term solutions to increasing gun crime. Mrs. Oberheim’s husband, a...
by Check CU | Apr 11, 2022 | Latest Articles
University of Illinois PhD graduate and Urbana resident Tracy Chong speaks during public input about FOIA violations The Urbana, Illinois City Council shows no signs of changing their well-established practice of ignoring residents’ reports of Freedom of Information...
by Check CU | Apr 11, 2022 | Latest Articles
On January 29th, 2022 Check CU requested a number of records involving police use of force from the City of Urbana, Illinois. The Urbana Police Department is still refusing to release some police reports and they have refused to release the names of police...
by Check CU | Apr 10, 2022 | Latest Articles
Champaign, Illinois County Courthouse (photo by ILDocs.com) The Champaign County State’s Attorney’s Office has repeatedly refused to supply records related to the malicious prosecution of two men – a prosecution based on falsified evidence which left them imprisoned...
by Check CU | Apr 9, 2022 | Latest Articles
Research by Check CU has revealed what can only be described as the felony destruction of public records by Urbana Police Officers. Throughout 2020, amidst the nationwide demands for police reform, Urbana, Illinois residents took up similar causes with their local...
by Check CU | Apr 8, 2022 | Latest Articles
(Champaign, Illinois City Building – Photo by ILDocs.com) On March 21st, 2022 Check CU asked the City of Champaign, Illinois to provide copies of complaints submitted against police officers in 2021 and 2022. Three days later, City Clerk Shannon Myers fully...
by Check CU | Apr 8, 2022 | Latest Articles
Champaign Police Officers Kevin Olmstead (left) and Bruce Ramseyer (right) at the January 8th, 2020 meeting of the Citizen Review Subcommittee meeting. On that date, Ramseyer passed his police complaint review responsibilities over to Olmstead. Check CU recently...
by Check CU | Apr 8, 2022 | Latest Articles
On March 21st, 2022 Check CU Founder Christopher Hansen asked the City of Champaign, Illinois to provide copies of complaints submitted against police officers in 2021 and 2022. Three days later, City Clerk Shannon Myers fully denied the request. Myers claimed...
by Check CU | Apr 8, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois City Council member for Ward 7 James Quisenberry at the April 4th, 2022 Council meeting Since mid-2021, residents have been making requests to the Urbana, Illinois City Council to allow remote public input at their in-person meetings in the same way...
by Check CU | Apr 7, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Mayor Diane Marlin and Council members Jaya Kolisetty, Grace Wilken, Christopher Evans, James Quisenberry, Shirese Hursey, Chaundra Bishop, and Maryalice Wu The entire Urbana, Illinois City Council seems content simply ignoring numerous public records...
by Check CU | Apr 6, 2022 | Latest Articles
On December 16th, 2021 Check CU Founder Christopher Hansen filed a lawsuit against the Village of Rantoul alleging violations of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. Rantoul unlawfully denied access to copies of complaints against police officers, and...
by Check CU | Apr 6, 2022 | Latest Articles
On January 21st, 2022 Check CU sent a public records request to Village of Rantoul Clerk and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer Janet Gray seeking police complaints from 2010 through 2018. Gray passed the request off to Village Attorney David Wesner who,...
by Check CU | Apr 4, 2022 | Latest Articles
Members of the public who tuned in to the Champaign Government Television livestream today were greeted with this screen The Champaign, Illinois Human Relations Commission (HRC) cancelled their monthly meeting for the six time today. Assuming they actually...
by Check CU | Apr 4, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois City Administrator Carol Mitten at the April 4th, 2022 City Council Committee of the Whole meeting Urbana, Illinois City Administrator Carol Mitten announced at a Council meeting tonight that the City had received zero bids in response to their...
by Check CU | Apr 3, 2022 | Latest Articles
New Interim Police Chief Richard Surles (bottom left), resigned Police Chief Bryant Seraphin (bottom center), and new Interim Deputy Police Chief Matthew Bain (bottom right) at the March 28th 2022 Urbana City Council meeting. On March 28th, the Urbana, Illinois City...
by Check CU | Apr 3, 2022 | Latest Articles
On March 29th, Check CU published an article about the City of Champaign, Illinois hiring private security to patrol their downtown area. The City’s Request for Proposals (RFP) describes issues such as noise, trash, loitering, fights, and shootings. On...
by Check CU | Apr 2, 2022 | Latest Articles
From left to right: Champaign Officer Dillon Holloway, Sgt. Kaitlin Fisher, University of Illinois Officer Kennedy Hartman Sergeant Kaitlin Fisher of the Champaign, Illinois Police Department recently expressed her feelings for a significant portion of the populace...
by Check CU | Apr 2, 2022 | Latest Articles
The scene outside of the Red Lion bar in Champaign, Illinois shortly after an altercation between a bar employee and a patron resulted in “significant injuries” on March 5th, 2022. Check CU has acquired nearly an hour of police body camera video from the...
by Check CU | Mar 31, 2022 | Latest Articles
The University of Illinois Police Department (UIPD) is dispensing complaint forms that quite clearly violate Illinois State law. The forms and related procedures contain numerous provisions that require the complainant to sign a sworn affidavit and have it...
by Check CU | Mar 31, 2022 | Latest Articles
Champaign-Urbana Public Health District HR Generalist Amy Roberts, Board Member Danielle Chynoweth, Jodie Ellis, Deputy Administrator Awais Vaid, CUPHD FOIA Officer Patricia Robertson, Treasurer Ron Fields, Board member & Secretary Kyle Patterson, Public Health...
by Check CU | Mar 30, 2022 | Latest Articles
One of more than a dozen automatic license plate reader (ALPR) installations in the Village of Rantoul, Illinois. The Village of Rantoul, Illinois has asserted for the second time that they are permitted to keep locations of automatic license plate readers a secret...
by Check CU | Mar 29, 2022 | Latest Articles
The City of Champaign, Illinois recently posted a Request for Proposals (RFP) on their website seeking private firms to patrol the downtown area during weekends and events. From the thirty-six page proposal document (provided in full below): 2.1 Services Summary: The...
by Check CU | Mar 28, 2022 | Latest Articles
New Interim Police Chief Richard Surles (bottom left), resigned Police Chief Bryant Seraphin (bottom center), and new Interim Deputy Police Chief Matthew Bain (bottom right) at the March 28th 2022 Urbana City Council meeting. Earlier this evening, the Urbana City...
by Check CU | Mar 28, 2022 | Latest Articles
Residents now have an easy to use tool for submitting complaints about Urbana, Illinois Police officers. The non-profit “Civilian Resource Site” at UrbanaPolice.org now has a web portal that can be used to submit complaints at any time, by any person, even...
by Check CU | Mar 28, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois City Council members have thus far ignored the statutory and contractual violations by their Police Department in regards to the handling of complaints against police officers. Check CU recently published two articles showing that the Urbana...
by Check CU | Mar 27, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Police Officer Colby Wright shoots an unarmed subject in the back with his TASER in a 2019 incident. The subject turned out to be an innocent bystander who was misidentified by Urbana Police. Deputy Chief Richard Surles argued that the TASER use was...
by Check CU | Mar 26, 2022 | Latest Articles
The City of Champaign, Illinois is advising use of force training for bar staff who were involved in an incident which resulted in a young woman leaving in an ambulance on March 5th. Deputy City Manager Matt Roeschley, Lieutenant Andre Davis, and Assistant City...
by Check CU | Mar 26, 2022 | Latest Articles
The three finalists for the City of Champaign, Illinois Police Chief position: Angela Coonce, Timothy Tyler, Bryce Johnson Champaign, Illinois staff have invited the public to attend an open house on March 29th at 7pm to meet the three finalists chosen to compete for...
by Check CU | Mar 26, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Mayor Diane Marlin will ask the City Council to appoint current Deputy Chief Richard Surles to the position Interim Police Chief at Monday night’s meeting. Lieutenant Matthew Bain will be appointed to Interim Deputy Police Chief. Police Chief...
by Check CU | Mar 25, 2022 | Latest Articles
Check CU has acquired security camera footage of an incident which occurred at the Red Lion bar in Champaign, Illinois. An altercation which occurred around 2am on March 5th, 2022 between a patron and a Red Lion staff member resulted in a young woman leaving the...
by Check CU | Mar 25, 2022 | Latest Articles
On March 9th Interim Police Chief Thomas Petrilli spoke briefly about an incident that occurred at the Red Lion bar in Champaign, Illinois which left a young woman injured and unconscious on the pavement outside of the bar. Petrilli said “it was a rather minor...
by Check CU | Mar 21, 2022 | Latest Articles
Check CU filed a lawsuit today alleging that the City of Champaign willfully violated the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by refusing to provide records related to the Champaign County Community Coalition (CCCC). Two days ago, Check CU published an article...
by Check CU | Mar 20, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Police Chief Bryant Seraphin talks about changes in technology as he holds up the one and only cell phone owned by the Police Department in 1999, reserved for use by the detective on shift. Chief Bryant Seraphin will serve his last day as a police...
by Check CU | Mar 20, 2022 | Latest Articles
Check CU has received data from the City of Decatur showing all of their automatic license plate reader (ALPR) locations, as well as sample images from each camera. ALPRs were unanimously approved by the Decatur City Council in March of 2021, making them one of...
by Check CU | Mar 19, 2022 | Latest Articles
Police Chiefs for four different departments and the Champaign County Sheriff spoke about rising gun crime at the March 9th, 2022 Champaign County Coalition meeting. City of Champaign Community Relations Manager Tracy Parsons (blue suit) organizes and runs the...
by Check CU | Mar 13, 2022 | Latest Articles
The Illinois State Police (ISP) have finally issued a response to a Freedom of Information Act Lawsuit which was filed with the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court in Champaign County last year. The lawsuit was filed on October 1st, 2021 by Check CU Founder Christopher...
by Check CU | Mar 13, 2022 | Latest Articles
Nearly eight months after the Urbana, Illinois City Council approved funds for a “Community Safety Review”, the City is finally searching for proposals. A Request for Qualifications (RFQ), titled “Community Safety Review Through the Lens of Racial Equity and...
by Check CU | Mar 13, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Police Officer Colby Wright chases an unarmed subject with both guns drawn after already having shot him in the back with his TASER Body camera video and police reports obtained from the Urbana Police Department (UPD) show what appear to be highly...
by Check CU | Mar 12, 2022 | Latest Articles
This frame from the video shows three passengers of a black Chevrolet Impala wielding handguns. Video of a drive-by shooting in Urbana, Illinois shows a terrifying interruption to an otherwise calm and quiet Saturday afternoon. In a matter of seconds, multiple...
by Check CU | Mar 11, 2022 | Latest Articles
The last time the Champaign, Illinois Human Relations Commission had enough members in attendance was October 2021 The Champaign, Illinois Human Relations Commission (HRC) cancelled their monthly meeting for the fifth time this past Monday. Assuming they...
by Check CU | Mar 11, 2022 | Latest Articles
On February 5th, 2022 Check CU sent a records request to the Village of Homer, Illinois asking for the identities of any Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officers, and their email addresses. The Village issued the following responses: “Sharon Jeffers, Village...
by Check CU | Mar 9, 2022 | Latest Articles
The Red Lion Bar in Champaign, Illinois. Two security cameras appear to cover the area directly in front of the entrance where a young woman was rendered unconscious after an alleged encounter with bar security. A disturbing video posted on YouTube three days...
by Check CU | Mar 8, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Mayor Diane Marlin stresses the importance of keeping ties with neighborhood associations at a City Council study session on February 22nd, 2022, but her actions don’t align with her words. Urbana, Illinois Mayor Diane Marlin has frequently...
by Check CU | Mar 7, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Police Chief Bryant Seraphin and Mayor Diane Marlin participate in a police reform march on June 1st, 2020. Demonstrations were held in Urbana-Champaign and nation-wide to push for greater accountability and transparency in policing, with a focus on...
by Check CU | Mar 6, 2022 | Latest Articles
The Urbana, Illinois City Council passed a resolution on Police use of force more than a year ago, but it has gone almost entirely ignored. More than a year after the passage of “A Resolution Prioritizing Tactical De-escalation in the Use of Force Policy and Police...
by Check CU | Mar 5, 2022 | Latest Articles
The Urbana, Illinois Police Department (UPD) has been distributing complaint forms that contain language which violates state law, as well as UPD’s contractual agreement with the people of Urbana. Check CU recently published an article showing that the Urbana...
by Check CU | Mar 5, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois City Council member Christopher Evans speaks on September 13th, 2021 about the Urbana Fraternal Order of Police contract negotiations: “The contract was never discussed…Council was kept ignorant as to what was going on.” It seems the...
by Check CU | Mar 3, 2022 | Latest Articles
Despite repeated objections from the public, the Urbana Police Department (UPD) continues to supply a police complaint form that quite clearly violates state law. The unlawful form, along with multiple unlawful requirements, is supplied on Urbana Police webpages...
by Check CU | Mar 3, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Police Officers chase a resident with TASER gun and pistol drawn Seven years after passing a TASER gun review requirement for their police department, the Urbana, Illinois City Council seems to have given a passive thumbs-up to its destruction. ...
by Check CU | Mar 1, 2022 | Latest Articles
Champaign Police Department Command staff on March 11th, 2020. Three of the four officers have since left the department. The Champaign, Illinois City Council granted a hefty bonus to their police officers at this evening’s City Council meeting. Upon the...
by Check CU | Feb 27, 2022 | Latest Articles
Ward 5 Alderperson Chaundra Bishop speaks at a City Council meeting Tuesday evening. Here, she uses a microphone, but about 45 minutes of the meeting was not audible from the public seating area, and City Officials thwarted attempts to record the meeting. Ward 5...
by Check CU | Feb 27, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois City Administrator Carol Mitten at a City Council study session on February 22nd, 2022 (written displays only legible from the public seating section with a zoom lens) When public bodies, such as the Urbana, Illinois City Council hold meetings, they...
by Check CU | Feb 27, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana City Council members Shirese Hursey and Chaundra Bishop, along with Deputy Chief of Police Richard Surles and Deputy Fire Chief Kent Demond Dade at the February 22nd, 2022 City Council Study Session Urbana, Illinois Alderperson Shirese Hursey showed what can...
by Check CU | Feb 26, 2022 | Latest Articles
Two vehicles racing through Urbana, Illinois ended their chase with a bang after one of the cars crashed into a power pole. The resulting electrical arc from the power lines above turned night into day for just a moment, then a portion of the West Urbana neighborhood...
by Check CU | Feb 26, 2022 | Latest Articles
Rantoul, Illinois Village Clerk Janet Gray did not comply with the state-mandated Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer training until after Check CU asked to see her training certificate. After observing numerous Freedom of Information Act violations by the...
by Check CU | Feb 26, 2022 | Latest Articles
Former Champaign, Illinois Police Chief Robert T Finney, now teaching Criminal Justice at Parkland College in Champaign Last week, Check CU published an article about former Champaign Police Chief Robert T Finney landing a teaching job at Parkland College. His...
by Check CU | Feb 25, 2022 | Latest Articles
At an Urbana City Council meeting Tuesday night, which was poorly publicized, held at an off-site facility, and not broadcast to the public, Ward 1 Alderperson Maryalice Wu was the first to jump into action when she realized that members of the media were trying to...
by Check CU | Feb 25, 2022 | Latest Articles
FOIA Officer for the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD) Patricia Robinson, Public Health Administrator Julie Pryde, HR Generalist Amy Roberts In November of 2021, the Illinois Attorney General began investigating the Champaign-Urbana Public Health...
by Check CU | Feb 24, 2022 | Latest Articles
Urbana, Illinois Mayor Diane Marlin speaks at a City Council meeting study session on February 22nd, 2022. “This is a violation,” said Urbana, Illinois City Clerk Phyllis Clark when she became aware that a meeting of the Urbana City Council on Tuesday evening was...
