Tag Archives: university of illinois

University of Illinois kicks off 150th birthday celebration

Feb 23, 2017 | WLSAM Staff
University of Illinois students walk across the Main Quad on campus in Urbana, Ill. (AP Photo/David Mercer, File)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — The University of Illinois is kicking off a 15-month celebration of the institution’s 150th birthday.

The party will start next week with a Tuesday ceremony at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana. Musicians from the university’s School of Music will perform, and Chancellor Robert Jones will cut a cake the university describes as “crowd-sized.”

The University of Illinois was established in 1867 as a land grant institution.

Other events are planned in coming months to mark the sesquicentennial. They include new musical compositions and performances, several new books and a groundbreaking for the new Siebel Center for Design.

 

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Ideal rain, temperatures mean good Illinois pumpkin crop

Oct 24, 2016 | WLSAM Staff

(URBANA) University of Illinois pumpkin crop experts say that this year’s harvest looks to be much better than last year’s crop, when yield losses were predicted.

Illinois plant pathologist Mohammad Babadoost says the pumpkin crop in Illinois had enough rain, but not too much and temperatures were warm and dry, “which pumpkins love.” Illinois is the country’s top pumpkin-producing state. About 90 percent of the pumpkins grown in the U.S. come from within a 90-mile radius of Peoria.

Unlike last year, Babadoost says there will be “no shortage of pumpkin pie at the Thanksgiving table” this holiday season.

There was one hiccup this year. That was in mid-August when the fast-spreading fungus downy mildew appeared in some fields. But experts say it was confined to a small area in Tazewell County.

 

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Illinois announces plans for $132 million stadium renovation

Oct 4, 2016 | WLSAM Staff

(CHAMPAIGN) The University of Illinois says it is drawing up plans to renovate the south and east sides of Memorial Stadium.

The university said Monday that the $132 million project would move the football offices, locker rooms and training areas from the north end of the stadium to the area behind the south end zone. A new south grandstand would replace the existing Horseshoe. On the east side of the stadium, new restrooms and elevators would be built along with new concessions facilities.

Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman plans to present plans to university trustees for approval by spring. South end zone work would be complete by summer 2019 and east-side work a year later.

The school says money would come from donations and Department of Intercollegiate Athletics revenue.

 

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Man wanted in U of I shooting surrenders to police

Sep 30, 2016 | WLSAM Staff

(CHICAGO) A man wanted in connection with last weekend’s fatal shooting near the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus turned himself into police Thursday night.

Robbie M. Patton, 18, surrendered to police about 10:15 p.m., according to a statement from the Champaign Police Department. He was ordered held on $5 million bail after he was charged in a warrant with first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm.

The charges stem from a Sept. 25 shooting in the 300 block of East Green Street that left 22-year-old Mundelein resident George Korchev dead and several others wounded, police said.

Additional details were not released late Thursday.

© Copyright 2016 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

University of Illinois game time texting system rarely used

Aug 29, 2016 | WLSAM Staff

(CHAMPAIGN) Public records show that the University of Illinois athletic department’s security program for fans to anonymously report incidents at football and basketball games via text isn’t used frequently.

The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports that only 73 texts were sent to the system between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2016. Four of the messages were complaints about the same unruly Illinois fan during a football game against Nebraska last fall, while most of the others were tests of the system or accidentally sent.

Holly Stalcup, the university’s assistant athletic director for event management who oversees the program, says the technology hasn’t really taken off but has been useful in a number of incidents.

She said the technology costs about $2,000 a year.

 

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

U of I Settles Salaita Lawsuit

Nov 12, 2015 | WLS-AM Staff

By Nick Gale, WLS News

(CHICAGO) Trustees at the University of Illinois have approved a $600,000 settlement with a professor who lost his job over a string of anti-Israel comments made online.

The university also will pay $275,000 to Steven Salaita’s attorneys to end a 14-month dispute. The U of I has already spent some $1.3 million in legal fees over a lawsuits that Salaita filed after he lost a tenured faculty position.

In return Salaita will drop a lawsuit against the university claiming they breached a contract and violated his free speech rights. Salaita will not be hired by the university.

After accepting a job with the university in 2014, questions were raised because Salaita had been posting about the Israeli government and its military actions in Gaza. In one tweet he wrote: “Let’s cut to the chase: If you’re defending #Israel right now you’re an awful human being.” The university withdrew the job offer, prompting the lawsuit.

@ 2015 WLS News

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