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CU-CitizenAccess.org •

Q&A: Claudia Lennhoff on the history of the contaminated Fifth and Hill site of former Ameren manufactured gas plant

A spokesperson for the utility and energy company Ameren said in October it is a few months away from finishing the lengthy environmental cleanup of hazardous and carcinogenic pollutants in the Champaign neighborhood known as Fifth and Hill.


The site is at the intersection of Fifth and Hill streets in northeast Champaign. 


CU-CitizenAccess.org has reported on the issue since 2011 and graduate students at the time developed an interactive map showing the history of the site and where chemic...
CU-CitizenAccess.org •

Ameren states contaminated gas plant cleanup in Fifth and Hill neighborhood nearly complete, but advocates question results

Read an extended Q&A with Claudia Lennhoff, executive director of Champaign County Health Care Consumers, about the history of the site and the research completed over the years.


A spokesperson for the utility and energy company Ameren said it is a few months away from finishing the lengthy environmental cleanup of hazardous and carcinogenic pollutants in the Champaign neighborhood known as Fifth and Hill.


The site is located at the intersection of Fifth and Hill streets in northeast Champ...
The Daily Illini •

Afro D & Global Soundwaves brings new variety to CU

Afro D & Global Soundwaves is a hip-hop-jazz-funk fusion band formed in Champaign-Urbana by Pete “Afro D” Shungu in 2019. 
Shungu, professor in FAA, is the band’s MC, trumpeter and bandleader. 
The band consists of Mitchell Killough, a founding member, on bass; Lawrence Parks on alto saxophone; James “Jamie” Mauck on drums; Brighton Sier on keyboard; and a new vocalist, J’Lyn Hope.
This is Shungu’s second variation of his band, with the first being a combo called “Afro D All Starz” based in Bost...
The Daily Illini •

CU dances the weekend away at local tango festival

The Champaign-Urbana area held its third tango music festival last weekend, filled with dance workshops, discussions, concerts and more.
At the Community Center for the Arts, four professional string instrumentalists gathered a group of people, ranging from musicians to people simply interested in the tango music workshop, to give a greater insight into the works and foundations of the genre. 
“The music is beautiful,” said Amanda Ramey, violinist and an event planner for the festival. “It has a...
The Daily Illini •

Dom Flemons brings award-winning folk music to Rose Bowl Tavern

The Rose Bowl Tavern held a matinee show of Dom Flemons’ stylings of old-time music and Piedmont blues on Saturday.
Flemons, also known as “The American Songster,” grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and moved to North Carolina to learn Piedmont blues fingerpicking, a style of rhythmic guitar picking native to the Piedmont region including both a bass line and melody. Flemons would go on to join Grammy Award-winning string band The Carolina Chocolate Drops. 
The buzzing crowd sat drinking beer and eati...
The Daily Illini •

Queens of Canopy hold ‘Beyoncert’ drag show at Canopy Club

Last updated on Dec. 8, 2023 at 06:28 p.m.On Sunday, the Queens of Canopy held a “Beyoncert,” a Beyoncé tribute drag show, at The Canopy Club with special guest Kelasia Karmikal.
Ceduxion Carrington, the matriarch of the Queens, emceed the event. During the show, she said that the Beyoncert was the first in a series of drag shows they are planning in tribute to artists who have shown longstanding support to the LGBTQ+ community.
Champaign-Urbana showed out, with many audience members wearing bla...
The Daily Illini •

Column | ‘Coraline’ set a high bar for children’s media

Last updated on Feb. 7, 2024 at 02:14 p.m.**This review contains spoilers.**
The iconic stop-motion film “Coraline,” written, directed and produced by Henry Selick, turns 15 years old today. The film is based on the 2002 book of the same name by Neil Gaiman.
The film focuses on the many worlds of Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) and the fantastical characters of both her mundane reality and enthralling fantasy worlds. 
Coraline has just moved to a historical house called the Pink Palace far away...
The Daily Illini •

Best of CU | Best Vegetarian Food: The Red Herring

Rankings:

« First Place »
The Red Herring (15.5%)
« Second Place »
Bangkok Thai (12.7%)
« Third Place »
Forage Kitchen (11.3%)


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The Daily Illini •

‘Charlie Brown and the Myth of Thanksgiving’ as seen 50 years later

**This review contains spoilers.**
Nov. 20 marks the 50th anniversary of one of the few Thanksgiving classics, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,” from the “Peanuts” world of Charles M. Schulz.
In the film, Charlie Brown is met with a dilemma when Peppermint Patty mistakenly invites herself and the rest of the “Peanuts” gang over for Thanksgiving dinner. 
His dog Snoopy comes to the rescue by cooking his own take on a Thanksgiving feast, complete with toast, popcorn, pretzel sticks and jelly beans,...
The Daily Illini •

Column | ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ remains a whirlwind of emotion

Last updated on Dec. 18, 2023 at 05:54 p.m.**This review contains spoilers.**
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Oscar-nominated film “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” directed by Lasse Hallström, who is famous for directing many of ABBA’s music videos. The movie was written by Peter Hedges, who authored the original book. 
The film is set in the fictional town of Endora, Iowa, and is about 25-year-old Gilbert Grape, the second oldest brother of the Grape family and the patriarch due to the ab...
The Daily Illini •

Column | ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ is a timeless, nostalgic holiday classic

Last updated on Nov. 2, 2023 at 01:34 p.m.**This review contains spoilers.**
 
This October marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most well-loved classic Halloween movies, “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” from producer Tim Burton and director Henry Selick. The film still holds an essential nostalgia to audiences today and has been re-released in theaters for the commemoration. 
Set in Halloween Town, home to shadows, ghosts and other creatures of the night, Jack Skellington is the Pumpkin Ki...
Enloe Eagle's Eye •

Harmful Living: Wake County’s Disappointing Health Curriculum

Content Warning: Eating disorders, Mental illness, Suicide, and Racial Trauma is heavily discussed in the following article.

Healthful Living is the bane of every student’s high school career. You would think this class would be a safe haven for children to learn about their own wellness but for many it has done quite the opposite.

Eating disorders (ED) affect 4% of American teens (approx. 500,000) today (Polaris Teen Center). Although this alarming statistic is acknowledged when addressing ED...
The Daily Illini •

Best of CU | Best Thrift Store: Twice is Nice

Rankings:

« First Place »
Twice is Nice (26.1%)
« Second Place »
Plato’s Closet (25.4%)
« Third Place »
Goodwill (21.1%)


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The Daily Illini •

Review | 40-year-old ‘Footloose’ soundtrack holds well, lack of diversity doesn’t

**This review contains spoilers.**
 
Saturday marked the 40th anniversary of one of the most iconic films of the ’80s: “Footloose,” starring Kevin Bacon.
The film opens strong with the titular song by Kenny Loggins alongside a colorful arrangement of well-dressed, fancy footwork. 
Bacon plays the new kid in town, a city boy named Ren who idolizes David Bowie. Quickly, the townspeople, including the local reverend, find him disruptive to their conservative way of life. The town of Bomont, Oklahom...
The Daily Illini •

‘The Bear,ʼ ‘Successionʼ sweep long-awaited 75th Emmys

The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards were held Monday night, recognizing outstanding television and film from the past year.
The 2023 Emmys were postponed for the first time since 2001 because of a 118-day strike for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA.
The show began at 7 p.m. CT and was hosted by actor and comedian Anthony Anderson, known for his role on “Black-ish.” 
Anderson paid tribute to influential television shows with a series of sets and bits referencing “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” “The Twilight Zone”...
The Daily Illini •

Review | Kali Uchis stuns with dreamy creation ‘Orquídeas’

Kali Uchis released “Orquídeas,” her third album in four years, on Jan. 12. 
Uchis dropped the album after announcing her first pregnancy with Don Toliver the day before. Throughout “Orquídeas,”  Uchis dives into her distinct dreamlike sound while showing her Colombian culture.
Her second Spanish-language album, featuring 14 tracks and a runtime of 44 minutes, is genre-bending and holds traits from reggaeton, R&B and Latin urban.
These influences can be heard on many tracks, starting with “Muñek...
The Daily Illini •

The sixth day of buzzmas | I decided to watch 3 Hallmark holiday movies

Last updated on Dec. 21, 2023 at 04:31 p.m.Hallmark movies are dependably and remarkably god-awful despite having decent production values. For funsies, I decided to watch three of them.
First up is “Eight Gifts of Hanukkah,” one of the only Jewish Hallmark movies to date, in which an optometrist named Sara is sent eight gifts for each night of the Jewish holiday from a secret admirer.
This movie exceeded any human tolerance for cheesiness with the acting and dialogue. As each line is delivered,...
The Daily Illini •

Allison Boot, Katherine Gaffney share literary works at Pygmalion day 3

Young adult novelist Allison Boot and poet Katherine Gaffney read their works to the Champaign-Urbana community at the Urbana Free Library Saturday afternoon as part of this year’s Pygmalion festival.
Inside the Busey Mills Reading Room, a receptive crowd gathered to listen to the reading.
Boot, also known as the “Wheelin’ Wordsmith,” primarily writes novels featuring characters with disabilities. She also is a coordinator of the annual Disability Resource Expo. She is publishing her fourth book...
The Daily Illini •

Review | ‘Sitting in Bars with Cake’ feels half-baked, stale

*** This review contains spoilers. ***
“Sitting in Bars with Cake,” based upon a cookbook of the same name, is a new rom-com dramedy that hit Amazon Prime on Sept. 8. While it was visually enamoring, its dialogue left something to be desired.
Set in Los Angeles, the film centers on two best friends, Corrine (Odessa A’zion) and Jane (Yara Shahidi) that lean into the unlikely friendship trope. 
Corrine is an irresponsible happy-go-lucky assistant music agent impatiently anticipating a promotion. J...
The Daily Illini •

Tessa Violet talks current tour, new album and self-love

Singer-songwriter Tessa Violet, who has reached fame with multiple viral songs on social media, is currently on her North American “MY GOD!” tour. She is known best for her songs “Crush” and “YES MOM”, which went viral on TikTok.
Violet began as a YouTuber in 2007, posting popular fan-made music videos and making vlogs while working abroad in Hong Kong and Thailand as a fashion model and under the alias “Meekakitty.”
She debuted her music career with “Maybe Trapped, Mostly Troubled” in March of...
The Daily Illini •

Lights, camera, action: A student filmmaker’s creative productions

Last updated on April 29, 2023 at 10:06 a.m.

Madeline Blair speaks with a sunny demeanor, dressed in all black in a square-cut top with sheer ruffled sleeves. Her arms have dainty tattoos placed strategically and, at a thinking pause, they stop to play with the golden pendant on her necklace.

She sits upright with her hands in a passionate whirlwind, not unlike the series of events that led her to her filmmaking career.

Blair, senior in LAS, is majoring in creative writing and is now directin...
The Daily Illini •

After 7 years, Shakira is back in full force with ‘Las Mujeres No Ya Lloran’

Last updated on Oct. 29, 2024 at 03:06 p.m.Rating: 8.5/10
 
On March 22, Shakira released “Las Mujeres No Ya Lloran” (Women No Longer Cry), her first album in seven years. 
Hailed as the “Queen of Latin Music,” Shakira grew up in the public eye from the age of 13 when she made her recording debut with Sony Music Colombia. Last year, the artist was in headlines for a tax fraud trial to the tune of 14.5 million euros (15.8 million USD) owed to the Spanish government. This year, her new album has h...
The Daily Illini •

‘Cenicienta: A Bilingual Cinderella Story’ speaks to community in two languages

In “Cenicienta: A Bilingual Cinderella Story,” a play making its way to the Krannert Center for Performing Arts, Madison Palomo plays 18 characters and has been the lead actor in the one-woman show for five years.

Last updated on March 31, 2023 at 02:58 p.m.

“Cenicienta: A Bilingual Cinderella Story” is a children’s play about Belinda, a 10-year-old storyteller, finding courage in her retelling of the classic fairy tale by puppeteering household objects. Touring the country, it stopped at the...
The Daily Illini •

‘Dream Hou$e’ navigates Latina identity

The cast of “Dream Hou$e” poses after the show at The Station Theater on Thursday.

“Dream Hou$e,” a critically acclaimed play about two estranged Latina sisters navigating grief, culture and identity while selling their ancestral home via a home-improvement reality TV show, opened on Thursday to a packed house at The Station Theatre in Urbana.

On the night of the show’s debut, patrons were shoulder to shoulder, chatting in anticipation of the play.

Madeline Seim is a long-time frequenter of t...
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