Urbana School District 116 will be offering free breakfast and lunch to children 18 and under this summer through the federally funded Summer Meal Program. The initiative, running from June through mid-July 2025, ensures that all children in the area—regardless of income or school enrollment—have access to nutritious meals during the summer break.
When Albin Selimi reopened his family’s longtime restaurant under a new name and fresh identity, he didn’t anticipate just how quickly the community would embrace it. Formerly known as Urbana Gardens, the restaurant is now Maple & Yolk, and it’s drawing crowds — with 1,500 patrons on weekends alone.
Champaign County Coroner Laurie Brauer has confirmed the identity of a deceased male discovered on May 15, 2025, in Heritage Lake, located in Rantoul. With the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the individual has been positively identified as Matteo Antonio-Antonia, a resident of Champaign.
Expect a mild and mostly cloudy Memorial Day weekend across Central Illinois. Friday night will be cool with a low near 46°. Saturday brings sunshine and a high around 69°, before clouds return overnight.
With just days remaining in the legislative session, Illinois lawmakers are scrambling to finalize a state budget under mounting financial pressures. The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget has reduced revenue projections by more than half a billion dollars for the upcoming fiscal year, adding to a complex mix of fiscal uncertainty and political tension. Lawmakers must approve a budget by May 31 with a simple majority; after that, a three-fifths vote is required.
Urbana residents will soon see a shift in their electricity billing as the city’s municipal electric aggregation contract with Constellation comes to an end. The expiration of the contract means that eligible accounts will revert to Ameren’s Basic Generation Service unless residents choose a different electricity provider.
lllinoisans are bracing for a significant hike in electric bills this summer as grid stress, rising demand, and legislative uncertainty converge. Beginning in June, the average residential customer in northern Illinois served by Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) will see an increase of about $10.60 per month, while downstate Ameren Illinois customers face steeper hikes of 18% to 22%.
The Danville Police Department is investigating two separate reports of shots fired that occurred just hours apart at the same intersection overnight.
Carle Health has announced it will discontinue its Medicare Advantage plans under Health Alliance by December 31, 2025, marking a significant shift in its insurance operations and affecting over 33,000 members. This comes just months after the health system revealed it would also be phasing out its broader Health Alliance insurance plans by the end of this year.
Champaign-Urbana continues to ride a wave of economic strength as the area posted one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state for April 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Illinois Department of Employment Security.
