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Story category: community life
Neighbors: Meet Mary Ann Pettigrew
Story air date: Monday, March 26, 2012
As part of the series "Neighbors," Illinois Public Media's Celeste Quinn visits Mary Ann Pettigrew, a long-time resident of Danville, Illinois. Pettigrew spent a number of years working as a Registered Nurse for the Santa Fe Railroad, for an oil company in the Middle East and St. Francis Hospital in Peoria. She came back to Danville in the early 1970s and has lived at the house on Buchanan Street ever since.
(With production assistance from Crystal Kang)
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community life • peopleUI Professor Tackles Obesity, Diabetes in Immigrant Communities
Story air date: Friday, January 06, 2012

Obesity is hitting Latino children in the United States harder than any other demographic, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Angela Wiley, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is trying to curb that trend in immigrant communities living in Illinois. She heads the Up Amigos project, which looks at how biological, social, and environmental factors affect rates of obesity and diabetes. Illinois Public Radio's Rachel Otwell talks with Wiley about her research.
(Photo courtesy of the University of Illinois)
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community life • health • people • University of IllinoisGreater Community AIDS Project Marks World Aids Day in Champaign
Story air date: Wednesday, November 30, 2011

World AIDS Day in Champaign is Thursday, Dec. 1, and it is being marked by a free showing of the documentary “We Were Here.” The film is about the fight against AIDS when it first appeared in San Francisco’s gay community 30 years ago. The 5:30 PM showing at the Illinois Terminal Building is sponsored by the Greater Community AIDS Project (GCAP).
Illinois Public Media's Jim Meadows spoke with GCAP’s director, Mike Benner about the services they provide, and Benner’s own experiences as a person living with HIV. GCAP provides support services for people with HIV and AIDS in a ten-county region, including low-cost housing, food assistance and emergency financial aid. The agency is funded by government grants and private donations raised mostly through local fund raising events. One of them is coming up Saturday, Dec. 3 at the Levis Faculty Center on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana. The GCAP 2011 Holiday Gala Fundraiser will feature dinner, live music and an auction.
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arts and culture • community life • health • health careGetting Rural Residents Where They Need to Be
Story air date: Thursday, June 30, 2011

The Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District gives passengers about 10 million rides each year. But as Dan Petrella of CU-CitizenAccess reports, for Champaign County’s rural residents, getting where they need to go isn’t as easy as walking to the nearest bus stop.
(Photo by Dan Petrella)
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- Rural Poverty Presents Unique Challenges (Related Story)
- CRIS Rural Transit
- Champaign County Rural Transit Advisory Group
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community life • government • Champaign County • United States • transportation • urban planningLIFE ON ROUTE 150: Cost of Keeping Communities Clean
Story air date: Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Champaign, Urbana and Danville handle about 6,000 nuisance property cases a year. While most property owners fix problems when they receive notification, those who don’t cost the city—and taxpayers—thousands of dollars in clean-up costs. As part of the series “Life on Route 150,” CU-CitizenAccess reporter Pam Dempsey looks at how cities in east central Illinois are working to keep blight out of neighborhoods.
(Photo by Pam Dempsey)
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Interactive Map of Nuisance Property Liens Filed in Champaign and Urbana
View Nuisance housing cases in a full screen map









