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Story category: environment
Champaign, Urbana Consider Stormwater Utility Fee
Story air date: Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Sewers are among the basic of city services --- and one of the least exciting, until something goes wrong. City officials in Champaign and Urbana have seen enough flooding over the years, that they’re proposing a new fee to pay for maintaining and improving the storm sewer system --- a fee already used by about a dozen Illinois cities. Illinois Public Media’s Jim Meadows has more on the storm water utility fee.
(Photo courtesy of Nancy Taylor)
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environment • water resources • government • Champaign • Urbana • politicsMemorial Grove a Tribute to 9/11 Victims
Story air date: Monday, September 05, 2011
As people remember the 10-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Illinois Public Media's Tom Rogers looks at the 9/11 Memorial Grove inside Champaign County’s River Bend Forest Preserve. He revisits the site, nine years after the first seeds at the memorial were sown.
(Photo by Tom Rogers/WILL)
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environment • historyGreat Lakes Face Pressure for Water
Story air date: Thursday, June 30, 2011
The Great Lakes hold six quadrillion gallons of water, which is 20 percent of the world’s fresh surface water. As scarcity grows, there is concern more and more people are eying that water. A historic compact to protect the Great Lakes became law in 2008, and it's being tested for the first time in a thirsty suburb of Milwaukee. Illinois Public Radio's Lynette Kalsnes looks into the law and its history.
(Photo courtesy of Qfamily/Flickr)
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environmentLIFE ON ROUTE 150: Raising Alpacas Sees Growing Profits
Story air date: Friday, June 17, 2011
Some new livestock farms are cropping up in Illinois, but they’re not the typical cattle or hog farms. Instead, more deer, bison, and llamas are growing up on private property. And one relative of the llama is growing up at over 50 farms statewide. As part of the series, "Life on Route 150," Illinois Public Media’s Jeff Bossert visits three farms in Central Illinois to find out what makes the alpaca both appealing and profitable.
(Photo by Jeff Bossert/WILL)
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Photos of Alpaca Farms in Central Illinois Shearing Alpacas Alpacas on the Farm Alpacas Spitting
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- Salt Creek Alpacas
- Houchin Family Alpacas
- der Bauernhof Farms profile at Alpacanation.com
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business • environmentLIFE ON ROUTE 150: State Parks Struggling Yet Popular
Story air date: Tuesday, June 07, 2011
More and more people are taking advantage of their area state parks for camping, fishing and other recreation. In fact, nearly 2,000,000 people a year pass through two state parks along Route 150. Yet the agency charged with running them has seen significant budget cuts in the past decade. In this installment of our “Life on Route 150” series, Illinois Public Media’s Tom Rogers visited the parks and took a snapshot of their health.
(Photo by Tom Rogers/WILL)
