Some of you reading last week’s editorial entreating Unit 4 schools to get it together might have wondered why Urbana schools were spared a critique. Make no mistake, Urbana schools also need to get it …
A couple weeks ago, we did a poll about what cuisines we were missing in Champaign-Urbana. There was a lot of great feedback, so we decided to poll you again to ask what else C-U …
If you’re anything like us, you tuned into the game on Saturday to root on the Illini, and obviously, it was good because we’re headed to our first Sweet 16 in nearly two decades. It …
That was a lot to take in for the first round of our Food + Drink Tournament, which kicked off on Monday with our Round of 32 matchups. Our Food + Drink Editor Alyssa Buckley …
March is International Women’s Month and an excellent opportunity to do a temperature check of how women are faring in C-U. Spoiler alert: We have a long way to go in dismantling the patriarchy and …
In 2018, the Champaign County Board sold the Champaign County Nursing Home. In 2023, that facility was shut down by the private market entity that bought it. In five short years, our once publicly-run elder …
March has arrived, which means it is bracket time. If you’ve followed along for the last few years here on Smile Politely, you’re familiar with our tournament of Champaign-Urbana related things. We’ve done food and drink (2019), icons (2020), pizza (2022), parks (2023), and …
Here are Smile Politely, we know you have strong opinions about food and drink — we do, too. As we noted in our 2020 editorial listicle on five cuisines missing in Champaign-Urbana, C-U is home …
The story of the former Urbana Landmark Hotel has been a dramatic one. With the progress that’s been made thus far to transform it into Hotel Royer, it seems like a functioning hotel is just …
The article was written with collaboration from the Urbana Schools Action Coalition. It’s been over 5 years since a significantly low point for Urbana School District #116 (USD116). The resignations and removals of those in …
With the teardown of Meadowbrook Park’s Prairie Play playground happening soon and glimpses of warmer weather in the forecast, we’ve got spending more time outdoors on the brain. Champaign and Urbana’s parks are wonderful and …
Willard Airport is in the local news again, and we don’t just mean in our editorial about the extent to which our community meets the benchmarks for being considered a “city.” In that editorial, we …
The US Postal Service (USPS) is something that we all take for granted. It’s just about as old as this country (it was established in 1792), and we expect it to always be there. It …
The 2024 primary election is upon us. Early voting begins tomorrow, February 8th. There are not many primary races to speak of in this cycle, including at the county level. In fact, the only contested …
Snow and other types of terrible weather aren’t new in Central Illinois. We’ve seen school closures, historic snow days, and intense weather happen pretty regularly, and climate change will only make things worse. So why …
Nobody loves to complain about Champaign-Urbana and its shortcomings more than people who live here, us included. One common portrayal, as illustrated in a recent Reddit post, is that C-U is a charmless flyover town …
This year will be a big one for politics in our nation; if you haven’t heard, this year we elect a president. It will be stressful, but there are plenty of state and local politics …
Like so many others in Champaign-Urbana, I’m a proud dog parent. We adopted our first dog in early 2023. He’s a former stray, and based on his timid and shy behavior at the time we …
Another year is gone, and we have been celebrating the BEST of it. Now that those articles are published, we can turn our attention to the WORST of the year. Some of our complaints are …
As we thought about what we wanted to see in Champaign-Urbana for 2024, we kept coming back to similar things we wished for in 2022 and 2023. We realized that these issues are important enough …
“He calls first thing in the morning just to say good morning,” said Blaine Lee, whose son was arrested in Urbana on a gun charge and has been in jail for two years. “Usually, he …
Each year, our Editorial Board takes a moment to reflect on what’s been happening in our community over the past year. We’ve looked back at our 2023 Wishlist, considered some of the topics we’ve tackled …
It’s almost Thanksgiving, which means it’s almost time for the holiday season. For many, this is a time for reflection, and if you are able, to give back to the community. The last few years …
Earlier this week, daylight savings time ended, and we all set our clocks back one hour. Now, if you wake up at 6:30 a.m., it won’t be as dark, but daylight hours will get shorter …
The housing problems facing Champaign-Urbana residents are nothing short of a crisis. For renters in particular, the price of living in our community is out of control. While landlords and owners may blame inflation, even a …
It’s Halloween, and this evening kids of all ages and their caregivers will take to the sidewalks of C-U and beyond to, in the words of Jerry Seinfeld, “get candy, get candy, get candy.” Have …
The first week of October was Banned Books Week, a nation-wide event launched in 1982 as a response to an upsurge in book bans at the time. If you were in any book-centered physical or …
In late October and early November, you might hear a collective groan from Champaign-Urbana’s homeowners and home renters. That groan is the indication of yard waste collection season, which means an investment of time, labor, …
Last week, The News-Gazette reported an update on the City of Champaign’s Community Gun Violence Prevention Blueprint. Included was a list of every organization and entity that received funding to help implement the initiatives laid …
Phone calls are a lifeline for those incarcerated to stay in touch with their families and loved ones. The phone calls you and I make from our smart phone without a thought cost a person incarcerated …
Starting this month, OSF HealthCare Sacred Heart Medical Center in Danville will reopen their birthing center and provide Vermillion County with a much needed option for hospital births. The birth center has been closed since …
There are plenty of empty buildings and spaces around Champaign-Urbana. Some remind us of a tangible cultural loss to the community, like the still-for-sale and vacant Art Theater, and some are just a simpler reminder …
We’ve written many times about the need for a new mascot at the University of Illinois. We’ve also written many times about how the Kingfisher is far and away the best option. This week, we …
Have you noticed a foul and offensive odor permeating throughout Champaign this August? The pungent scent, akin to a dumpster-like stench, has been a persistent presence, causing discomfort and distress to residents. Driving down Prospect …
Most of us are all-too familiar with anti-abortion activism that utilizes highly public, offensive, and violent tactics. Anti-abortion activists threaten, attack, and murder abortion providers. They have bombed and burned reproductive health centers, including down …
Students, welcome! While sometimes we may casually lament about the difficulty in getting around campus when you’re here, or do a little celebrating about the summer pace when you’re not, ultimately, your presence is very …
As the summer winds down to make way for autumn, it’s almost time to dust off the old leaf blower and rake and get ready for fall yard work. Or is it? It turns out …
Earlier this summer, the Village of Savoy put out a request for expression of interest (REI) from developers to build out a “postcard worthy” downtown at the intersection of Church and Dunlap. In theory, this …
The realities of climate change are more apparent each year, and this summer, it has been particularly real around here. For two days at the end of June, smoke from wildfires in Canada enveloped the …
In the midst of the climate emergency, the stripping away of rights to certain groups, crumbling Democracy, gun violence, and the other routine horrors of the 21st century, we want to take a moment to …
Recidivism rates among formerly incarcerated youth have reached alarming levels, posing a significant challenge for our society. Upon release from detention centers around the country, youth often find themselves caught in a revolving door of …
In April 2020, a handful of weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, we published an article thinking about what life could be like after the emergent nature of the pandemic subsided. We asked two questions: …
“I can’t sleep. The time that I have [fallen] asleep, I just woke up with a nightmare,” said Amy Richardson, whose son Jordan was shot and killed by police in Rantoul last week. “I keep …
In 2018, we wrote about the death of active music venues in Champaign, a few years after the beloved Mike N Molly’s shuttered. When MNM’s closed, many were devastated by the loss, which was just …
You may have seen this graphic circulating in your social media feeds recently. It was created by journalist Erin Reed, a trans woman, for the Los Angeles Blade. It depicts the level of anti-trans legislation …
Three years ago, we published an article lamenting how three years after the 2017 closure of the iconic Chester Street Bar (C Street), Champaign-Urbana still lacks a dedicated queer performance space. So now six years …
Emus are majestically awkward, land-bound birds native to Australia. So, pardoning my French, what the fuck is an emu doing wandering around Champaign-Urbana? Apart from delighting locals, course. First spotted in Urbana on May 9, …
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. In Champaign-Urbana, we have many ways to celebrate and honor Asian and AAPI communities. Asian Americans make up about 6% of the state’s population, and …
This Editorial Board has spoken at length about the importance of showing up to vote in local elections. It’s a thread that ran through our recent editorial with our thoughts on the consolidated election in …
