Urbana City Council voted down an ordinance Monday night to make Urbana's Lincoln Hotel a historic landmark, a measure that would have secured the original 1923 structure built by local architect Joseph W. Royer.

Built in the Tudor-style, the downtown Urbana hotel has seen considerable ups and downs in its 85-year history along with a major addition constructed in a Bavarian-style aesthetic in the early 1980s by the Jumer's hotel brand.

Local and organic food has made a surge in the last few years with a growing number of American families putting local and organic grub on the dinner table. Tonight, the Illinois Local and Organic Food and Farm Task Force is coming for you. Not to hand out slaps on the wrist for your food infractions, but rather to get some feedback on how the public views Illinois’ food systems.

Champaign City Council took steps last night to connect the popular downtown district with Campustown by adopting the University District Plan — which was recently updated in 2007 — as council policy for the next ten years.

Along with adopting the plan, the council agreed to an intergovernmental agreement with the Champaign Park District to maintain a park along the Boneyard Creek corridor from First Street to Wright Street.

After many separate discussions about enacting a ban on using cell phones while driving, the council has decided on an ordinance, but surprisingly, the new draft doesn't include talking on hand-held cell phones and hands-free units.

The ordinance put forth includes an amendment to prohibit sending text messages while driving a vehicle and an addition for bicyclists on the roadway to be susceptible to the same fines. Other elements of the ban include a hefty fine — maximum of $750 — if caught talking or texting on a cell phone while involved in an accident, and an educational program to teach the public about the new ordinance.

For those of you downtown dwellers ever on the watch and diligently moving your car in the a.m. hours to escape the eye of parking enforcement, your time has come. The City of Champaign is currently accepting applications to be placed on a waiting list for parking spots in the new Hill Street Parking Facility, but the convenience comes with a price tag.

The parking deck isn't completed, but the city is taking requests at their Parking Programs Office located at 713 Edgebrook Dr. or online along with a $60 deposit fee.

Chris Knight, proprietor of one of Champaign's most popular bars, The Blind Pig, purchased the Barfly yesterday. The cocktail lounge will, Knight says, be open for business under his ownership tonight.

Barfly, a fairly typical lounge that never quite found its footing as a dance club due to the narrow structure of the space, will remain as is for a while. Knight has plans for the Neil Street locale, including a name change to the Twilight Lounge, after some alterations to the current spot.

Urbana City Council did not provide many answers concerning the proposed cell phone ban scheduled for a vote on Monday. Plenty of questions, however, were put forward. Should cyclists be prohibited from riding and talking? How will a cell phone ban affect our twin cities? And the fundamental question, should the ordinance be for hand-held cell phones only or should it include hands-free units?

City Attorney Ronald O'Neal asked for more time to draft the ordinance.

When Council Member Michael LaDue walks around his Campustown neighborhood after a particularly successful football game things can get pretty rowdy on Green Street — more raucous, in fact, than the 2008 Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day, a two-day brew-ha-ha devoted to drinking, which LaDue called “uneventful.”

The event cooled its heels a bit this year after the City of Champaign and University of Illinois implemented new restrictions, including a “No Visitor” policy at the dormitories and a strong police enforcement on the street. And although the morning after included piles of puke on the sidewalk and bottles littering the lawns, statistics for arrests were down.

But Mayor Gerald Schweighart, also acting Liquor Commissioner, felt the City of Champaign needed to do more to curb underage drinking on campus. In a 6-3 vote last night, the council passed an ordinance granting Schweighart emergency powers to enforce a 21 and up limit on bar entrance for special events, particularly looking at next year’s “Unofficial” celebration.

Last night — to an overflowing council chamber — Urbana City Council held a discussion to hear the opinions of the public concerning Urbana Public Television’s airing of an anti-Semitic show that many residents at the meeting deemed hate speech towards the Jewish community.

The extreme program spews hateful propaganda about the Jewish community and was provided to a local resident by an out-of-town source.

One resident called the situation “heartbreaking." A second dubbed the proposed revisions to UPTV’s manual concerning airing public-access programs “an empty disclaimer.”

UPTV revised some of their policies and procedures including a disclaimer at the beginning and end of all public access programming that states, “the City of Urbana does not condone or endorse speech that promotes fear, hatred, prejudice or discrimination toward any group based on religion, ethnicity, race, gender or sexual orientation, Kate Gorman, Station Manager of UPTV says.

The City of Urbana will be introducing a new type of sign to the landscape of the ever-growing Philo and Windsor developments: an electronic message board with business advertisements changing every 10 seconds.

The sign, soon to post in front of the Pines at Stonecreek Commons shopping center, veers away from the current ordinance which allows electronic messages to adjust once every three minutes.

John Currey, director of Champaign Central High School Jazz Ensemble, along with members of the group, collected a proclamation from Deputy Mayor Michael LaDue declaring April as Jazz Appreciation Month in the City of Champaign.

While Currey accepted the certificate, he had some news of his own: Champaign Central High School Jazz Ensemble was chosen as one of 15 schools across North America to participate in the prestigious high school band festival dubbed Essentially Ellington.

Urbana Alderman Charlie Smyth introduced an ordinance last night — to a packed council chamber — that would ban cell phone usage while driving in Urbana.

After much discussion and public input, the council opted to further the conversation and allow City Attorney Ronald O’Neal to draft a new ordinance reflecting questions raised at last night’s meeting.

Smyth’s proposal included most mobile electronic devices, including hands-free sets such as Bluetooth devices. Council members voiced concerns over banning two-way cell phone devices for businesses such as towing services: how the ordinance would be enforced and how to educate the public about the ban.

After Mayor Gerald Schweighart read the resolution providing funds to the reconstruction of three residential redevelopments on North Neil and West Church streets, Council Member Michael La Due took time to note that the incentive deserves a little fanfare in what he called “a small step for the city, but a giant step for preservation and integrity of our downtown.”

The resolution grants $225,000 from the city to go towards expenditures incurred in reconstruction of the properties at 219 N. Neil St., 223 N. Neil St. and 109 W. Church St. The buildings would provide more residential living in the downtown area.

Urbana City Council passed a resolution last night to join an intergovernmental agreement to fight against AmerenIP’s rate hike. The council voted to revise the budget to include funds to protest in front of the Illinois Commerce Commission alongside other downstate Illinois cities.

According to Mayor Laurel Prussing, who laid out the issue last week in her “Mayor’s Report,” the electricity hike could cost the city more than $100,000 in street lighting alone. AmerenIP is currently proposing a 14 percent increase in rates over a two-year period along with an 11 percent increase in natural gas rates.

Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing delivered a report at last night’s Urbana City Council meeting, outlining a potential future increase in utility rates for Champaign County residents unless efforts from area cities to fight the rate hikes from Illinois American Water and AmerenIP are successful.

According to Prussing, the water company said the 60 percent increase does not include the total cost of the new water facility on West Bradley Avenue in Champaign and that the company may want to increase rates in the future.

Currently, the cities of Urbana and Champaign along with Savoy, Philo, Sydney and St. Joseph are spending $65,000 collectively to go up in front of the Illinois Commerce Commission to try and save $8 million for Champaign County customers.

After weeks of keeping their new location under wraps, today Common Ground Food Co-op officially announces the site of their expanded store: Lincoln Square Village.

The co-op didn’t initially look at the former site of Lincoln Square Mall in downtown Urbana, but after discussing the 2200-foot space with city employees and managers at the Village, Common Ground Food Co-op was sold.

“We were actually blown away at how positive the conversation was, how excited they were about us and how excited we were about them,” Jacqueline Hannah, general manager of the co-op says.

Starting today, downtown dwellers should prepare to dig a little deeper in their pockets to feed meters in what the City of Champaign dubs the “downtown core” parking spaces.

City Council’s decision to triple parking rates in downtown Champaign from $.25 an hour to $.75 an hour was made on Dec. 18. In theory, the hiked rates will move long-term visitors to outlying areas where parking prices are lower to make way for short-term guests.

So the big question is: Where can you register in Champaign-Urbana?

The Friday evening before Champaign Public Library’s Jan. 6 grand opening, the new 122,600 square-foot space is abuzz with activity. Maintenance crews work away at replacement compact disc racks — an unexpected change that needs to be made two days before the unveiling. Other than that minor delay, books are on shelves; the furniture appears in order and the children’s desk projects a vibrant red, green and blue glow.

Champaign Public Library’s old 40,000-square-foot structure stands in the shadow of the new building. Compared to the green design of the new space — with its video game collection and Latte Da! Café, which has indoor and outdoor seating — the old library looks like a dinosaur.

After spending 33 years in Illinois Disciples Foundation’s basement, Common Ground Food Co-op is bursting from the seams. So, they’re packing their bags.

Come July 1, the local grocery store will open doors in its new digs, and although Common Ground is mum about the new address, Jacqueline Hannah, general manager, says the food co-op will set up shop in one of the two downtown regions. Common Ground will announce their new location officially in mid-January.

On the same weekend that OPENSOURCE celebrated its three-year anniversary with an exhibition, dubbed "Birthday Suit," the art space also had to close the doors on their East Washington Street location in Champaign.

OPENSOURCE is an alternative art space focusing on non-traditional projects and events of interest to the Champaign-Urbana community. The group’s projects run the gamut from art workshops to lectures to concerts from local and national creators. Until recently, the group used their location in Downtown Champaign as a home.