Smile Politely. Speak Directly. A Champaign-Urbana Culture Blog

Criminal law, finance, tenant rights and employee rights are the topics of a three-part series beginning this weekend at the Champaign Public Library.

Presented by students at the University of Illinois College of Law, “Know Your Rights: How to Deal with Cops, Money, and Your Boss” offers a layman’s guide to the legal snafus often encountered by members of the Champaign-Urbana community. The series, which begins this Saturday and ends March 15, will offer interpretations of basic laws as well as advice on how to handle common legal frustrations.

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.

The new dorm at the St. John’s Newman Catholic Center at the University of Illinois has become a significant player in the campus skyline. Set to be completed in July 2008, Newman Hall now has 85% of its brick exterior complete and crews are currently working on the interior. “We lost a little time in the hard winter months,” said Mark Randall, director of advancement at the Newman Center, but he added that the project remains on schedule to welcome new students in August 2008. “We have more applications than we have beds,” Randall said. The official dedication ceremony will be held Sept. 6–7, 2008.

Coffee drinkers: Perk up your ears.

Beloved Urbana coffeehouse and hipster study spot, Caffe Paradiso, changed ownership over the weekend. Café co-founder and owner Melissa Fanella had been looking to sell the business for the past year.

The café first opened in 1998 with partner Geoff Merritt of Parasol Records and That's Rentertainment. The café soon housed an extension of the John St. movie rental store, first in the seating area and then in the rental space adjacent to the cafe. After it ceased operations, Fanella continued to run the café with the help of the employees that had been on staff since its opening.

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.

Champaign voters got their first crack at democracy for 2008 this morning. At 11:58 a.m., 315 out of 900 people had already voted at the Holy Cross parish center, which covers the 11th and 12th precincts. The Democratic Party had significantly higher numbers in these precincts than other parties.

Students at the University of Illinois disappear into a foggy quad on Monday afternoon. After an evening of hail and ice, central Illinoisans woke to a quilt of fog that thickened as the day went on. Rain showers, thunderstorms and snow are in the forecast for the next few days.

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.