Opinion

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 …

Our Opinion section is mostly populated with our weekly Editorial Board offerings, but every once in a while someone with an opinion to share will reach out with a pitch. We’ve published articles on the foul smells emanating from Kraft, the emu, school district issues, jail …

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 …