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Questions this week about Allegiant flights to Willard Airport, misleading COVID vaccination rates in Champaign-Urbana, that big former Amishland building in Tuscola, climate change in central Illinois, shots fired incidents in Champaign-Urbana, Jersey Mike’s opening in Champaign and a late chime in downtown Urbana.
The UI football team uses Allegiant to travel to away games, including last Saturday’s upset at Penn State.
Allegiant at CMI?
“Why does Allegiant Airlines do not fly out of Willard Airport? They fly out of practically all other airports in and around central Illinois including Bloomington, Peoria, Springfield. Also Indianapolis. I for one among many others that would welcome them to Champaign as they fly to all parts of Florida. Granted they fly on different days to different locales but are relatively cheap and nonstop flights.”
“Over the past few years, we have met with Allegiant numerous times at various air service conferences around the country. At this time, the primary reason they are not at Willard Airport is because they are established at other airports within our region, such as BMI, PIA, and SPI,” said Timothy Bannon, executive director at Willard Airport. He was referring to the Central Illinois Regional Airport at Bloomington-Normal, the General Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport and the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport.
“All of these airports mentioned are subsidized by local tax dollars, making it less expensive for airlines to operate — lower fees to operate at an airport means more profit for the airline. Willard Airport is not subsidized by local tax dollars. We will continue to meet with Allegiant in the future, and would welcome them here without hesitation, but ultimately this is Allegiant’s decision. We are hopeful they will start service at Willard in the future, and are always working to grow our relationship with the carrier.”
The entry at Willard Airport in Savoy on Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021.
Willard Airport fares
“I read the article Sunday 10/24 regarding Willard Airport with great interest. I would love to fly out of Willard on an upcoming trip for my family of 6. I quickly searched again for prices. Out of Willard was $740 round trip per person. Indy was $228, a savings of over $3,000. Flights from Bloomington were $460 for the same date. Does CMI really expect people to choose that airport for that kind of price difference?”
“Numerous factors impact pricing for airline tickets such as destination, how far in advance you book, how full the plane is at the time of booking, etc,” said Bannon. “Pricing is exclusively set by the airline, the airport is not involved in this process. Similar flights to your destination at BMI or IND may be less full at the time of booking, causing the ticket prices to be lower.
“Also, if you’re using low cost carriers for comparison at other airports, keep in mind that pricing structures vary significantly from airline to airline. We encourage booking as far in advance as possible to secure the lowest fares available out of Willard Airport, as many flights fill up fast.”
Lower vaccination rate in center cities?
“The county has 70 percent of eligible people with a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but only 56 percent in the 61801 Zip Code and 60 percent in the 61820 Zip Code. Does CUPHD have an idea about the makeup of the population in the zip codes near campus that haven’t gotten vaccinated? It wouldn’t seem to be the student population given the campus mandates.”
The numbers for the 61820 and 61801 ZIP codes are flawed, said Julie Pryde, administrator of the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District.
“They appear much lower than they really are. This is because UI students, a huge number who live in these two ZIP codes, are counted in our denominator (Census numbers), but if they used their permanent addresses when vaccinating (parent’s address), that is where the vaccinations are counted,” said Pryde. “This means those do not show up in our numerator, but in that of their parents’ home county.
“While we know that the University of Illinois undergraduate and graduate vaccination rate is at 95 percent, we cannot include them in our data if they did not use their local address on their vaccination paperwork. The official record uses the address listed on the vaccination paperwork.”
The most important thing to remember, Pryde said, is that Champaign-Urbana really is a highly vaccinated community and thus a safer community.
Climate change
“In a previous Mailbag, it was reported that September 2021 was the 16th highest temperature average on record. If 1933 was the highest, and 15 other years were higher, why was it not global warming (climate change) in those years? People have been told that we have 10 years left for the past 50 years.”
Skepticism is welcome but there are climatic trends that cannot be ignored. Climate change isn’t just about warming daytime temperatures but an increased incidence of hurricanes, wildfires, storms and other extreme weather events that has scientists around the world concerned.
Obviously climatic events are not universally uniform, but last month was the hottest September globally since 1880, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
And September’s extraordinary worldwide warmth — even if not in Champaign County— also contributed to 2020’s trend as an unusually hot year, with the year-to-date global temperatures the second highest in 141 years of records.
Locally four (2012, 2016, 2017 and 2006) of the 12 warmest years in Champaign-Urbana’s 133-year recorded weather history have occurred in the last 15 years. Globally, though, 2020 and 2016 are the warmest years on record.
Jim Angel, who served as Illinois state climatologist for 34 years, noted that Illinois has been fortunate in that it has not experienced the same rate of warming as much of the rest of the world.
“In the U.S.,” he said, “the strongest warming is in t he west and north. Meanwhile the warming in Illinois is strongest in winter and spring and stronger in overnight low temperatures more so than daytime high temperatures.”
Projections show Illinois temperatures warming by 3 to 5 degrees by mid-century, Angel said.
Angel’s chief climate concern in Illinois is overall precipitation and the increased frequency of heavier rainfall events.
“That has created a host of headaches in agriculture from flooded fields, planting delays, soil erosion, nutrient losses, damage to rural roads and bridges and sometimes disrupting rail and barge traffic like in 2019,” he said.
Four of the 12 wettest years in Champaign-Urbana weather history have occurred in the last 13 years.
Jersey Mike’s
“Any update on when Jersey Mike’s will be opening in the Union Square retail development?”
Scott Miller, who owns the local Jersey Mike’s franchise, said he hopes to open the store at 1712 W. Springfield Ave., C, in mid-January.
“We’ve had some supply chain issues that will prevent us from opening sooner,” said Miller, who also is planning to open Jersey Mike’s shops in Rantoul, Danville and Decatur.
He said he hopes to match the “strong numbers” his Bloomington shop put up when it opened Aug. 25.
Amishland building
“What are they doing in the old Amishland Buffet in Tuscola? Work trucks there working a lot lately. Hoping it sold and is being repurposed.”
Brian Moody, executive director of the Tuscola Chamber & Economic Development Inc., said the large building south of the Tuscola outlet mall “has been leased and it has been repurposed by Tuscola Packaging Group and Amity Landscaping.
“TPG is a packaging and third party logistics firm doing business with a variety of manufacturers in the regional area. The owners of TPG, Zena Onstott and Chuck Campbell, have a second business, Amity Landscaping, which also is located in the former Amishland facility. New truck docks were added to the facility and there has been considerable activity there in recent months.”
Late bell
“There’s a bell tower within hearing distance of Lincoln Square Mall that right now is consistently marking the hour 10 minutes late. I remember a few months ago it was 6 or 7 minutes late. Where is the bell, and why is it so confused?”
It’s the Champaign County Courthouse chime that is ringing late — about 13 minutes late by the time I heard it Wednesday afternoon. The clock atop the restored courthouse tower also is late.
Chris Smith, building and grounds manager for the county’s physical plant department, apologized for the chime and clock tardiness and said it would be addressed next week.
Overpass fencing
“On I-57 where the new bridges have been built, the Bradley Avenue overpass has jump guards on both sides. The one over U.S. 150 has one. Is there a reason for this?”
“The structure carrying Bradley Avenue over I-57 has sidewalk along the north and south sides of the structure, so bridge fence railing was installed on both sides,” explained Kensil Garnett, the Region 3 engineer for the Illinois Department of Transportation. “The structure carrying U.S. 150 over I-57 has sidewalk on the north side only, so bridge fence railing was only installed on the north side of the structure.”
Infant abuse
“In crime report last week there was a report of infant taken to hospital with broken arms and legs and more. No further info regarding charges. Surely the responsible person or persons can be identified. Makes me nauseous to even think about this.”
“This is an ongoing (Champaign Police Department) investigation,” said Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz. “We have an open child welfare case and the Department of Children and Family Services has temporary custody of the child.”
Streetlight out
“Streetlight on Windsor Road at Winchester (it’s on the south side of Windsor) is out, who’s responsible to fix it?”
Contact Ameren Illinois.
“That’s been emailed to us a couple of times,” said Kris Koester, spokesman for the Champaign Public Works Department. “We have reported it to Ameren.”
Here’s the link to report an extinguished light or an electrical outage to the utility: https://www.ameren.com/outage-center
Or you can call 800-755-5000.
Shooting/homicides in Champaign-Urbana
“With all of the shootings in C-U, how many homicides have there been in 2021?”
Below are the recent statistics for Champaign shooting incidents and homicides dating to 2015. Champaign Police define a shooting incident any time law enforcement finds evidence that a gun was fired, including spent shell casings, property damage, or personal injury.
Shooting Incidents (Jan. 1 – Dec. 31 of each year)
2015: 86
2016: 76
2017: 61
2018: 76
2019: 100
2020: 189
2021: 218 (as of Oct. 22)
Homicides (Jan. 1 – Dec. 31 of each year)
2015: 4
2016: 3
2017: 6
2018: 7
2019: 2
2020: 10
2021: 13 (12 by gunfire as of Oct. 22)
Following are the number of substantiated shots fired incidents reported Jan. 1, 2015 through Oct. 28, 2021, within Urbana Police Department jurisdiction. Incidents are included if there are multiple reporting parties and/or evidence of a shooting. Intentional and accidental self-inflicted shootings are excluded.
2015: 32
2016: 31
2017: 17
2018: 32
2019: 32
2020: 54
2021 (as of Oct. 28): 90
Homicides related to shootings
2015:0
2016: 4
2017: 0
2018: 0
2019: 0
2020: 1
2021 (through Oct. 28): 7
Crime reporting tool
“The city of Champaign police department has a mission statement of transparency, however their crime reporting website has not been updated for over a year. This is a valuable tool when house/apartment hunting to see crime trends in neighborhoods. Is there any actual/real/definitive/deadline date when this GIS service will be restored?”
Police department spokesman Tom Yelich said problems with the crime reporting tool persist.
“We understand the importance of this tool for many community members, and we are aware of the issue. Last year, the department switched CAD systems which led to the compatibility and updating problems we are currently experiencing with online crime data reporting,” he said. “We are actively troubleshooting the problem and hope to have it resolved as soon as possible.
“Unfortunately, we do not have a definitive date on when that may be but will alert the community when it is back and operational. We apologize for the inconvenience and are happy to try and assist via email at police@champaignil.gov.”
Masks at State Farm Center
“Just saw an article regarding the sell out of certain basketball games. Great for the Illini! From the pics accompanying the article, the policy of requiring masks indoors is being ignored. Why have the policy if it is going to not be enforced?”
You mean like the same policy that goes largely unenforced at retail stores, professional sporting events and other public places?
“There are numerous signs and reminders within State Farm Center, along with many PA announcements, regarding the UI campus and state of Illinois mandate for required mask wearing indoors no matter the person’s vaccination status,” said Kent Brown, spokesman for University of Illinois athletics. “There are exceptions to persons who are actively eating and drinking.
“For the safety of everyone present at State Farm Center in attendance for an exciting Fighting Illini Basketball game, we hope that all patrons follow the rules and requirements set forth by the UI campus, local and state health officials.”
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