Champaign County Young Professionals Network

CHAMPAIGN – A Champaign police officer who pleaded guilty last month to driving under the influence has resigned her post.

Champaign Police Chief R.T. Finney said Lisa Staples, 39, resigned effective at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The weather turned slippery again Tuesday evening, causing  all-too-familiar car accidents and falls on the ice.

Police and ambulance services were dispatched to several car accidents Tuesday evening, including at Interstates 57 and 74 in the Champaign area.

Icy roads claimed the life of a Florida woman Tuesday morning.

The woman was identified as Angel Michelle McDonald. She had recently relocated from Bradenton, Fla. to Bloomington, said Vermilion County Coroner Peggy Johnson in a news release this evening.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Roland Burris failed in his bid to take President-elect Barack Obama's Illinois Senate seat on Tuesday in a scripted piece of political theater staged just before the opening of the 111th Congress.

"Mr. Burris is not in possession of the necessary credentials from the state of Illinois," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said in his speech opening the new session of Congress.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Roland Burris announced Tuesday he was rejected for Barack Obama's Senate seat, in a bizarre rainy-day scene on the Capitol grounds as lawmakers awaited the gaveling of the 111th Congress into session.

Standing amid a huge throng of reporters and television cameras in a cold and steady rain, Burris, 71, declared he had been informed that "my credentials are not in order and will not be accepted."

CHICAGO (AP) – Members of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's impeachment panel say they will move forward despite the possibility that they might not get to hear federal wiretaps of the governor's conversations with aides and others.

"These tapes are relevant evidence, we'd like to have them," David Ellis, a lawyer for the impeachment panel, said Monday. But he said the panel could wrap up its work as early as this week and "we have already gathered a large volume of evidence."

URBANA – The Normal school district may not have to pay any damages in a civil suit filed in federal court on behalf of one of the victims of former Urbana teacher Jon White.

U.S. Magistrate Judge David Bernthal of Urbana recommended that the allegations from one of White's victims – called Jane Doe-2 to protect the minor's privacy – against McLean County Unit 5 school district, its board and several employees be dismissed.

MONTICELLO – LaVern Gerth lived happily for nine years in a Decatur retirement home, but when she needed a wheelchair, she had to find someplace else to live.

Last month she became the first resident in Piatt County's new supportive living facility, Maple Point, which is located on the north side Monticello, near the Piatt County Nursing Home and Kirby Hospital.

HUME – The Shiloh school board hopes to hire a new school superintendent by March.

The Catlin school board last month hired Shiloh Superintendent Gary Lewis to be superintendent in Catlin, after the resignation of Guy Banicki takes effect at the end of the school year.

FARMER CITY – The Farmer City Council took no action Monday night but went into executive session to discuss "personnel business."

Asked to give a specific, numbered exception to the Illinois Open Meetings Act, neither City Manager Trent Smith nor Council President Delwin "Buster" Kirby could offer one, repeating only that "personnel business" was the reason for the closed meeting. Kirby said no action would be taken following the evening's closed session.

FARMER CITY – Blue Ridge school district board members voted Monday to allow Superintendent Jay Harnack to start discussions with officials of Monsanto's plant in Farmer City on the topic of enterprise zone abatement.

Joan Steckel, senior tax manager, and Pat Geneser, site manager from the Monsanto Co.'s Farmer City plant, presented a proposal to board members. Steckel and Geneser wanted board members to vote to grant 100 percent property tax abatement to Monsanto for a five-year period.

As the nation prepares for Barack Obama to become president, we want to hear from you.

We're going to Washington, D.C., for Obama's inauguration. If you're going, please let us know, so we can catch up with you in Washington.

We're also interested in what hopes you have for Obama's presidency, and we would like to hear from you about that as well.

DANVILLE – It's been more than 33 years since Katherine Lee's 15-year-old son, David Grinestaff, was gunned down during a gas-station robbery.

Now the Danville woman once again is working to keep her son's murderer behind bars. It's the 18th time in 26 years.

RANTOUL – A Rantoul man is accused of having sex with a teenage girl he met on the Web.

Jesse Gradney, 19, who listed an address in the 200 block of Illinois Street, Rantoul, was arraigned Monday on a felony charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

SULLIVAN – It was New Year's Eve, and as the last hours of 2008 ticked away, the phone rang in the homes of several employees of the Mason Point nursing home in Sullivan.

Brenda Rambo wasn't home for the call. But when she got home, she had a message from interim Administrator Renee Bogard telling her they needed to talk before Rambo returned to her housekeeping job.

Icy roads have claimed the life of one person Tuesday morning.

State police Master Sgt. Rory Steidl confirmed one person was killed in a single-vehicle rollover on Interstate 74 eastbound near Tilton about 9:20 a.m.

DANVILLE – A portion of the eastbound lane of Winter Avenue west of North Vermilion Street will be closed later this week while repairs are made to a water line.

The city of Danville announced Monday that Aqua Illinois will be making water-line repairs on Wednesday and Thursday along the eastbound lane of Winter Avenue between North Vermilion and Gilbert streets.

URBANA – The following Champaign County criminal court cases were resolved recently with guilty pleas or sentences imposed by judges:

– Eddi Ramirez, 26, of Paxton was sentenced to six years in prison for possession of a controlled substance. He pleaded guilty to having about 120 grams of cocaine in Urbana on Jan. 29. He was also fined $5,140.

RANTOUL – A Rantoul man is accused of having sex with a teenage girl he met on the Web.

Jesse Gradney, 19, who listed an address in the 200 block of Illinois Street, Rantoul, was arraigned Monday on a felony charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

A 29-year-old Hoopeston man was in good condition at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana on Monday evening after being shot multiple times in Vermilion County earlier in the day.

"It's not life threatening," Capt. Rod Kaag of the Vermilion County Sheriff's Office said of the man's injury. He said the man, whose identity was being withheld, could be released Monday night or this morning.