Free Republic

The mayor of Champaign, Illinois, gave herself the power to ban the sale of guns and alcohol after declaring a citywide emergency to address the coronavirus. Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen signed the executive order on Thursday declaring a state of emergency for the city. That executive order, which is in line with municipal code, comes with extraordinary powers for the mayor to enact over a short period of time as the city combats the spread of the coronavirus.

Apparently having no shame when it comes to politicizing a crisis isn’t just reserved for House Democrats. The local ones are at it as well. The mayor of Champaign, Illinois has signed an EO which she claims grants her extraordinary power to curtail the rights of ordinary citizens. And while the banning of guns and ammunition are the eye catcher, it goes far beyond that. Katie Pavlich over at Townhall has the report. "The Mayor of Champaign, Illinois just signed a sweeping executive order giving her the ability to ban the sale of firearms and ammunition because of...Wuhan coronavirus? There...

We are beyond brainwashing now. We have reached the point of university instructors physically assaulting those who fail to conform to left-wing ideology: A University of Illinois graduate instructor was arrested for assaulting two students during an anti-Trump protest Thursday, stealing the phone of one student and throwing it on the sidewalk. Tariq Khan is a PhD candidate at the university and has taught courses such as “Constructing Race in America” and “U.S. Gender History since 1877.” He is also involved with various anarchist and communist organizations including Black Rose Anarchist Federation and Antifa, in addition to working with the...

Metzler told the newspaper that the officer, a nine-year veteran of his department, was shot after a traffic stop initiated by a different police officer. The suspect then got into a fight with the second officer, who reportedly attempted to use a stun gun on the driver. ... The Illinois State Police said later Sunday that Pendleton, who was also believed to be wounded, has additionally been charged with attempted murder of a police officer. Authorities said Pendleton fled the area in a stolen pickup truck and is armed with an AK-47 assault rifle. ...a trooper responding to a call...

Two Indian brothers are among four men who have been indicted by a US federal court on charges of providing material support to slain Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, prosecutors said. The two Indians are Yahya Farooq Mohammad, 37, and his brother Ibrahim Zubair Mohammad, 36. The other two are Asif Ahmed Salim, 35, and his brother Sultane Room Salim, 40. All four men have been indicted on one count of conspiracy to provide and conceal material support and resources to terrorists, one count of providing material support and resources to terrorists and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice....

Coors Light is the official beer of the Fighting Illini. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Coors Light was voted on by the student body of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, or that the school’s sports teams drink the stuff at halftime or wear its logo on their cars. No, just like dozens of other products from soft drinks to gym shoes, it means that the company signed a sponsorship deal with the University of Illinois. Now, I don’t know how you feel about it, but with the cost of college skyrocketing, I’m inclined to think that almost any revenue...

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — The mayor of Champaign is drawing criticism for saying he doubts President Barack Obama was born in the United States. Mayor Jerry Schweighart's videotaped comments were posted online and led to criticism at a City Council meeting Tuesday from some black residents. They suggested Schweighart's doubts are based on the president's race.

Revelations in the Peoria Journal Star earlier this week that the Peoria/Champaign area is one of seven in the United States on a terrorist “circuit” were frightening. “Terrorists enter the United States in San Francisco and Los Angeles, then move to Phoenix, then Denver," reported Phil Luciano of the PJS. "From there some head to Peoria and Champaign. Some terrorists remain in those communities, while others head on to New York City" (emphasis added). Luciano was provided this information by Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy, who received it at a recent FBI conference held in Springfield. Names of larger cities...

Soon the tentacles of the BALCO doping case had reached into professional baseball and football, into Olympic track and field, into championship boxing, into the very consciousness of the American sports fan. There was grand-jury testimony and U.S. Anti-Doping Agency sanctions and congressional hearings with pumped-up athletes stuffed into designer suits talking about designer steroids. And now the trail has led to a three-story beige building in the cornfields of central Illinois, to a nutritional supplement company called Proviant Technologies and what investigators believe is the true genius behind the whole operation. To a 39-year-old organic chemist who signed off...

Richard Clarke came to speak on the Univ. of Ill. campus, and expressed an interest in winning the war by winning the war of ideas. You can read the Daily Illini pre-coverage here and my news/blog article on the speech itself here. Thoughts on Clarke? Does he have valid points to bring up? Or an alterior motive? He was a decent speaker and it was a packed crowd the overflowed into another room where another packed audience watched the lecture on monitors. He took a few jabs here and there (Fox news and Bush's desire to recreate the blackboard of...

Peoria County sheriff says Champaign also among 7 stopovers Former West Peorian Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri has been locked up as an enemy combatant, but his terrorist comrades continue to work in central Illinois. Peoria and Champaign are part of a seven-city "circuit" that moves and disperses terrorists to specific sites across the nation, says Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy. McCoy got that information at a recent FBI conference in Springfield. He shares that snippet of intelligence not to panic central Illinois, but to stress what the FBI told police at the conference: America, including much of its law-enforcement community,...

Former West Peorian Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri has been locked up as an enemy combatant, but his terrorist comrades continue to work in central Illinois. Peoria and Champaign are part of a seven-city "circuit" that moves and disperses terrorists to specific sites across the nation, says Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy. McCoy got that information at a recent FBI conference in Springfield. He shares that snippet of intelligence not to panic central Illinois, but to stress what the FBI told police at the conference: America, including much of its law-enforcement community, has not taken seriously enough the threat of al-Qaida...

Former West Peorian Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri has been locked up as an enemy combatant, but his terrorist comrades continue to work in central Illinois. Peoria and Champaign are part of a seven-city "circuit" that moves and disperses terrorists to specific sites across the nation, says Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy. McCoy got that information at a recent FBI conference in Springfield. He shares that snippet of intelligence not to panic central Illinois, but to stress what the FBI told police at the conference: America, including much of its law-enforcement community, has not taken seriously enough the threat of al-Qaida...

April 5, 2003; Hundreds of flags, patriotic music and the Pledge of Allegiance from a powerful PA system manned by local DJs, positive enthusiastic responses from most of the thousands of people driving past, an array of flags from Coalition countries, back-packed coffee urns moving up and down the line of 250-300 Pro-American Troop-Supporting Patriots who braved the cold windy conditions this past Saturday to stand shoulder to shoulder lining a couple of blocks along the East side of Prospect Avenue. Uncle Sam was there as a group of hardy, leather-clad, flag-waving Harley riders. Red, white and blue cup cakes,...

   CHAMPAIGN – The organizer of a Pro America rally on North Prospect Avenue says today's crowd should be much larger than last week's.    The rally is competing for space on Prospect Avenue to try to influence Saturday shoppers. For more than six months, a Prospect For Peace rally has been held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturdays.    The Pro America Rally will run from 1:30 to 4 p.m., with an oversize flag, music and miniature flags.    Organizer Mark Thompson said he has contacted groups and expects hundreds of people.    The first week, the rally never had more than about 60...