Agriculture & Environment

Sunday, July 6, 2008

New law ensures schools are scrubbed with safer products

Summer custodial work has sometimes left harsher side effects than sore muscles for Don Dixon.

Dixon, who works summers doing custodial work in the Champaign school district, said one of the cleaning solutions he used one summer at Westview Elementary School produced blood blisters on his skin.

Younger collectors beginning to get involved in antique tractors

Darius Harms remembers a day when he could get a tractor painted for $100.

Now, he can't even buy the paint for $100.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Freedom says fuel tanks not to blame for station closing

TOLONO – Freedom Oil Company officials say its fuel tanks played no role in the closing of their Tolono location last week and that the decision to close it was the result of their trying to sell it without success.

According to Freedom president and owner Michael Owens, the company bought the store at 101 N. Watson St. in August 1993.

Durbin says farm-bill effort isn't enough

URBANA – A new farm bill will provide additional funding for the Eastern Illinois Food Bank and other facilities that feed the hungry, but it might not be enough, said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., at a news conference Monday morning.

Speaking at the Eastern Illinois Food Bank warehouse at 2405 N. Shore Drive in Urbana, Durbin said the $10 billion farm bill provides an additional $373 million in funding for Illinois nutrition programs, including an additional $21 million over the next five years for state food banks.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Experts expect floodwater mosquitoes will arrive here soon

The next few days promise to have some good eating. Unfortunately, what's getting eaten is you.

With recent rains, University of Illinois Extension entomologist Phil Nixon predicts that Aedes vexans, the inland floodwater mosquito, will be doing what it does best, vexing you.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Tolono gas station leak not believed to have contaminated area

TOLONO – Tolono residents should not be concerned about their safety after a gas station with apparently leaking tanks closed, according to a government spokeswoman.

The Freedom Oil Co. at 101 N. Watson St. closed late Friday after reporting to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency on June 3 that a 10,000-gallon tank and a 6,000-gallon tank had spilled.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

When it comes to rain, it's feast or famine on Illinois farms

RANTOUL – Mother Nature can throw some crazy curveballs.

Several counties to the west of Steve Gordon's plots of corn and soybeans, other people's corn and beans are buried deep underwater. They are destroyed – all those millions of tender, inch-high soy plants; foot-high stalks of corn that were just about ready to shoot upward.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Meeting to discuss Danville 'green' job opportunities

DANVILLE – Community members can learn more about "green" job opportunities at a town-hall meeting Wednesday at Danville Area Community College.

The meeting is hosted by the United Steelworkers and sponsored by the Blue Green Alliance in conjunction with former Vice President Al Gore's We Campaign.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

More rain may cause a landslide in Danville

DANVILLE – An engineer believes that more heavy rain could cause a landslide on the bluffs overlooking Ellsworth Park on the west side of Logan Avenue, threatening houses and buildings there.

Some damage has already been done. The most obvious sign can be found in the parking lot of Dr. Bhirom Buranakul's offices at 102 N. Logan Ave. in Danville, where the edge of the asphalt parking lot cracked and dropped by about 4 feet.

On June 9, staff at the doctor's office first noticed about a 2-inch crack on the parking lot's west edge, nearest the steep, vegetation- and tree-covered bluff that overlooks Ellsworth Park.

Activities aim for education on importance of area's bees

URBANA – You might want to think twice before you swat that honey bee buzzing around your backyard.

Adult honey bees have been disappearing on a massive scale due to a mysterious phonomenon called colony collapse disorder, according to May Berenbaum, head of the University of Illinois entomology department.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Farm leaders: Don't blame ethanol for food, fuel costs

VILLA GROVE – Area farm leaders say that a weak U.S. dollar, growing demand for food and fuel in China and India and record energy costs – not the use of corn in ethanol – are largely responsible for the rising cost of food.

Several local farmers met Thursday with a film crew from the Japanese NHK public television network.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Conservation expert talking with alliance

URBANA – Local environmentalist Clark Bullard will address a meeting of the East Central Illinois Environmental Alliance at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Urbana Free Library Auditorium.

Members of the public are welcome.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Vendors report slow sales this market season

URBANA – The frequent rains, gas prices and condition of the economy may all be affecting this year's farmers' market at Urbana's Lincoln Square Village.

The 100-plus vendor market draws people in search of a wide variety of fresh, locally grown, raised and made food, crafts from local artisans, fresh flowers and the music of local musicians. Like other farmers' markets around the country, it's been growing in size and popularity, said Market at the Square Director Lisa Bralts.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Wet spring a boon for some plants

Local produce growers, nursery owners and other horticultural businesses are dealing with a lot of mud and rain this growing season.

But when the sun comes, they are also looking forward to an abundance of berries and blooms.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Rain puts planting on hold

HOMER – The bright sun warmed Kent Krukewitt's farm fields in rural Homer on Tuesday afternoon, but it was too muddy to get into the fields to plant.

"I still have 60 percent of my soybeans left to plant, and a good portion of the 40 percent that is in the ground may have to be replanted," Krukewitt said.

"It is too wet to do anything. It's going to take a number of good drying days before we can get back into the fields."

Krukewitt's situation isn't unique. Record rains have left farm fields muddy and waterlogged, and some are sprinkled with pools of standing water. Local farmers worry the crops that are already planted are ruined. They are concerned that thousands of dollars spent on fertilizer have washed away. They fear that it soon may be too late to plant crops that need to be harvested before it frosts in October or November.

Friday, June 6, 2008

City reviewer finds no health threat at site

CHAMPAIGN – An independent report commissioned by the city of Champaign concludes there's no immediate health threat at the site of a former gas manufacturing plant.

Environmental consultant Nicholas Schneider based his findings on data collected so far from the 3.5-acre site at Fifth and Hill streets, AmerenIP's site investigation report and the utility's cleanup plan.