Champaign County Board Chair Pattsi Petrie says she hopes to find 21 people to serve on a new Racial Justice Task Force, to study racial disparities in the county's jail population and justice system.
The Champaign County Board approved the Clinton Landfill consent decree fifteen to five with one abstention, joining 11 other local governments in the the Mahomet Aquifer Coalition. Two members of the coalition have scheduled votes in October.
The Piatt County Board, Normal Town Council and the Decatur City Council all voted this week to approve a consent decree meant to keep future hazardous waste out of the Clinton Landfill. But local officials in Urbana, Forsyth and Champaign County delayed their decision.
The plan would consolidate Champaign County jail operations in an expanded and renovated satellite jail, but some county board members and citizens want more emphasis on programs to lower the county's incarceration rate.
