Latest news with #Champaign-based
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Best Buddies Friendship Walk making a difference in Champaign
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — Hundreds of students from all over Central Illinois joined in the annual Best Buddies Friendship Walk at Edison Middle School in Champaign Thursday morning. Best Buddies is an international non profit raising money and focusing on protecting students with special needs from isolation. WCIA's 'Remarkable Woman' back from California, inspired to grow Champaign-based non-profit 'Our mission is to connect students with disability or different ability, also, with other students in the general area and the general classroom or in the community,' Mary Nada, a functional life teacher at Edison Middle School, said. Three years ago, Nada had a huge role in getting her school and others involved. 'We wanted to join the Chicago and Normal walk, but we couldn't take our students or the buddies. It's hard for their families and for us, so we decided to do a small thing in here,' Nada said. 22 libraries open in two Illinois prison facilities, IDOC announces That small thing ended up turning into nearly 150 people the first two years. And now, it's gotten even bigger, with more than 500 people this year. 'Inclusion is a big part of our community. And I didn't really realize that until I joined best buddies,' 8th Grader Mallory Borden said. Borden has been part of best buddies for the past three years. She says the program has taught her a lot about herself and life. 'I can learn more about the diverse backgrounds and just like different abilities that people have. And it's just really interesting and it makes me feel really good that I'm able to help someone and just like, connect with them,' Borden said. Project Success back up and running at 6 Vermilion Co. schools Borden said the knowledge she's gained helps her spread the message to her friends and encourage them to join the program. Because for Nada, that's her mission. 'Teach them about Best Buddies and teach them about inclusion and how it's important for our community members and our students and and the area and just be aware of it,' Nada said. The Best Buddies organization was able to meet their fundraising goal of $16,500. The money will go toward creating jobs for people with disabilities. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Volunteers needed for Champaign smoke alarm blitz
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — A Champaign-based smoke alarm foundation created in honor of a man who was killed in a fire is now looking for volunteers to help with an upcoming event. The Annual Christian Sheehan Smoke Alarm Blitz is taking place on May 3 this year. The foundation honors Christian Sheehan, who was killed in a Champaign house fire on March 26, 2016, at the age of 23. Since his death, the yearly smoke alarm blitz has installed more than 1,000 alarms. Illinois residents worried about food assistance being cut in a SNAP The foundation is asking for volunteers to help from 8 a.m. to noon, and participants will meet at Franklin Middle School. Those involved will be installing free smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. Everyone is welcome to volunteer as no prior experience is necessary. The Champaign Fire Department, who is partnering with the alarm foundation, will provide training to the volunteers. This past October, the foundation was notified they would be receiving a $50,000 state grant to assist them with their life-saving operations. Despite the grant, the foundation is still asking for donations as each smoke alarm costs $55. To volunteer and donate, check out the foundation's Facebook post which has a QR code for each option. For any more information and updates, follow the foundation's Facebook page. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Champaign smoke alarm foundation receives grant to support safety efforts
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — A Champaign-based foundation will continue pushing fire safety into the community for years to come thanks to state help. The Christian Sheehan Smoke Alarm Foundation gives out free smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to the Champaign community. It's named after a Champaign man who died in a house fire. ImpactLife, Knights of Columbus hosting Champaign blood drive to combat donation decline Now, thanks to a $50,000 state grant, the foundation is in the final stages of getting the crucial cash to continue their life-saving operations well into the future. 'It's not a matter of 'do we have enough funds to keep getting smoke alarms,'' said Joy Sheehan, mother of the late Christian Sheehan. The foundation found out in October they'd be getting the $50,000. On Friday, WCIA caught up with Christian's mom, who's also the foundation's leader to see just how much this grant means for the organization's future and her son's legacy. 'This will go on for many years now, and I probably won't be around to see it,' Sheehan said. 'So, it's great.' It was 2016 when the Champaign community lost Christian Sheehan in a house fire. The 23-year-old's passing gave way to a foundation in his honor. Christie Clinic Illinois Race Weekend still asking for volunteers The Christian Sheehan Smoke Alarm Foundation holds yearly events where volunteers go door to door and offer to install new smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. 'To bring some good out of bad and give back to our community because everyone was just amazing and has been amazing to us since we lost our boy,' Sheehan said. She also said they got a special volunteer at last year's event when Senator Paul Faraci came to help. 'We had our last event in May, the senator, Faraci, came and volunteered, and I believe it was already by August that he reached out to me by a phone call,' Sheehan said. 'And then by October, I had an email, and now the community foundation has been working on this grant and expediting it, along with the Champaign Fire Department and going to make it happen.' The grant they'll receive will be up to $50,000. To put this in perspective, the campaign buys detectors for about $55, meaning the money will help them buy about 900 detectors. 'Each year, it was just trying to make sure we had enough for just that event,' Sheehan said. 'And so now with $50,000, this event will be able to go on for many more years.' Housing market expected to improve for buyers nationwide, what this means for Central IL: And for Sheehan, it means Christian's legacy in Champaign will continue to center around safety and security for years to come. 'Hopefully his life is helping save others and is drawing awareness to what a small price of what a smoke alarm is in comparison to a fatality of a loved one,' Sheehan said. This year's event is on May 3 at 8 a.m. with the volunteer home base at Franklin Middle will be trained by the Champaign Fire Department on how to install alarms. Sheehan said those interested in volunteering should head to the foundation's Facebook page or just show up at Franklin Middle School. The Champaign Fire Department is partnered with the foundation and told WCIA in a statement, part: 'The Sheehan family has been instrumental in providing equipment, resources and finances that support our efforts to provide life-saving smoke alarms within our community.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Botched late-term abortion spurs lawsuit in blue-state court: 'Horrific'
An anonymous woman filed a rare medical negligence lawsuit last week against an Illinois abortionist after a late-term abortion took a "horrific" turn when an emergency hospital visit revealed "half of a deceased pre-born human being" was found left inside her. Chicago injury attorney Richard Craig filed the lawsuit on behalf of Jane Doe from Indiana, naming both the Champaign-based Equity Clinic and its founder, Dr. Keith Reisinger-Kindle, as defendants. Craig told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday he's "never been presented" with a case like this. Defund 'Big Abortion' Industry That Thrived Under Biden, 150 Pro-life Groups Urge Congress The suit alleges that during a 22-week abortion performed in April 2023, Reisinger-Kindle left parts of the fetus inside the woman's body, leading to severe complications. After the procedure, when the woman reported persistent cramping, Reisinger-Kindle allegedly advised her to take over-the-counter pain relievers and laxatives. She later underwent emergency surgery to remove the body parts. Doe is seeking damages for medical negligence and emotional distress. "This is someone who performed an abortion that at 22 weeks of gestation – which at that point renders a two-day process – and then on the second day, when most of the work is done, at the culmination of his work, he entered a note, saying, these are his words, 'products of conception were visibly inspected and confirmed to be complete,'" Craig said. "That's his note. Well, clearly that didn't happen." Read On The Fox News App "When she presented to the emergency room two days later, they found what they described to be as a half of a pre-deceased fetus," Craig said. "And the films that are in the records actually suggests more like two-thirds. So, how could he say that he visibly inspected her?" Doe, a mother of four, also alleged that Reisinger-Kindle refused to provide pertinent information to the attending surgeons without her consent. In a medical report included in the lawsuit filings, an obstetrician/gynecologist asserts that Reisinger-Kindle "deviated from a reasonable standard of care" during the abortion by perforating the plaintiff's uterus and failing to recognize the injury. Doge Must 'Defund' Planned Parenthood, Mike Pence's Watchdog Group Urges Musk The report also states that Reisinger-Kindle "failed to adequately examine the fetal parts" after the procedure. According to the lawsuit, there was a hole in the woman's uterus roughly the size of a large coin. The report notes that if Reisinger-Kindle "performed an adequate exam of the remains, it should have been obvious that fetal parts were left behind." In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and leaving it up to states to decide on abortion, Illinois has solidified its position as a haven for the procedure, enacting a series of legislative measures to shield both providers and out-of-state women seeking abortion services from lawsuits. Feds Gave $700M To Planned Parenthood During Year Of Record Abortions Reisinger-Kindle, who was featured in a Chicago Tribune article, was one of many providers who opened abortion clinics in the Midwest following the high court's ruling. Craig – who said taking the case won't make him "any friends in Illinois" – also alleged Reisinger-Kindle didn't administer any pain-relief medication to the fetus, which would have stopped its heartbeat, prior to its dismemberment. "The current laws would prevent me, for instance, from pursuing a claim against this doctor on behalf of the child for what had to be excruciating pain that the child underwent while he was being dismembered piece by piece, without any pain relief," Craig said. "And so those laws do, in fact, prevent me, or anybody from taking that position and seeking redress for that on the behalf of the child." Fox News Digital has reached out to Reisinger-Kindle for comment but did not hear back by time of article source: Botched late-term abortion spurs lawsuit in blue-state court: 'Horrific'
Fox News
26-03-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Botched late-term abortion spurs lawsuit in blue-state court: 'Horrific'
An anonymous woman filed a rare medical negligence lawsuit last week against an Illinois abortionist after a late-term abortion took a "horrific" turn when an emergency hospital visit revealed "half of a deceased pre-born human being" was found left inside her. Chicago injury attorney Richard Craig filed the lawsuit on behalf of Jane Doe from Indiana, naming both the Champaign-based Equity Clinic and its founder, Dr. Keith Reisinger-Kindle, as defendants. Craig told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday he's "never been presented" with a case like this. The suit alleges that during a 22-week abortion performed in April 2023, Reisinger-Kindle left parts of the fetus inside the woman's body, leading to severe complications. After the procedure, when the woman reported persistent cramping, Reisinger-Kindle allegedly advised her to take over-the-counter pain relievers and laxatives. She later underwent emergency surgery to remove the body parts. Doe is seeking damages for medical negligence and emotional distress. "This is someone who performed an abortion that at 22 weeks of gestation – which at that point renders a two-day process – and then on the second day, when most of the work is done, at the culmination of his work, he entered a note, saying, these are his words, 'products of conception were visibly inspected and confirmed to be complete,'" Craig said. "That's his note. Well, clearly that didn't happen." "When she presented to the emergency room two days later, they found what they described to be as a half of a pre-deceased fetus," Craig said. "And the films that are in the records actually suggests more like two-thirds. So, how could he say that he visibly inspected her?" Doe, a mother of four, also alleged that Reisinger-Kindle refused to provide pertinent information to the attending surgeons without her consent. In a medical report included in the lawsuit filings, an obstetrician/gynecologist asserts that Reisinger-Kindle "deviated from a reasonable standard of care" during the abortion by perforating the plaintiff's uterus and failing to recognize the injury. The report also states that Reisinger-Kindle "failed to adequately examine the fetal parts" after the procedure. According to the lawsuit, there was a hole in the woman's uterus roughly the size of a large coin. The report notes that if Reisinger-Kindle "performed an adequate exam of the remains, it should have been obvious that fetal parts were left behind." In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and leaving it up to states to decide on abortion, Illinois has solidified its position as a haven for the procedure, enacting a series of legislative measures to shield both providers and out-of-state women seeking abortion services from lawsuits. Reisinger-Kindle, who was featured in a Chicago Tribune article, was one of many providers who opened abortion clinics in the Midwest following the high court's ruling. Craig – who said taking the case won't make him "any friends in Illinois" – also alleged Reisinger-Kindle didn't administer any pain-relief medication to the fetus, which would have stopped its heartbeat, prior to its dismemberment. "The current laws would prevent me, for instance, from pursuing a claim against this doctor on behalf of the child for what had to be excruciating pain that the child underwent while he was being dismembered piece by piece, without any pain relief," Craig said. "And so those laws do, in fact, prevent me, or anybody from taking that position and seeking redress for that on the behalf of the child." Fox News Digital has reached out to Reisinger-Kindle for comment but did not hear back by time of publication.
