Advocate BroMenn Medical Center’s Chase for Champions will be Saturday, April 14. Registration deadline is Saturday, March 31. (Photo courtesy of Chase for Champions)

McLean County

Pilot program to provide housing for mentally ill

Efforts to meet the most basic of needs for persons with mental illness are ramping up with the unveiling of a new $3 million plan. The McLean County Health Coordinating Council recently announced the launch of a pilot housing program that has a 4-year timeline.

County Administrator Bill Wasson said program recipients would include currently homeless persons who tend to frequent the local jail and wind up in emergency rooms. The new housing initiative is the outgrowth of a County Board-approved Mental Health Action Plan, which was inked in 2015.

ISU faculty awarded competitive grant for research    

Illinois State University faculty recently received a $316,778 grant from the National Science Foundation to acquire an instrument known as a flow cytometer cell sorter.

The instrument will give faculty and students the opportunity to further their research of cells, which can be passed through the instrument’s lasers.

Amid the process, rare cells can be purified out and collected at high speeds. According to the NSF, grants are awarded to applicants it deems in the top 16 percent of its review process.

Advocacy event supports medical marijuana    

Organizers with Central Illinois Cannabis Community have announced plans for a walk in an effort designed to share the group’s views on medical marijuana. A so-called Walk for Awareness has been slated for Sunday, April 22, to promote the group’s cause.

CICC members plan to have on hand an assortment of educational materials at the event. The walk begins at 10 a.m. at White Oak Park, 1514 Cottage Ave.

Professor Muhammad Yunus, winner of a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006

Nobel Peace  Prize winner to speak at ISU    

Professor Muhammad Yunus, winner of a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, will give an upcoming talk at Illinois State University on efforts to combat poverty, microcredit and other societal issues. Yunus’ discussion, dubbed, “A World of Three Zeroes: Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment and Zero Carbon Emission,” will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 14, in the Brown Ballroom at the Bone Student Center, 100 N. University St., Normal.

Yunus’ lecture, a part of ISU’s speaker series, is free and open to the public. Professionally, Yunus is the founder of Grameen Bank and more than 50 other Bangladesh-based businesses.

Registration deadline extended for Chase for Champions  

The registration deadline for Advocate BroMenn Medical Center’s upcoming Chase for Champions event has been extended through this Saturday, March 31. The event itself has been scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 14, at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel, 10 Brickyard Drive, Bloomington.

Chase for Champions is an event paying tribute to firefighters, police officers, telecommunicators and emergency medical services personnel. The cost is $60 per person. For information, visit www.advocatehealth.com/bromenn-chase.  

Bloomington

BCPA announces concerts, other summer events

Spring might just be getting underway, but organizers within the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts are already planning the venue’s summer season. In the upcoming warm weathered months, BCPA will hold summer solstice concerts, free Sunday afternoon lawn concerts, an event centered around Route 66 and a series of special events at Miller Park Zoo. For a glimpse at the schedule, as well as dates and times, visit BCPA’s website, www.artsblooming.org.

Normal

Town Council OK’s water main replacements, alley improvements  

The Normal Town Council on Monday, March 19, approved several capital related projects with combined price tags of more than $1.1 million. Officials allocated $897,602 toward replacing mains along Grant Street, between Main Street and Normal Avenue, and along Normal Avenue, between Clay and Willow streets.

The council also approved a series of alley improvements near the Illinois State University campus. That project has been pegged at $207,816.

Curbside collection of landscape waste resumes April 2  

Normal’s public works crews will resume curbside collection of landscape waste the week of Monday, April 2. Weeds, leaves and other easily decomposable vegetation will be picked up curbside on the same day as residents’ regular refuse collection days.

Receptacles containing yard waste should have the town’s decal affixed to it. The decals can be obtained at most of the town’s municipal buildings, including the public works office, city hall reception desk, police station and library.

–McLean County News Briefs–