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WGLT McLean County Board members voted Tuesday evening to keep the current structure of the board as the once-a-decade redistricting process moves forward. The McLean County Board voted 17-3 in a special meeting Tuesday evening to keep the board s existing structure of 10 county board districts with two members per district. The decision followed weeks of maneuvering and sometimes strident rhetoric about the effects of proposals to either expand the number of districts, or to reduce the number to five. Republicans Jim Soeldner, George Wendt, and Lyndsay Bloomfield voted against the resolution. During discussion, Wendt portrayed the five-district proposal not as Democrats had claimed a way to create districts with higher percentages of Republican votes but rather as having rural issues heard and understood because constituents from both areas would be part of the districts. ....
Updated: May 10, 2021 at 5:25 PM CDT WGLT updated this story to reflect the County Board Executive Committee endorsed the five-district plan on Monday. A McLean County Board member says his party has been plotting behind closed doors for months to create new district board maps that would make it harder for Democrats to get elected. Republican Josh Barnett of Bloomington said County Board chair John McIntyre rejected his call for a bipartisan advisory panel to help draw the maps. “They are trying to dump Republican voters from the rural areas into Bloomington-Normal in an attempt to keep control of the County Board for the next decade,” Barnett said. “They are not being open about that. They are not being honest about it and it’s time that it stops and is brought to light.” ....
Originally published on April 14, 2021 11:03 pm Members of the McLean County Board of Health said Wednesday that it s a priority to maintain the county’s full COVID-19 contact tracing program. The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has OK d extending the program through Dec. 31. County health department administrator Jessica McKnight explained, however, that current funding won t cover the 50-person staff through that date. During Wednesday’s board meeting, she and the department s clinical services administrator, Tammy Brook, shared a staffing reduction plan: cutting tracers by more than half from 50 to 20 on June 1, and then to 10 after Aug. 31. The tracers also are trained to work at the county’s COVID-19 call center. ....
The McLean County Board of Health meets Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. The continuing COVID pandemic, and the challenges facing the health department because of it, were the focus of Wednesday’s McLean County Board of Health meeting. The department is developing long-term plans beyond spring, but still is unable to plan out for vaccine quantities for more than a week at a time, said administrator Jessica McKnight. MCHD learns Wednesday or Thursday how many doses will arrive the following week. And on Friday, staff learns if vaccine for second doses to be given a month after a first dose will be shipped the following week. So, it’s quite a complicated system. ....
Jane Lethlean Special to The Journal-Standard LENA Winterfest first began more than 30 years ago as a way to get people out of the house and bring the community together to participate in a variety of events built around the theme of snow. The COVID-19 pandemic had organizers scaling back on the festivities this year by keeping the events smaller. On Saturday, the king and queen were crowned, with Dick and Danita Emford serving as official royalty to events including a scavenger hunt, a Frosty Balls Relay Race for beer, and a Snow Car Race held in a cornfield behind the Rafters parking lot. ....