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Champaign County Clerk - Elections. Find a current election calendar,
results of spring and fall elections, local and state campaign disclosure
requirements, names and contact information for area officials, a list of services
that the county clerk provides, and other useful information.
Municipal Codes. The Municipal Code
Corporation compiles municipality and county codes,
zoning ordinances, and/or council meeting minutes. The two-tiered (state-locality)
list is not complete, lacking many larger cities, but is growing, and includes the
City of Champaign Municipal Code and the Peoria Code of Ordinances.
Illinois Freedom of Information Act. This excellent site from the Illinois Attorney General
provides an introduction and user's guide to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act,
as well as citations to seminal case law and the complete text of the Act.
Illinois Bar Association. The bar
is the licensing and disciplinary agency for
lawyers practicing in Illinois. Its site has collected useful public information such as:
Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission. Judicial commission where you can
check an attorney's disciplinary record and file complaints.
Illinois Digital Archives for Illinois Government Information (IGI) — currently
provides access to State of Illinois
site. By offering word matching and subject category browsing in the same search site,
IGI will give patrons better results in locating information.
Consumer Affairs
Consumer Product Safety Commission, an independent federal
agency that since 1972
has had jurisdiction over thousands of consumer products, excluding motor vehicles
and food, drugs and cosmetics. This rich site offers information for businesses and
consumers: regulatory guides, handbooks, small business ombudsman, recalls, research,
consumer education, in English with some pages also in Spanish.
Food and Drug Administration. Search
this site for information on drugs
(for animals as well as humans), foods, cosmetics, medical devices, and related product
categories. The agency provides introductions to selected legislation, press briefings,
information on particular product areas, and other consumer awareness material.
Department of Transportation.
Consumers will find this site worth visiting to explore
transportation issues ranging over surface, water, and air transportation; agencies under
the DOT umbrella include the FAA, FTA, FHA, FRA, and others. The Office of Airline Administration
alone provides such data as on-time and freight statistics, air carrier aviation data,
quarterly financial reviews, and a list of rural airports. There are travel and fatality
statistics, transportation studies, and geographic surveys.
Elections
Democracy Network, a project of the Center for Governmental Studies,
funded by numerous foundations and by Microsoft, Sybase, and RealNetworks, provides
a forum for discussion of local, state and national political issues. Its home features
a clickable United States map with state-by-state resources, election results,
campaign finance statistics, links to Web sites for two dozen political parties,
an online newspaper, and other information of interest to voters.
Government Guide provides information about your government representatives at
the federal, state, and local level. Likewise, Congress.org provides a similar service.
Understanding the Legal System
Employees and employers: Law at Work,
by Richard L. Connors, PC, an attorney
practicing in Kansas City, combines his own articles on employment law topics
like the Family Medical Leave Act and sexual harassment, with links to government agencies,
like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Department of Labor (DOL).
This site does not offer legal advice, and any reader should be aware that many states
have laws addressing employment issues and setting higher standards than those
mandated under federal law.
Famous American Trials by Doug Linder, Professor of Law at University of Missouri,
Kansas City, achieves a documentary quality presentation combining public records,
graphics, and other elements to fully portray legendary legal contests including
those involving Leopold & Loeb, the Rosenbergs, the Amistad, and others, including
more recent events like the My Lai Courts Marshall and the 1992 Rodney King matter
(under construction). Materials for the Scopes "Monkey" Trial include photographs
and cartoons, the Tenessee anti-evolution statute, Genesis, chapter one,
participant biographies, portions of the contested textbook, and excerpts from
the trial transcript, and more.
Nolo Press offers a variety
of Web-based information services, including online
ordering of know-the-law publications, a legal encyclopedia, and a free monthly e-mail
update service. Written by attorneys for non-lawyers, Nolo publications attempt to
explain the workings of the legal system and the features of subject-specific
laws to the uninitiated.
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