SMTD board eyes two new south-side routes

The Springfield Mass Transit District board of trustees voted to move forward with plans to add two new bus routes on the city’s south side with unanimous approval during its regular meeting Monday.

Frank Squires, SMTD’s managing director, said the district this week will apply for an Illinois Department of Transportation grant that would fund the expansion. If the district is awarded the grant, it’ll run the proposed routes.

SMTD grants and procurement manager Shoun Reese said during the meeting that both routes would connect the University of Illinois Springfield, Lincoln Land Community College, the South Sixth Street Walmart and White Oaks Mall. She said UIS would serve as the transfer point for the routes, one of which would run every 30 minutes and the other every hour.

Squires said the proposed routes have been on the district’s wish list for “quite a few years.” He said a more detailed route plan and schedule will be made if the district is awarded the grant.

The story was reported by The State Journal-Register on July 29, 2014.

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UIS enforcing campus housing requirement

About two years ago, the University of Illinois Springfield decided on a new mandate for student housing. The rule entailed that students must live on campus for their 1st and 2nd years of schooling. Even though the rule was made two years ago, the regulation was not implemented on campus, until now.

With the cost of housing along with more incoming students and their parents wanting to save money, could this requirement really be worth it in the long run?

“Parents also have to think of this as an investment in their child. Because there's a lot of research out there that shows that students who do live on campus basically have a better academic experience overall, they tend to persist to graduation, they have higher GPA's, there more connected to their campus, and they have a greater overall college experience for having lived on campus,” UIS Housing Director John Ringle said.

UIS has also reached near capacity at 94% of students in housing. Ringle says he looks forward to buildings that are completely full.

The story was reported by WUIS radio on July 28, 2014.

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Colleges take steps to keep student information safe

"People are more knowledgeable about tools and tricks," said Clayton Bellot, a Security Analyst at University of Illinois - Springfield.

Like at Lincoln Land, student's financial information at UIS is held at an off-site location. With more than 1,200 staff members using computers everyday, hackers are still out there trying to get in.

"Multiple times in different vectors. Whether it's email or people downloading malicious software," said Bellot.

Both UIS and Lincoln Land Community College say hackers have never been able to get information from their servers.

The story was reported by Fox Illinois on July 23, 2014.

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