Skip to Main Content
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

Ethan Simmons

Ethan Simmons, News Editor

Hello everyone! My name’s Ethan Simmons, I’m a senior majoring in journalism with a minor in business. I spent three semesters in the Gies College of Business before transferring into our wonderful media college. I wrote local news stories for The News-Gazette in the summer of 2019, then interned as a business writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this summer. If I’m not writing or looking over stories with my reporters, I’m probably playing basketball, bass guitar or Super Smash Bros., though not all at once.

My inbox is always open for story tips and ideas about campus, Champaign County and east Central Illinois. I’d love to talk with. 

[email protected]

UI’s spring case count continues to rise

UI’s spring case count continues to rise

By Ethan Simmons, News Editor February 15, 2021
UI lifts restrictions as new cases increase

UI lifts restrictions as new cases increase

By Ethan Simmons, News Editor February 11, 2021
Jessica Osemwngie checks in at the COVID-19 testing site at State Farm Center on Oct. 9. This past week, 179 new cases of COVID-19 were identified from Jan. 16-22 after nearly 58,000 tests.

UI surpasses 400 new cases in the new year

By Ethan Simmons, News Editor January 25, 2021
The University's COVID-19 dashboard on Dec. 15. UI's Urbana campus has processed more than 1 million COVID-19 tests since July.

UI surpasses 1 million COVID-19 tests

By Ethan Simmons, News Editor December 16, 2020
The Carle Foundation Hospital on March 2, 2019 is pictured above. Carle Health has recently began sharing COVID-19 data.

Carle Health begins sharing COVID-19 data

By Ethan Simmons, News Editor November 19, 2020
Customers enter and exit the Target located on Green Street during a soft opening on Tuesday afternoon. The store’s grand opening is on Sunday.

Campus Target Corps. set for grand opening

By Ethan Simmons, News Editor October 22, 2020

Campus COVID-19 spread continues to slow

By Ethan Simmons, News Editor October 19, 2020
Orchard Downs is located at 1801-1805 Orchard Pl, Urbana. The armed robbery occurred here on Thursday evening.

UI police still searching for armed robber

By Ethan Simmons, News Editor October 12, 2020
Junior Tony Glatz sits underneath a tree on the Main Quad on Wednesday morning. Overall, testing efficiency has improved — with most results being updated within 24 hours, the rate of inconclusive tests has remained stagnant and the rate of invalid tests has dropped from 5% to 0.67% from July to mid-September.

New case rates fall to record lows

By Ethan Simmons, News Editor September 24, 2020
The front entrance to the Activities and Recreation Center sits open to students late in the afternoon. A student food pantry at ARC is staffed by student volunteers from the Food Science and Human Nutrition Program biweekly.

Student food pantry opens at ARC

By Ethan Simmons, News Editor September 10, 2020
ILLordle: Play now