National Popcorn Day coming in January

In a recent survey of 2,000, 51% of those responding said popcorn is the number one item needed for a perfect movie night at home.

A popular snack here in the US, Americans consume around 14 billion quarts of popcorn a year. It even has its own day, January 19. National Popcorn Day became a national holiday around 2014 and has been celebrated ever since. By the way, popcorn is also the official snack of Illinois.

On a diet? Popcorn is the perfect go-to, low-calorie snack. An batch of air-popped popcorn has just 31 calories per cup. Popping in oil bumps the calorie count a bit to 55, but compared to most snack food items, it is still much better for your waistline.

Popcorn and movies go hand in hand. Here is more about what researchers learned from their survey:

Area COVID-19 Dashboard for December 23, 2021

Since The Sentinel's last update on December 21, the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District reports three deaths attributed to Covid-19. This month, there have been nine deaths with victims ranging between 50 to 100 years old.

The county public health department also reports an increase of active cases over the past two days to 2,497. On December 21, there were 2,087 active cases.

Within The Sentinel's area of coverage, the county reports 304 residents have tested positive for the virus since Tuesday.

Active Champaign County Cases:

2,497

Net change in the county: 410

Current local cases 12/21/21

Number in parenthesis indicates change over previous report on 12/21/21

Ogden • 34 (3)
Royal • 2 (1)
St. Joseph • 94 (28)
Urbana • 761 (249)
Sidney • 34 (4)
Philo • 18 (5)
Tolono • 66 (11)
Sadorus • 10 (1)
Pesotum • 13 (2)

Total Active Local Cases:

1,032

Net change in local cases: 187

Total Local Confirmed Cases: 13,214

New cases: 304

The information on this page is compiled from the latest figures provide by the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District at the time of publishing. Active cases are the number of confirmed cases reported currently in isolation. Local is defined as cases within the nine communities The Sentinel covers.