RANTOUL, Ill. – The Illinois National Guard says it has closed the dining room at a Rantoul military academy because 19 students became ill from what authorities believe was food poisoning.
Illinois National Guard spokesman Major Brad Leighton said late Sunday that five of the 300 students at Lincoln Challenge Academy were taken to a hospital in nearby Urbana. They were returned to the academy by Sunday night.
Leighton said the students suffered from nausea and diarrhea. He says the sicknesses started on Saturday and by Sunday Champaign County health authorities were notified.
He says minor infractions were found and fixed when the dining room was inspected in the fall.
The academy provides a 22-week program for high school dropouts on the former Chanute Air Force Base.
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