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Unless legislators can send a fix to Gov. J.B. Pritzker this month, solar installations in Illinois will likely drop even more as companies lay off workers.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – State labor leaders announced Monday that they’ve reached an impasse on negotiations for a clean energy plan with environmental groups. The bill dilemma still surrounds standards for decarbonization and prevailing wage. Little has changed for the massive energy plan since lawmakers left Springfield in June. Now, two Exelon nuclear plants will close soon. Thousands of workers in the solar industry could also lose their jobs. Union leaders say they’re no longer confident that they can reach a deal by the end of summer. They argue environmental groups are intent on “r...
Amanda Vinicky | August 3, 2021 8:50 pm With as few as weeks from Exelon shuttering a nuclear reactor in Byron, feuding — and politically powerful — interests have failed to reach a deal that would keep the plant open and otherwise move Illinois toward renewable energy goals. The main points that environmentalists and unions have agreed on after months, even years, of negotiating on a major energy deal: That they’re deadlocked, and that it’s time for legislators and Gov. J.B. Pritzker to take charge and to take over talks. Thanks to our sponsors: Environmental groups, under the mantl...
/ An image from the Illinois Department of Employment Security shows the anticipated fund balance of the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund as of June 2021. Since economic shutdowns began and COVID-19 death counts started to rise in March 2020, national unemployment rates have hovered at historically high numbers, stressing state unemployment systems left dealing with an unprecedented number of claims. In Illinois, that’s led to a deficit in the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund – or the pool of money used to sustain the social safety net – that could rise to $5 billion. Stakeholders f...
Getty In Illinois, we’re used to tough weather. We sweat on the softball field in the summer, freeze on our way to work in the winter, and we don’t shy away from a little rain. But the weather in Illinois is getting more unpredictable and extreme every year with hotter summers, colder arctic blasts, and worsening severe storms. In fact, right now Chicago is in the middle of one of the driest spring seasons on record. This isn’t a coincidence. It’s climate change. We have an obligation to our future generations to take bold action now to protect our planet. But any legislative change t...