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Chicago's Bronzeville Neighborhood Gets Its Own Power Microgrid By Francesca Mathewes for Reasons to be Cheerful.Broadcast version by Mark Richardson for Illinois News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration Take a stroll around Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood on a sun-filled spring afternoon and it’s pretty much guaranteed you’ll come across Romanesque-style greystones, classic brick three-flats and the sound of children deep in an after-school game of kickball echoing from the back alleys. What you might not be expecting is the brightly-colored mural emerging out of a vast, vacant lot along South Michigan Avenue — and, more significantly, the massive electrical battery that lies behind that painted cinder block wall. That battery is but one part of the Bronzeville Community Microgrid, which combines rooftop solar, natural gas-fired generators and batteries to produce and store energy at a local level. Once fully operational, it will, in effect, render the entire neighborhood “energy independent,” giving it the ability to disconnect from and reconnect to Chicago’s citywide grid at will. This will earn it the accolade of becoming the country’s first neighborhood-scale microgrid, (although its founders, Commonwealth Edison, or ComEd, point out that there could be other initiatives in the works of which they are unaware), with energy experts suggesting it could serve as a model for utilities and communities across the U.S. Earlier this year, the project, which is funded in part by a $4 million grant from the U.S. ...(Read More)

Report: EVs Could Impact Future Highway-Maintenance Funding Most experts agree that putting more electric vehicles on the road is a positive step toward fighting climate change, but a new report warns that states may need a new system to fund road construction and maintenance. Currently, EV owners pay an extra fee with their annual registration, but it is far less than the average gas tax paid by drivers of internal-combustion vehicles. Report author Patrick Anderson - CEO of the Anderson Economic Group - said that means as the number of EVs grows, highway maintenance funds will shrink. ...(Read More)

Illinois Places 2nd for Green Building Program The 2022 ranking of "green" buildings shows Illinois in 2nd place, demonstrating a commitment to LEED certification, according to the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED stands for "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design," a standard created by the council and used worldwide to define best practices for healthy, high-performing green buildings. ...(Read More)

Illinois Legislature Approves Controversial Ban on Assault Weapons Illinois has become the ninth state to approve a statewide ban on assault rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines. On Tuesday, the Protect Illinois Communities Act passed by the General Assembly along party lines, bans AR-15s and other military-style weapons, and limits long-gun magazines to 10 rounds and handguns to 15. The measure was passed just six months following a mass shooting at a July 4th parade in Highland Park, which left seven people dead and 48 injured. ...(Read More)

EPA Filed Fewer Civil Cases Against Industrial Polluters in 2022 The EPA's enforcement of federal pollution rules has plummeted. In 2022, the agency referred 88 cases to the Justice Department for civil prosecutions, the second-lowest number in more than two decades, according to an analysis by the Environmental Integrity Project. The EPA said it is doing the best it can, amid chronic understaffing and funding cuts. ...(Read More)

New Year Brings Wide Variety of New Illinois State Laws It's a new year, and more than 180 new laws are going into effect, which Illinoisans need to know about. The 2022 General Assembly passed bills ranging from changes to the criminal justice system to a new minimum wage. The most far-reaching new law is the Safe-T Act, an 800-page overhaul of the state's criminal justice system. ...(Read More)

Redeploy Illinois: A Model for Juvenile Justice Reform Redeploy Illinois is a community-based alternative to incarceration, which keeps kids in their home communities. For decades, most youthful offenders in Illinois were sent to juvenile detention. But 17 years ago, state officials decided there is a better way to help kids headed down the wrong path. ...(Read More)

Advocates Say Illinois Families Need More Help for Autistic Children The rate of autism among American children has grown steadily over the past three decades, but advocates say funding support is not keeping up with the need for services. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports one in 30 eight-year-old children is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, up 52% from 2017 and 178% since 2000. Health and social service advocates say early intervention is helping more Illinois children with the developmental disease, but insurance and other assistance plans need to be improved. ...(Read More)

IL Lawmakers Back Measure to Create Restaurant Workers' Bill of Rights In response to massive pandemic-related layoffs, proposed legislation in Congress would create a Restaurant Workers' Bill of Rights for people in the food-and-beverage service industry. U.S. Reps. ...(Read More)

IL Educators Plan 'High-Impact' Tutoring to Accelerate Learning Recovery Illinois educators are investing millions of dollars to accelerate the learning recovery process for students who fell behind their grade level during the pandemic. The State Board of Education is implementing the Illinois Tutoring Initiative, a high-impact instruction program targeting the state's highest-need school districts. Post-pandemic test data show only 30% of Illinois students read at grade level, and 75% are not proficient in math. ...(Read More)

Illinois Child Advocates Demand Action on Renewing Child Tax Credit As Congress moves toward its deadline to pass a new budget, social advocates are urging lawmakers to reinstate the Enhanced Child Tax Credit for next year. In 2021, the American Rescue Plan shifted the program from a tax reimbursement to direct monthly payments of as much as $3,600 dollars per child. The move cut the child poverty rate almost in half, but when lawmakers failed to renew the program for 2022, many families fell back below the poverty line. ...(Read More)

Illinois Groups Urge New Approach to Managing Mississippi River Drought has devastated the Mississippi River, turning parts of the 2,350-mile channel into dry streambeds and shallow pools. As barge traffic in parts of the country's "freight superhighway" slows to a crawl, conservation groups are calling it an opportunity to rethink how the waterway is used. They said over time, the river has been dammed, channelized, cut off from its floodplains and otherwise manipulated to serve the shipping industry, with little regard for its ecology. ...(Read More)

IL Amendment Expands Workers' Rights to Form Unions, Negotiate Illinois voters approved a "Workers' Rights Amendment" to the state constitution which broadens the state workforce's rights to collective bargaining. The Nov. 8 ballot initiative, passed by 58% of Illinois voters, is a broadly worded expansion of the collective bargaining process extending beyond traditional terms and conditions of employment. ...(Read More)

New Rules Aim to Bring Down High Cost of Insulin for Diabetics November is National Diabetes Awareness Month, and almost 1.3 million Illinoisans have been diagnosed with the disease, according to the American Diabetes Association. People with diabetes make up 10% of the population, and another 3.4 million people have prediabetes. Dr. ...(Read More)

Conservationists Urge Congress to Pass Recovering America's Wildlife Act Environmental groups are calling efforts over the past half-century to restore the wild turkey population from the brink of extinction one of America's greatest wildlife success stories. Conservationists are now calling on Congress to pass pending legislation which would help states, territories and tribes duplicate those efforts to save hundreds of threatened species. The bipartisan Recovering America's Wildlife Act would allocate $1.4 billion annually to protect fish, wildlife and plants for future generations. ...(Read More)

Illinois Dems Seek to Tweak Cash-Bail Ban Before it Takes Effect Illinois lawmakers, meeting in their annual "Veto Session" in Springfield, are taking a look at the controversial SAFE-T Act one last time before it goes into effect next year. The Pretrial Fairness Act portion of the measure abolishes the state's cash-bail system that critics have called unfair and discriminatory. Democrats, who hold a supermajority in the General Assembly, have said they're open to minor adjustments to the legislation but don't support Republican calls for a comprehensive rewrite. ...(Read More)

Applicants Angry Over Delays in IL 'Social Equity' Cannabis Licenses Illinois lawmakers are hoping to adjust the state's problem-plagued recreational marijuana law designed to award dispensary licenses on a fair and equitable basis. Only three "social equity" marijuana dispensaries are expected to be open by 2023. Statistics show almost all the other 110 dispensaries operating in Illinois were opened by wealthy, mostly white, entrepreneurs. ...(Read More)

Winter Forecast: Illinois Families Prep for High Winter Gas Bills Forecasters are predicting another season of cold, wet weather for Illinois and the upper Midwest this winter, which could bring some high energy bills. The National Weather Service, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, and the Old Farmer's Almanac are all calling for a snowier-than-usual season, with major storms possible in January and February. Illinoisans are being advised to take steps now to make their homes and businesses more energy-efficient. ...(Read More)

Survey: Small Businesses, Homeowners Pay High Price for Illinois Tax Policies As Illinois residents get ready to pay their taxes next year, they could be in for some sticker shock. The 2023 State Business Tax Index survey, out this week, ranked Illinois 36th out of the 50 states for the efficiency and competitiveness of its tax code. The results showed while wage earners are doing well, small businesses, homeowners, and consumers are shouldering an outsized share of the state's tax burden. ...(Read More)

Bullying Prevention Means Awareness of Social-Emotional Learning October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, and experts are reminding Illinoisans to be aware of the patterns within bullying. One in five students reports being bullied, says the National Center for Education Statistics. Cyberbullying has come to the forefront as a problem, but experts say there's frequently an offline component as well. ...(Read More)