THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All...Prisoner Review Board...Solar investments...Ukraine PM joins Pritzker to call for U.S. help
April 18, 2024
Good morning, Illinois.
Lee Milner, a longtime statehouse fixture, passed away yesterday. He was recently honored by the Governor and legislature for his service. Here’s a recent story on him from Dean Olsen in the Illinois Times. Our prayers are with his family and friends.
The House and Senate are in at noon. Governor Pritzker is at Inovafeed in Decatur at 10.
Let’s get to it.
YOUR THURSDAY FREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets, because good journalism isn’t free)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker creates executive position at state parole board amid controversy over release of man accused of killing 11-year-old boy (Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday appointed a Massachusetts sheriff’s office official and former Illinois mayor to the new position of executive director of the embattled Illinois Prisoner Review Board, with a mandate to expand domestic violence training for board members.
The appointment of James G. Montgomery Jr. to the newly created post comes after Pritzker and the board came under intense criticism last month when a man the review board had allowed to be released from state custody allegedly attacked a pregnant woman he once dated and killed her young son.
Montgomery, whose appointment requires confirmation from the state Senate, was elected mayor of downstate Taylorville in 1997 and remained in that post until 2005. Most recently, he was the director of administrative services with the Suffolk County (Massachusetts) sheriff’s department, supervising a chief financial officer, as well as directors of human resources and information technology.
In addition to overseeing the expansion of domestic violence training for Prisoner Review Board members, Montgomery will also be tasked with organizing “equity-based” training, overseeing administrative functions of the board and reducing the workload of the board’s chair. He won’t be considered a member of the board and will not have a vote on cases that come before it.
One goal of adding the executive director’s position is to allow the board’s chairperson to focus more on case work, including parole release decisions, adjudication of adult and youth release revocation hearings, victim notification regarding inmate releases, and requests for executive clemency on the governor’s behalf, Pritzker’s office said.
The most recent chair, Donald Shelton, resigned in March amid the controversy involving parolee Crosetti Brand, who a day after being released from state custody on March 12 fatally stabbed 11-year-old Jayden Perkins and attacked and injured the boy’s mother at their home on Chicago’s North Side, according to authorities.
Senate Republican leader John Curran, of Downers Grove, said in a statement that a new staff position won’t make up for “an activist governor appointing unqualified board members.”
Related: Pritzker creates new parole board post to ramp up domestic violence prevention training after killing of 11-year-old boy (Chicago Sun-Times)
Leadership changes could be coming to Illinois Prison Review Board (State Journal-Register)
Solar investments take center stage as questions loom on state’s renewable future (Capitol News Illinois)
A manufacturer in the southwest suburbs of Chicago received $2.6 million from electric utility Commonwealth Edison this week as part of a state program for generating its own electricity using solar panels and storing it in one of the largest batteries in the country.
But even as solar projects have boomed in Illinois in recent years, the head of the state agency responsible for approving renewable projects said changes to state law may be necessary to phase out fossil fuels by 2050.
G&W Electric Co., which installed a “microgrid” at its Bolingbrook facility, captures energy from the sun using eight football fields’ worth of solar panels and stores the electricity generated in a vanadium redox battery built inside 20 shipping containers.
Company representatives hailed the state-of-the-art battery storage as a step toward resilience to storms and regular disruptions to the electric grid. The solar panels deliver electricity to the factory and keep the batteries charged, with the batteries designed to power the facility during an outage. The company’s chairman and owner, John Mueller, said that project has saved $1.8 million in lost production time due to “microinterruptions” in the factory’s electricity supply since it came online late last year.
The project received a record-high rebate from ComEd as part of the Distributed Generation Rebate program, which was created in 2017 by the Future Energy Jobs Act and expanded in 2021 with the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. ComEd has given out $130 million in rebates since the program was created.
Gov. JB Pritzker, speaking at G&W Electric on Monday, said that projects like this are a way that companies can “join the fight against climate change” and that the project was “setting a standard for solar investing.”
This and other state programs have contributed to an explosion in the number of solar projects in the past 2 ½ years. Pritzker said on Monday that since the passage of CEJA, the state has doubled the percentage of its electricity production that comes from renewables.
“I’m very pleased about the direction that we’re going,” Pritzker said. “I obviously would like it to accelerate more.”
Brian Granahan, the acting director of the Illinois Power Agency, said the current pace for solar developments is doing its part to help the state meet its renewable energy goals, but other renewables are falling short. State law sets a goal of solar making up 55 percent of the state’s renewable energy portfolio, with the other 45 percent coming from wind and hydroelectric projects.
“We’ve made so much progress since CEJA passed,” Granahan told Capitol News Illinois.
But despite ambitious goals for purchasing energy from wind projects, Granahan said few projects have been approved, calling the situation “very challenging.”
Ukraine prime minister calls for more investment in war-torn country during Chicago stop of US visit (Associated Press)
Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal kicked off a United States visit Tuesday with multiple stops in Chicago aimed at drumming up investment and business in the war-torn country.
He spoke to Chicago-area business leaders before a joint news conference with Penny Pritzker, the U.S. special representative for Ukraine’s economic recovery, and her brother, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Shmyhal’s trip comes comes as Congress is considering an aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other allies.
“We would warmly welcome the participation of Illinois companies in projects related to the recovery of Ukraine,” he told reporters, calling it the country’s “most difficult time” in recent history.
He cited World Bank estimates of $486 billion needed for recovery over the next decade. For example, more than 250,000 residential buildings that have been damaged or destroyed since Russia invaded in 2022, he said.
Related: In Chicago, Ukrainian prime minister warns of dire consequences if Congress fails to deliver aid (Chicago Tribune)
In Chicago, Ukrainian prime minister seeks urgent military aid from Congress, Illinois investment (Chicago Sun-Times)
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POLITICAL POTPOURRI
Supreme Court puzzles over corruption definition in bribery law at center of Madigan trial: 'Is it a sin?' (Chicago Sun-Times)
Illinois House OKs measure to give mental health workers called to emergencies the same benefits as other first responders (Chicago Tribune)
Pritzker pushes plan to erase $1 billion in medical debt for Illinoisans (Chicago Sun-Times)
Education leaders seek added state funding to help districts accommodate influx of migrants (Capitol News Illinois)
‘This legislation is about respect,’ advocates say of bill nixing senior road tests (Daily Herald)
Illinois considers carbon storage, pipeline regulations (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Advocates renew push to tighten firearm laws aimed at protecting domestic violence victims (Capitol News Illinois)
Springfield business owner warns of potential consequences of anti-youth vaping measure (State Journal-Register)
Antisemitic acts in Illinois and nation at worst levels ever, Anti-Defamation League says (Chicago Sun-Times)
Illinoisans can now get documents notarized without leaving home (Daily Herald)
Democrats to meet May 11 to choose Gillespie’s successor (Daily Herald)
Democratic Party leaders meet in Chicago this week for pre-convention talks (Chicago Sun-Times)
Johnson plan to add $70M for migrant response moves forward (Chicago Tribune)
Chicago lobbyists escape serious punishment for improper donations to Mayor Johnson’s campaign (WBEZ)
Petition drive launched to give Chicago voters power to recall mayor (Chicago Sun-Times)
Editorial: Vaccinate for everyone’s safety (Daily Herald)
Editorial: Lawmakers, pass a bill that protects Chicago's selective schools and programs (Chicago Sun-Times)
McConchie: Illinois Senate should reject Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s ICC appointments (Chicago Tribune)
Opinion: Pass Karina's Bill to seize guns from the most dangerous domestic abusers (Chicago Sun-Times)
Opinion: Senate working to lessen potential BIPA damages (Shaw Media)
Peters: Chicago is ready for the Democratic National Convention (Chicago Tribune)
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