* The Illinois Times profiles Stoney…

Recreational cannabis is a growth industry, and Springfield resident Chris Stone plans to take full advantage of the potential behind the once-banned substance. […]

His years in the nascent video gaming industry taught Stone some valuable lessons that he was able to use when he entered the cannabis business. The most important lesson was, don’t expect to turn a profit right away.

“We were the first video gaming parlors in the state, and the state forced us to build out the facilities and actually staff them with employees even though we had no games to actually use,” Stone said. “So we sat there for almost nine months and burned a bunch of cash waiting for the state to allow us to put the machines in place.

“Knowing how the state operated on that, I told the cannabis investors that we were probably going to burn cash for the first year if they were going to operate the same way they did with video gaming,” Stone said. “We might not be able to get product, we might not be able to get open for a while even after we build something out. We incorporated that into our business model and it was definitely the right move.”

Ugh.

* Another example of this in today’s Daily Herald…

As the two-year anniversary of the passage of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act approaches, the state is continuing to implement several workforce development and grant programs. For some, that rollout hasn’t been fast enough. […]

“When Gov. Pritzker rolled out the renewable energy plan for Illinois approximately two years ago, I was initially very excited,” [Troyce Polk, who founded solar developer Selenium Energy in 2017] said. “Since then, it’s just been a slow rollout of everything. There’s just been a lot of frustration for myself and our business, as well as a lot of other small, renewable energy businesses in this space. The capital or seed money that those programs and grants would provide are essential to getting in the game.”

Polk recently won a bid to complete 100 installations in the West Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago. The residential solar pilot program, which includes two other projects in Waukegan and the Carbondale-Marion area, is administered through the Illinois Power Agency.

Because Selenium Energy is required to complete the installations before receiving payment, Polk is facing challenges in securing operating capital. […]

Polk added that solar power is just beginning to boom in Illinois, and he’s competing with “goliath” national energy companies to secure future bids.