* WCIA…

Carbon capture and sequestration projects have been hot button issues in Central Illinois for years, and now lawmakers in the state capitol are trying to address it.

Proposed pipeline projects like the Navigator pipeline through Sangamon County and the Wolf/ADM pipeline ending near Decatur faced major backlash from residents due to the lack of regulations. Legislators believe they have the fix.

Some of the components of the bill include companies needing to prove their project will catch the carbon and not store it underground. It also creates more stringent rules carbon dioxide pipeline projects, versus other carbon sequestration projects. Finally, the bill puts in place a moratorium on all multi-state pipelines. […]

Not everyone is on board with the bill. The Illinois Farm Bureau still opposes the bill, as companies can use a version of eminent domain, even though companies would have to complete multiple steps first before claiming a farmer’s land.

The bill passed out of the committee Friday afternoon 21-7-1. It now heads to the House floor.

* WTTW…

The Illinois hemp industry is in a frenzy over new legislation moving forward in Springfield that business owners say will put popular products out of reach and push the THC lounges and CBD shops that dot Chicago-area neighborhoods out of business. […]

[P]roducts like CBD lotions and infused drinks and treats made with THC derived from hemp are seemingly in a legal gray area under which businesses using hemp-derived THC have proliferated.

State Sen. Kim Lightford, D-Maywood, said that’s harming Illinois’ tightly-regulated cannabis industry and undermining the state’s goals to use the law to lift up people of color disproportionally harmed by the war on drugs. To be part of the legal marijuana industry, businesses had to compete for coveted – and expensive – licenses, with priority going to social equity applicants. […]

Lightford, the sponsor of the measure (House Bill 4293), which passed out of a Senate committee Thursday night, asks of the businesses: “Why did you go into the hemp business if you wanted to sell weed?”

* Center Square…

Illinois lawmakers are addressing a growing form of cyberbullying in schools involving artificial intelligence.

The House passed House Bill 299 that would amend the Illinois school code to include sexually explicit digital depictions of students under the definition of cyberbullying.

State Rep. Janet Yang Rohr, D-Naperville, said the images generated by AI could have lasting effects on a young person. […]

The bill is now being considered by the Senate.

* Chalkbeat…

A state bill that would prevent changes to Chicago’s selective enrollment schools and block the district from closing schools until 2027 appears to have stalled in the final scheduled hours of the legislative session.

The lack of movement comes after Mayor Brandon Johnson sent a letter to Illinois Senate President Don Harmon asking him not to call the bill for a final vote, arguing it “seeks to solve problems that do not exist.”

The situation is a win so far for Johnson, whose appointed Board of Education is mulling changes to the district’s school choice system and recently rolled out a new budget formula.

State Rep. Margaret Croke, a Democrat representing Chicago’s north side neighborhoods, filed the bill earlier this year that would prevent the board from making changes to admission requirements or cutting funding for selective enrollment schools until a fully elected school board is in place in 2027. She later added an amendment that would extend the moratorium on school closures and prevent any school from shuttering until 2027.

* WCIA…

One lawmaker believes she can get everyone on board with her bill to make reforms to the Prisoner Review Board.

The proposal has already passed the Illinois House of Representatives with strong bipartisan support. […]

State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) said she’s worked with both sides of the aisle to come up with a bill she believes everyone can agree on. […]

The bill would make several reforms, including mandatory domestic violence training for board members every year, with focuses on areas like the legal process regarding orders of protection and the dynamics of gender based violence.

SB681 is on Third Reading in the Senate.