A bill to make solar power more accessible to renters and others who face barriers to the alternative energy source stalled in the Illinois Senate, but it’s likely to return in the fall veto session because lawmakers like the idea of helping residents with their electric bills. […]
The safety question boils down to two main areas: safety for people who work on the electric lines and safety for residents.
[Sen. Rachel Ventura] said a big concern for utilities and labor unions was making sure the energy generated by small plug-in solar systems can’t travel back to the grid during a power outage — a phenomenon called backfeeding. The danger would come from a lineworker touching a line they believe is depowered.
In the original bill language, there was a carveout for low-wattage plug-in solar systems, between 400-1,200W, that would have allowed people to connect certified systems with little oversight.
Advocates for the bill argued that low-wattage systems didn’t need to meet national code requirements or have special permissions because they generate less energy than many home appliances use.
“The smaller systems are able to just immediately be plugged in by people without needing landlord permission or any changes to wiring, because these are so small,” Chintam said. “They would still need to be certified and would still need to have safety precautions like preventing backfeeding and having an automatic shut off.”
Without the carveout, Chintam said, residents would likely have to wait for national rules to change and they wouldn’t be able to benefit from their safety-certified solar systems until 2029 at the earliest.
The carveout was a sticking point for lawmakers, labor and utilities. More than 30 other states have considered plug-in solar bills, and the carveout language was treated differently in each one.
“So we decided to hold our bill to see how those other states’ come about,” Ventura said. “We are now researching what language moved, what language didn’t move, and trying to create model legislation that we will file or amend in veto session.”
*** Data Center News ***
* State Week | A data center discussion: On this episode, we talk about the controversy surrounding data center development and efforts to enact guardrails at the state level. Lawmakers left Springfield pledging to work on legislation that could address concerns over power usage, utility costs and more. The governor said he would like to see a package considered this fall. Meanwhile, data center demand shows no sign of slowing.
* WCIA | Macon County residents pushing for moratorium on data centers: Thursday night, the county’s environmental education health and welfare board met in Decatur. During public comment, people who live in the area made sure the board knew they want a pause put on all data centers, saying the local government should take time to consider how to handle these projects and the negative effects it could bring.
* Oregon Live | Data centers will receive $450 million in Oregon tax breaks this year: Oregon’s data center industry is already among the largest in the country, occupying about 2,900 acres from Hillsboro to Hermiston. State records show another 9,100 acres are in the planning stages. […] It costs $1 billion or more to equip a large data center with rows and rows of powerful computers. Because Oregon has no sales tax, companies can save tens of millions of dollars when they build a data center, and millions more every few years, when they replace obsolete computers with the latest models.
*** Statehouse News ***
* Press Release | Stomping Ground Strategies Wins Eight 2026 Bulldog PR Awards, Including Two Grand Prize Honors: The team at Stomping Ground Strategies has been named the winner of eight 2026 Bulldog PR Awards, including two Grand Prize designations — the program’s highest honor. The awards recognize outstanding communication work submitted by agencies, brands and nonprofits across the country, as judged by journalists. Jaclyn Driscoll, director of media relations at Stomping Ground Strategies, received two individual honors: the Grand Prize for PR Star of 2025 and Gold for PR Star Under 40. The designations recognize a practitioner whose results consistently maximize client resources and whose approach to PR is rooted in old-school rigor and a deep understanding and respect for the press.
* Fox Chicago | Braun insists ‘handshake’ will seal Bears stadium deal: ”When we ink it, that will mean that we are there,” said Braun. “It has been just a constant discussion since they came to us six months ago. I made it clear that this has to be more than just a bargaining position to do something in Illinois. ”I told them, ‘You’re going to make a strong statement on that day before it comes through our legislature,’ which occurred. That was the first kind of seal on that handshake agreement.” […] Braun said Indiana would be open to discussions should the Bears seek to sweeten their Hammond deal or ask for revenue enhancements to help the team buy out of its Soldier Field lease at a potential cost of $90 million.
* Windy City Times | Pritzker reflects on LGBTQ+ rights, gay Republicans and ‘character’ in the age of Trump: There’s a congresswoman from southern Illinois named Mary Miller, who now wants to eliminate Pride Month. She’s literally introduced a bill to eliminate that [and rename June as “Family Month”]. One question that I would pose to my opponent [Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey] is if he agrees with Mary Miller. It’s an important question for him to answer because he is still against marriage equality.
* Press release | Illinois Department of Natural Resources Director to depart at the end of the month, interim Director to begin on July 1: Renee Snow will serve as IDNR’s Interim Director beginning on July 1. She has worked at the Department since 2014, most recently serving as General Counsel. In that capacity, she has led several major initiatives, including Brandon Road, the Shabbona land transfer with the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and the innovative Pullman P3 project.
*** Chicago ***
* Illinois Answers | City Leaders Tout Tree-Planting Bonanza, But Neighborhood Disparities Persist: That’s a stark improvement over years past. For instance, from 2018 to 2021, nearly half of new trees — about 10,000 in total — were planted in North and Northwest side wards. Still, a deeper dive into the data reveals the city’s most recent tree plantings have been uneven within the wards themselves, with some neighborhoods thick with trees still getting even more, while others with few trees are still shortchanged as city leaders struggle to plant trees where they are most needed. Between 2021 and 2025, the Streets and Sanitation department also removed more than 28,000 trees all across Chicago, mostly due to damage and disease.
* Block Club | Edgewater Synagogue Redevelopment Reduces Building Count In Latest Proposal: The new proposal includes a 25-story building and an adjacent 12-story building on the east side of Sheridan Road and a five-story building on the west side of Sheridan Road. After incorporating feedback from neighbors, the developers eliminated plans for a north tower — the building closest to the neighboring Malibu East Condominium — and shifted those units to other parts of the site.
* Block Club | City’s ‘Keep Chicago Clean’ Campaign Encourages Neighbors To Pick Up Litter This Summer: Neighbors who participate in community cleanup events can call 311 and borrow tools and cleaning supplies from the Department of Streets and Sanitation, according to the city. The campaign will last through a “peak time” for tourists and outdoor events, including popular music festivals such as Lollapalloza and Riot Fest. “We take great pride in our work to keep Chicago clean and safe,” said Cole Stallard, Department of Streets and Sanitation commissioner. “We can’t do it alone, though, and we thank everyone for pitching in to help.”
*** Cook County and Suburbs ***
* Tribune | ICE agent who crashed car into hedgerow after Broadview shift admits reckless driving: Lampariello said Diaz-Torres does not have a criminal record and already completed some requirements set under his plea, including at least 12 hours of counseling. His attorney, Mike Baker, told the Tribune his client is still employed as a federal agent.
* Shaw Local | Plainfield District 202 lays out budget cuts to close $8 million deficit; staffing reductions planned: The deficit stems from a shift in Illinois funding models and a “technical adjustment” to the state’s Comparable Wage Index, a measure which recalculates regional labor costs. Due to the adjustments, the district’s eligibility status was downgraded from Tier 1 to Tier 2. Illinois uses a four-tier system to prioritize funding. Tier 1 districts, which have the lowest local funding adequacy, receive the largest increases in state funding.
* Tribune | World’s first Dairy Queen becomes a Route 66 landmark in Joliet: “You have the meeting of two very iconic things,” said Greg Peerbolte, the museum’s CEO. “You’re talking about one of America’s most recognizable companies, and it is sitting on Route 66.” Peerbolte noted that Joliet is within the first 100 miles of Route 66, which starts in Chicago and spans 2,448 miles through three time zones to end in Santa Monica, California. This year marks the Mother Road’s 100th anniversary.
* Daily Herald | Sugar Grove wins second place in North American tap water taste competition: “We value providing Sugar Grove with the best possible water, protecting our water resources, and we are all celebrating their win for the community as the stewards of the best-tasting water in the United States,” Village President Sue Stillwell said in a news release. Sugar Grove first won the Kane County Water Association’s regional taste test. Then in April, the village won the state title at the Illinois Section AWWA WATERCON convention in Peoria.
*** Downstate ***
* STLPR | Metro East cyclists get new bridge, longer trail to explore in St. Clair, Madison counties: The $6.3 million bridge will allow users of MCT’s Schoolhouse Trail to avoid crossing the state highway on the northeast corner of Horseshoe Lake. Madison County Transit Managing Director SJ Morrison said the new bridge means MCT now has 51 bridges and 22 tunnels to keep trail users from crossing busy roadways. “This represents the 73rd structure on the MCT trails that safely carries trail goers over creeks and roads and streets and other obstacles that would either slow or stop the seamless accessibility of the trails for trail users of all ages and all abilities,” Morrison said.
* Illinois Times | New Mental Health Board meets: Sangamon County’s recently convened Mental Health Board agreed on a job listing for an executive director position and started discussions about how to organize the Board’s grant structure during its June 24 meeting. Former Massey Commission staff and members also implored the board to avoid filling governmental budget gaps with the nearly $15 million it’s expected to disburse for community mental health support. Instead, multiple speakers told the board to consider finding ways to bolster methods of intervention so fewer people require state services in the first place.
* WAND | Effingham church provides disaster relief supplies to community reeling from tornado: The Churches of Christ have a Nashville, Tennessee, distribution center to assist communities impacted by weather and other disasters. “They help communities when they have disasters. Whether it’s a flood, a tornado, or anything like that,” Leighann Slater of the Effingham Church of Christ told WAND News on Tuesday. Supplies include food, some clothing, cleaning products, shovels, tarps, brooms and more.
*** National ***
* NYT | FEMA Official Who Claimed He Once Teleported to a Waffle House Is Leaving: A top official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency who had come under scrutiny for a series of unexpected claims — including that he had once teleported to a Waffle House in Georgia — has gone on leave, according to an agency spokeswoman. The official, Gregg Phillips, was appointed by the White House in December to lead FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, the agency’s largest division. The office, with more than 1,000 employees and a budget of nearly $300 million, is central to FEMA’s mission of responding to disasters like hurricanes, floods and wildfires.
