Illinois power plant closes
The Joppa power plant officially closed Wednesday. The facility opened in 1953 and employed around 115 workers when it closed.
Vistra Energy announced in 2021 it will close its Illinois and Ohio coal-fired power plants by the end of the decade. Vistra plans to build a stand-alone battery energy storage facility at the Joppa plant.
Some Chicago firefighters make $400K
The five top administrators in the Chicago Fire Department made more than $200,000 in overtime, which pushed some of their gross pay above $400,000 in 2021.
The city spent $2.37 billion on public safety in 2021, or 51% of all general fund expenditures. According to the U.S. Census, the median household income in Chicago was around $62,000 in 2020.
Illinois looks to increase staffing for state agencies
Illinois officials have announced new measures as part of the ongoing efforts to address staffing shortages in state agencies that provide health and safety services.
The state is working to fill vacancies and hire thousands of frontline staff in the Departments of Human Services, Corrections, and Veteran’s Affairs. Interested individuals may visit work.illinois.gov to apply and search for jobs by agency, title or county.
Salvi accepts forum, pushes for debates
Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Kathy Salvi has accepted a forum invitation to debate Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth.
The invite came from two Chicago television stations and the Chicago Sun-Times. Salvi then challenged Duckworth to two additional debates. The dates and times of the debates have yet to be determined.
Suspect used monitor bracelet as gun holster
DeKalb police said they’ve arrested a teenage shooting suspect who was using his court-ordered ankle bracelet as a gun holster.
The 17-year-old suspect had been ordered to wear a home monitoring ankle bracelet by a Cook County judge for another offense, but when he was arrested for a shooting last week, police said he allegedly used the ankle monitor as a gun holster.
Police said the gun was loaded and contained 20 rounds of ammo.
Electric vehicle rebates being processed
Through last week, 970 applications have been filed for Illinois’ electric vehicle rebate program.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency reports 22 of those have been fully processed as low income applicants and given priority. The remainder have yet to be processed.
Seven applications were for all-electric motorcycles. New EVs get a $4,000 taxpayer funded rebate. EV motorcycles get $1,500. The first round ends Sept. 30. A second round opens Nov. 1.
