Other News

State of Illinois

Illinois Senate Advances Bill to Safeguard Worker Protections Amid Potential Federal Rollbacks

Illinois lawmakers are moving forward with a sweeping measure designed to lock in workplace safety and labor standards, even if federal protections are weakened or repealed in the future. Senate Bill 1976, sponsored by State Senator Robert Peters (D-Chicago), cleared the Senate Labor Committee this week and is now poised […]

Federal

House Bill Seeks to Boost U.S. Biorefinery and Biobased Manufacturing

A new bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives aims to strengthen America’s leadership in renewable energy and rural economic development by expanding federal support for biorefineries, renewable chemicals, and biobased product manufacturing. The “Agricultural Biorefinery Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2025,” sponsored by Rep. Zach Nunn of Iowa […]

State of Illinois

Landmark Illinois Study Reveals Unpredictable Patterns in Farm Greenhouse Gas Emissions

A recent study published in Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment provides valuable insights into the spatial variability of soil carbon dioxide (CO2​) and nitrous oxide (N2​O) fluxes in agricultural settings, highlighting the impact of management practices and offering recommendations for more accurate measurements. The research, conducted by a team including Nakian […]

Federal

Trump Fires U.S. Copyright Office Chief Shira Perlmutter Amid AI Policy Dispute

President Donald Trump has dismissed Shira Perlmutter, the nation’s top copyright official. Perlmutter, a lawyer with extensive experience in intellectual property, previously served as director at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and has worked in various copyright roles since the late 1990s. Her tenure at the Copyright Office was marked […]

State of Illinois

Illinois seeks to prevent feds from tying funding for states to immigration enforcement

by Ben Szalinski, Capitol News Illinois May 13, 2025 Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and 19 other Democratic attorneys general filed a pair of lawsuits Tuesday against Trump administration policies designed to block federal funding to states that don’t carry out U.S. immigration enforcement. According to the lawsuits, recently enacted […]